• AWildMimicAppears@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    U.S. vehicle fuel efficiency standards administered by NHTSA have encouraged automakers to build larger vehicles. The bigger the vehicle, the lower the fuel efficiency target it has to meet.

    That’s some monkeys paw type of shit law

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah preverse incentives. When doing the wrong thing makes the most sense for the individual. Happens often in tragedy of the commons situations.

      If you hit a pedestrian it is better for you that they die. If you find an endangered animal on your land it is better for you to kill it. If you have a child with someone who makes minimum wage it is better for you to divorce.

      Maybe it is too much to expect but for things like this, when public policy experts came up with a standard instead of just inheriting a situation, that they plan for these things in advance. Spend a few moments and look at where the incentives are before just hammering a new policy into place.

      • Patches@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        If you hit a pedestrian it is better for you that they die

        Uh maybe in China. I would not say that in the United States. Manslaughter is a serious charge.

        • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          You aren’t factoring in civil suits. Someone dead, their family can only get so much. Someone crippled can just keep going after you and might have to as they go into greater and greater levels of debt. What would you do if suddenly your income went down to about 14k USD a year and with each passing day the chances of you returning to work diminished, wouldn’t you be desperate enough to try to win some money from the person who did this to you? Wouldn’t you go along with any shyster lawyer who promised results?

    • Windshear@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Recently bought a new diesel silverado 3500 for my ranch. It’s enormous, I’m glad I didn’t get the dually option as it’s hard enough to drive in the city. Most of its job however is pulling trailers around.

      That said, on highway if I drive the speed limit and take it easy I can get 9L/100km. It’s unreal that such a huge truck will get almost the same economy as our KIA SUV.

      • Mr_Blott@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I didn’t think that sounded right so I looked it up; Chevrolet themselves say it’s between 11 and 12 litres/100km

        I don’t know what Kia you have, but their diesel Sorento SUV averages 6-7 litres/100km, nearly half what your tiny-penis truck uses

        Funny also that people pull trailers in every country in the world using much smaller trucks without a problem

        You don’t need that truck, same way as nobody else on the planet, no matter what their profession, needs it

        • frezik@midwest.social
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          1 year ago

          You don’t need that truck, same way as nobody else on the planet, no matter what their profession, needs it

          Please stop this bullshit. There are most certainly reasons to own a truck that can haul big things. Including in Europe. It’s just that 90% of the trucks you see in a Costco parking lot don’t need to be that way.

          • Mr_Blott@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I do occasionally see tiny-penis trucks here in Europe. Do you know what I’ve never, ever seen though? A dirty one. One used for work, rather than just showing off.

            If you had to haul something heavy on a trailer, what would you use? A fuel-guzzling, heavy, unreliable shiny trinket, or a Toyota Hilux?

            99% of workers with stuff to move use a van. Farmers use pickups like L200s. Accountants drive tiny-penis trucks for the tax break

            Explain to me again why American contractors are the only contractors on the entire planet that need giant trucks?

            • frezik@midwest.social
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              1 year ago

              What do those farmers use to move livestock around? Because you’re generally looking at a 10,000lbs trailer for that, which is F450 territory.

              What you really want to go after is the lower end the truck market. Circa 2002, the Ford Ranger had a curb weight around 3,300 lbs (exact number depending on the trim) and looked like this. The current one is around 4,200 lbs and looks like this. Small trucks have disappeared entirely in the US market, and there’s no good reason for it.

              But when you start hitting the Ford Superduty market (F250 on up), you’re looking at people who actually use their trucks for the most part. They are big because they haul a lot of stuff and they have to be.

              • Mr_Blott@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Still waiting for you to explain why American contractors/farmers are the only people on the planet who require these vehicles when everyone else manages with vastly smaller vehicles

                Also, do you have to use tweezers to pee?

                • frezik@midwest.social
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                  1 year ago

                  I don’t own one of these tucks, so you can quit with the small dick comments.

