Keep these monstrosities off our roads 🙅‍♂️
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@simon_brooke it's easy - fire engines are fire engines, private vehicles are not fire engines. I totally agree that these monstrosities should be banned.
@tribactam So if I set up a private limited company called 'Acme Fire Fighting Ltd', and buy one of these monstrosities and put a fire extinguisher in the back of it, that's OK then?
You know what a fire engine is. I know what a fire engine is. But a billionaire's highly paid lawyer may have a very different idea about what a fire engine is.
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@fj Ok ik American trucks are massive, but could you atleast have used a graphic that actually compares trucks and not the smallest form factor style car against a vehicle that *has* to be large enough to haul stuff.
@Rin3d @fj In the US about 95% of pickup trucks on the road at any time have an empty truck bed and 1 person in them. I lived in SoCal for 15 years and most of the big pickup trucks there have zero scratches anywhere, including the bed liner.
People who actually need to move shit drive old Toyota pickups or minivans. -
@richlv @fj do you mean they are more dangerous due to the size and potential damage in an accident?
I am genuinely asking, because I come from a land in which having pick-ups is very common in rural areas for work and stuff, but not that common in urban environments, because surely nobody wants to drive that in narrow streets!
One thing we see in the US is a continual arms race to bigger and bigger vehicles, partly due to this “safer than thou” mentality, partly machismo. But when it’s normalized, narrow streets start to be seen as the problem instead of the vehicles. The streets become one-way, parking is terrible, the roads are torn up by the extra weight.
And you never, ever see any cargo being carried.
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My neighbor drives a VW Amarok, and I think this thing is ridiculously oversized.
You definitely don't need something like that here in Central Europe, in the Rhine-Main area. Of course, it's different in rural areas of the USA.I got annoyed again today. My brother has a Citroen Aircross, and he parked next to a Mini today, and the Mini is now almost as long as the Aircross. What's wrong with the people?
@catflyhigh @fj only rich #Wankers and #Boomers can afford new #Cars in #Greedflation!
- Meanwhile #KeiCars show how a limited envelope breeds innovation!
- And we need mire #PersonalLightVehicles instead of #SuperUselessVehicles…
- Meanwhile #KeiCars show how a limited envelope breeds innovation!
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@fj Ok ik American trucks are massive, but could you atleast have used a graphic that actually compares trucks and not the smallest form factor style car against a vehicle that *has* to be large enough to haul stuff.
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Keep these monstrosities off our roads
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️"US carmakers have accused Brussels of keeping their largest pick-up trucks, including the Ford F-150, the Chevy Silverado and the Ram 1500, off European roads”
https://www.ft.com/content/3eb796fd-bcdb-4a9f-89b7-f7d5e692a3cd
@fj What those carmakers failed to understand is that the European infrastructures are no designed to accommodate such vehicles (parking space, narrow street of old cities, etc).
Also there are not adapted to coexist with pedestrians and bicycles.
Those problems doesn’t exist in US as cities are car centered and walking nearby or biking on roads is considered an heresy. -
@reloadedhead Fuck off. Nobody wants to walk or bike near that shit. Hell, most people don't want to drive a normal car near it either.
You are free to move to the USA if you want to drive one.@tkissing chill, I asked respectfully. You should consider answering in a similar manner.
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@fj Id much rather have Japanese Kei cars on our roads.
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Keep these monstrosities off our roads
‍️"US carmakers have accused Brussels of keeping their largest pick-up trucks, including the Ford F-150, the Chevy Silverado and the Ram 1500, off European roads”
https://www.ft.com/content/3eb796fd-bcdb-4a9f-89b7-f7d5e692a3cd
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FWIW, the truck in the comparison with the Twingo is an F350.
@Sir_Osis_of_Liver @Quantensalat @fj We have only the F150 in Europe, and even this one is not small by any metric, but it still manageable for everyday use.
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@sanzky @fj That Peugeot is not an overly large car, it's about the length of a full size european station wagon like the classic Volvo 745 or Mercedes W123/W124T. I'd select the Mercedes GLS as a comparison for the Escalade, and then we're in the same ballpark of oversized ugly abominations. What's the more interesting question then: how many of each are sold in EU/US?
@cm @sanzky @fj The reason it's "large" is not just the wheel base and track. It's the height and the way it fills out the envelope.
Basically even if you can find sedans and estates with similar wheelbases, those are cars you can see through and around in traffic. These SUVs (and crossovers) are opaque boxes that create danger wherever they go. And with the driver's seat that far from the nose they have just AWFUL blind spots to boot.
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@tkissing chill, I asked respectfully. You should consider answering in a similar manner.
@reloadedhead I considered that and decided that the likelihood of your question being in good faith is not very high.
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Keep these monstrosities off our roads
‍️"US carmakers have accused Brussels of keeping their largest pick-up trucks, including the Ford F-150, the Chevy Silverado and the Ram 1500, off European roads”
https://www.ft.com/content/3eb796fd-bcdb-4a9f-89b7-f7d5e692a3cd
@fj Well, here in the United States of stupid, insecure men with shitty personalities and penises no one will touch *need* these gigantic compensatory machines. #TheOnlyGoodNaziIsADeadNazi
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@simon_brooke @fj also if it doesn’t fit in the parking spot - tow away.
@ghard @simon_brooke @fj
Put it in a crusher that will compact it down to the legally permitted length and bonnet height for safe visibility of pedestrians. -
@simon_brooke @fj also if it doesn’t fit in the parking spot - tow away.
The Netherlands already taxes cars at sale according to their weight and carbon emissions. I think the annual road tax also goes up with weight.
About a decade ago I looked up the taxes for an Audi Q5: they were about € 20,000 at sale. You see very few of those on Dutch roads.
I expect other EU countries to have similar tax codes.
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@reloadedhead @richlv @fj
this article has an in depth analysis. these things are deadly. More mass = more momentum = more energy transfer in collision. Also, there is the fact that lower cars break legs, these things smash thoracic cages.
https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2025/being-hit-suv-increases-likelihood-death-or-serious-injury@tribactam @richlv @fj thank you for referencing this article. Very interesting read!
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The Netherlands already taxes cars at sale according to their weight and carbon emissions. I think the annual road tax also goes up with weight.
About a decade ago I looked up the taxes for an Audi Q5: they were about € 20,000 at sale. You see very few of those on Dutch roads.
I expect other EU countries to have similar tax codes.
@CelloMomOnCars @ghard @fj That's true, but the rate of increase isn't nearly steep enough.
As I said, damage to the road scales with the fourth power of the vehicle weight, so if the fair tax on a vehicle weighing one ton is $100, then the fair tax on a vehicle weighing four tons should be $100,000,000.
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Keep these monstrosities off our roads
‍️"US carmakers have accused Brussels of keeping their largest pick-up trucks, including the Ford F-150, the Chevy Silverado and the Ram 1500, off European roads”
https://www.ft.com/content/3eb796fd-bcdb-4a9f-89b7-f7d5e692a3cd
@fj I wonder why
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@fj I strongly feel that vehicles should be taxed by unladen weight. The damage to roads -- which has to be met out of the public purse -- scales with the fourth power of the axle loading, and the tax should scale similarly.
It would be tricky to frame legislation which outlawed very large and heavy private vehicles which would not also outlaw fire engines, for example; but it wouldn't hurt to tax them into oblivion.
@simon_brooke @fj look at the Dutch car roadtax per weight group+fuel type. I think that is pretty much what you mean.
