How Cars Turned Into Giant Killers

I am glad the article mentions CAFE standards. Government CAFE regulations are the primary reason vehicles like Trucks and SUVs have gotten so much larger in recent years, and almost no one talks about it when these conversations come up.<p>Simply put, CAFE standards were modified to include a vehicle &quot;footprint&quot; measured in square feet in addition to vehicle weight. The larger the footprint, the lower the fuel efficiency standards for the vehicle. The <i>intent</i> was to give a break to heavy work trucks that needed more powerful engines, while still forcing passenger cars to be more efficient. The <i>unintended consequence</i> was that automakers now had a loophole to sidestep stricter emissions standards: just make the vehicle larger and heavier.<p>This is a good article on the subject, with graphs on the CAFE fuel efficiency target curves in it (scroll down a bit to see them):<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.greencarreports.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;1111946_for-pickup-trucks-more-than-half-all-fuel-savings-come-in-2022-2025-cafe-rules" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.greencarreports.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;1111946_for-pickup-truc...</a>

Not to mention in the american south where many of these large trucks are lifted to become even taller. Usually accompanied by illegal window tint so dark that you have no idea if an idling truck has anybody inside.<p>I want to see that the driver has acknowledged me as a pedestrian before crossing in front of their jacked up truck in a parking lot.

It&#x27;s sad that we&#x27;ve taken it so far. Cars don&#x27;t inherently have to be death traps (see smaller cars in europe), and we shouldn&#x27;t have to use them for basic needs like getting groceries, but to just keep making them bigger and more dangerous for those outside of the car is plain insane.<p>And now these death machines are going electric, which is slightly better but now they&#x27;re wayy heavier. How many deaths are we going to need to see from the cybertrucks and Hummer EVs until regulation kicks in and makes us reconsider things?

Game theory predicts the “race to biggest” vehicles. The only way to stop it is through regulation and disincentives.<p>However, it’s important to consider future trends in automotive technology. Eventually, every new car sold will be an EV - so the pollution issue becomes much less of a concern, with a few pedantic caveats. Cars will also become self-driving.<p>Solve for the equilibrium. People will want rooms on the road - a self-driving, self-charging boat of a car that you can sleep in while it takes you from LA to Lake Tahoe overnight. It’ll even reach into the drive-thru window at McDonald’s and put your breakfast on a table for you to eat while facing your family members on a comfy sofa. Cars will become like miniature, smart, electric RVs minus the bathroom and ugly clunkiness. And since people won’t be driving them, and theoretically they can achieve super-human reaction time and sensing, maybe pedestrian safety will become less of an issue.<p>So regulation is tricky. I do think there should be an extra tax to price in the negative externality of large vehicles, but the government shouldn’t go too far with that and it shouldn’t preempt innovation in vehicle format.

&gt; You Don’t Need a Full-Size Pickup Truck, You Need a Cowboy Costume<p>That’s hilarious

They are just getting started of importing these cars to Germany. Every day I see more Ford pickup trucks in my City, thanks, I hate it. In the streets, there are more cars than people. They do not even fit on the property, so everybody just parks on the street, and this makes it real dangerous for scooter and cyclists.

At what size will these vehicles require a CDL? Hopefully it is a matter of size and not purpose.

Heavier is safer because your primary threat model is other heavy vehicles