                  I’ve explained, and you refuse to listen. What do you use to haul multiple livestock animals around?

                • Windshear@lemmy.ca
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                  1 year ago

                  I run 1000 cows on a 60,000 acre ranch in southern Alberta. It’s too rough to run a semi truck and trailer around on but I can haul a tri-axle Wilson gooseneck stock trailer with 20,000 lbs of cattle across it when I need to. There’s no roads through the ranch other than dirt trails so it takes a long time to travel through it and the fewer trips I have to make the better. Generally I’m moving cattle on horseback but occasionally I have to move old/sick/injured cows from a to b. Simply put, your European farms are miniscule and you don’t need the same capabilities that we do. The world is not uniform.

            • frezik@midwest.social
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              1 year ago

              Fifth wheel. If you don’t know what that is, you should probably avoid having a strong opinion on this.

                • frezik@midwest.social
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                  1 year ago

                  What do you expect to use for hauling livestock? These can have a tow weight of 10,000 lbs, which is much more than you can do with a regular hitch. The fact that you’ve never personally seen this does not mean anything.

          • Windshear@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            Thanks for the support. Some people think the world is uniform and don’t understand anything outside of their world view.

            • frezik@midwest.social
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              1 year ago

              All good. I don’t recommend going too deep on this thread. Probably raise your blood pressure beyond acceptable limits.

          • ByteJunk@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Interesting rabbit hole.

            Looks like in Europe you can’t tow that much with a car. Anything over 3500kg (7700lb) you need a proper truck and a trucker’s © license.

            A Silverado 3500 at 7000lb is really close to needing a truck drivers license, even without a trailer.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That’s Regulatory Capture. Laws made by and for the industry they’re supposed to regulate.

  • SYLOH@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The US public has repeatedly demonstrated that it would rather die than make even minor adjustments in their lives. So don’t expect anything to get done.

        • spyd3r@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          No, why would you purposefully buy a less capable, cheaply made vehicle that won’t last, with an anemic engine that has less displacement than a carbonated beverage container?

          • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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            1 year ago

            Because it’s cheaper, more fuel/energy efficient, I already have a larger, more capable, more durable vehicle with more displacement than my stock pots, and I’d prefer not to incur excessive wear and tear on my nice vehicle when I don’t need its capabilities on the overwhelming majority of my drives. I only need it once or twice a week, but I use it for everything because it’s what I have, and I can’t get something small enough and cheap enough to justify an additional vehicle.

            A Kei truck would be perfect. I could save about 90% of the miles I put on my good truck if I had a Japanese mini-truck. It would pay for itself in reduced wear and tear on my good truck in about 4 years. Unfortunately, they aren’t street legal in my state.

  • dumpsterlid@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I have been thinking about getting some “Child Killer” stickers to start slapping on trucks that are particularly unsafe and huge. I don’t get why in neighborhoods that in all kinds of other ways frowns upon putting kids at risk (no driving fast for example) dumbass men are allowed to own MASSIVE trucks that raise the risk of running a child over by a huge amount and no one shames them.

    Time to start shaming these people more.

    • alienanimals@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Go for it! The cost would be pretty inexpensive.

      *Edit It’s funny how the downvoters aren’t okay with a simple sticker, but are okay with two ton vehicles killing more people than usual.

    • thoughtorgan@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      U need to care more about other shit instead of this.

      Child killer stickers 🤣 get over yourself

      • Pipoca@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The Netherlands is so bike-friendly right now because of a wave of backlash in the 70s to the harms of their post WW2 car-centric design. The protests were literally called ‘Stop de Kindermoord’, which is Dutch for ‘stop the child-murder’.

        • Ebby@lemmy.ssba.com
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          1 year ago

          Well good for them.

          At 1/240th the size of the USA, twice the population of California’s Bay Area, and one of the highest road densities in the world, it sounds like a trifecta of wins.

          As long as you don’t need to leave. I have to travel for work Monday longer than the entirety of the Netherlands and half again; I won’t even leave the same state. Bikeing won’t cut it.

