The US government of yesteryear recognized a problem, so they drew up legislation intended to improve fuel efficiency, and thus reduce emissions. But they recognized that certain trades required large vehicles that could never be that efficient. So they built in a loophole for vehicles over a certain size not counting towards the requirements being placed manufacturers. Manufacturers being the crafty hogs they are realized if they just increased the size of everything they wouldn’t have to follow any of the rules. Now you have a company like Ford that only has one actual car ( a muscle car at that) in its lineup. Everything else are trucks suvs and crossovers.
The government of today could rewrite these rules to make the loophole require business licenses or something else, but half of them refuse to see there’s a problem at all, and half of what’s left are in the pocket of the problem makers.
What’s more interesting is that if you go overseas and look at the same brands, you can see companies like Ford and BMW selling station wagons and normal-sized cars without a single truck, if any, available for purchase.
Not to mention they’re tremendously dangerous for everyone who isn’t inside. The fear of dying in a car crash meets the illusion of safety, when it’s being forced to ride or drive in a car that puts your safety at risk to begin with.
This is what happened with my family. We had a VW GTI and a Golf… when the kiddo came along the wife wanted an SUV so if we got in an accident the kid wouldn’t be automatically dead by one of these fucking monstrosities… I think I’m slowly convincing her that a car might be safe, but VW doesn’t make the Golf for USA anymore…
I feel like maybe a path forward would be a long the lines of what someone else has said. Make vehicle registration cost more depending on how big it is… but who knows…
Now to top it all off because of America’s obsession with big vehicles there is still a limited selection of small hatchbacks in the EV zone…
But what about my truck that is 65 tonnes of American Pride?
God I get triggered by these monstrosities. Something tells me that’s exactly why the people who buy them, buy them.
Pass the pedestrian crossing extra slowly.
Report any of them for any minor parking violation.
Make them eat shit. If I could.
I parked behind one yesterday. Dude backed up into my car during my brunch. He comes into the restaurant to fess up. I tell him I’m the owner. He was nice enough. All he did was put a square dent in my license plate and bent it. I told him it’s an old car and that it’s ok. But as we were walking to my car he said “you parked close behind me and I couldn’t see it as I backed up”. I had half a mind to make a remark about having a clean, lifted, truck that probably hasn’t hauled anything in 2 years, but I just shut up and let bygones be bygones.
Still, I hope that guy realizes having a 9ft truck isn’t worth the sweat every time he backs up. I have a Toyota Camry. Not the fanciest thing in the world. It’s 20 years old and I do most of the work on it. So I’m not phased by a dent in the license plate (and possible minor trauma to the bumper). But it’s the kind of car that a lot of people own. If he can’t see that, he probably should consider lowering his lifted truck. Or perhaps learning to look behind his car before he hops in and tries to exit a parking space.
People like that probably will never learn. They are buying an aesthetic, not a tool. It’s like buying a high caliber pistol, an expensive phone, or a McMansion. It’s not about having a tool. It’s about having a sense of visible identity.
Based on my long rant, I can tell I have not entirely “let bygones be bygones” despite shaking his hand and letting him drive away without a lick of shame.
The other day a jeep wrangler swiped my car in a parking lot and drove off. I wasn’t there but a kind bystander saw it and left their number and the offenders license plate. The damage wasn’t small, but also small enough for me to shrug off because it’s a 2014 golf wagon and in the end it’s just a car.
But the hit and run pissed me off enough that I reported it. The cops found the driver who will be ticketed now and their insurance will go up. If they fessed up I’d have let it slide.
At least your dude fessed up. And yes, they’d all have a much easier time parking if they chose a sensible car.
The problem isn’t only the cars, but the people who drive those cars also tend to not respect the rules.
Bigger cars need to have more harsh road rules applied. Had a dodge ram 1500 go the wrong way around a round about as an example the other day and nearly hit me on my scooter.
If I get hit by a hatchback, I’m fine (it has happened before). Dodge ram? I’m dead
Simply requiring a truck licence and applying different rules would be enough