          • Pipoca@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Size is entirely a red herring.

            Most people work in the same city or metro that they live in. It doesn’t matter how far Boston is from Springfield; 99% of trips a Bostonian makes are to other places in the Boston area. What matters is the design of both cities.

            The average commute in the US is under 30 minutes. And the average person doesn’t drive an hour and a half for groceries, to pick up a pizza, or to daycare.

            Biking doesn’t cut it in the Netherlands, either. Instead, they have bike parking lots at their train and subway stations, so a multimodal trip to the office is easier. People mostly don’t cycle from one side of Amsterdam to the other; they bike a couple min down the street to the cafe or to get groceries.

            Additionally, their road design doesn’t push driving as much. For one thing, you can typically bike a more direct path than you can drive due to better modal separation. For another thing, the roads are less pedestrian hostile. Instead of a wide American-style stroads, you might have a narrow 2-way service street for pedestrians, cyclists and cars with a 15 mph speed limit, and an adjacent high-speed road with no driveways. They don’t try to have people do a left turn from a suicide lane across 2 55-mph lanes and a sidewalk to get tacos.

      • falidorn@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Why shouldn’t kids play in the streets? They certainly used to do it all the time. Why don’t we reduce speeds or car access to areas with a lot of pedestrians?

      • Traister101@lemmy.today
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        1 year ago

        Isn’t it kind of silly to you that the vast majority of our modern world is exclusively a car zone? All people have now is sidewalks, right next to all the exhaust fumes.

  • Additional_Prune@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I have a small truck, and its A pillar has blocked my view of pedestrians more than once. I have to move my head to check. With big vehicles, I imagine there’s even more of a problem.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I ran over my friend in high school while driving a Ford Ranger. She is 5’1 but still, if her hands hadn’t flopped up in the air I might’ve killed her. Worst part is, I’d just dropped her off.

      Always need to be careful driving a big vehicle. Learned that the hard way.

    • spyd3r@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Its actually the opposite, the bigger and boxy-er the vehicle, the bigger the windows and the less obstructions from bodywork. The added height also allows you to see much further away and over obstructions like lines of cars, stopped traffic, landscaping, etc. .

  • affiliate@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    next they’re going to try to tell me tanks are more deadly than four door sedans. does anybody buy this stuff?

  • randon31415@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I read that as “Tall trucks, SUVs are 45% deadlier to US presidents, study shows”, and was like: how did they do that study?

  • andrewta@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Maybe it’s how they are designed. I’ve sat in a number of them that have ugly blind spots. Back left is a big problem on a lot of them.

    • oatscoop@midwest.social
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      1 year ago

      I’ve responded to a bunch of “car vs pedestrian” calls. With adults a low speed hit is usually some minor injuries like lower legs, arms, etc. If they’re hit hard sometimes their head hits the windshield. The victim ends up on top of the hood and rolls off the side or up and over the car.

      If it’s a truck their injuries are more serious. Hip, rib, shoulder/arm, spine, and head injuries. They get hit high and knocked into the ground – and sometimes partially or completely run over.

    • Pipoca@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yes, it is.

      Big cars are heavier, taller, and have larger blind spots. The first two make them deadlier in an accident, the last makes it easier to run someone over in a crosswalk, parking lot or driveway.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      Cars don’t vote. Pedestrians are the only option, except wheelchair bound people I guess. You’re only not a pedestrian when in your car, but you have to encounter other vehicles on foot before and after being in the car.

      • Touching_Grass@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        But people who own cars vote. Pedestrians usually hate all parties and won’t bother to vote. They wont even vote to at least not let the other party win.

        They go for a bike ride or drink kambocha in their bachelor apartment while looking up fall scarfs for men. Then scream racists at everyone after the guy they really hate wins the election. Then they go downtown and let air out of peoples tires and post on r/fuckcars and snicker and jeer with other pedestrians about how they hate car heads