The kid's grown six inches in two years and still isn't tall enough to be seen over the hood of these ridiculous death machines prowling our neighborhood streets.
@breadandcircuses @DrTCombs or at least regulated out of existance with #VehicleTax based iff #Engine displacement * emissions and the fact that.most drivers can't legally drive them as their MGW exceeds their license...
In fact, it's illegal to even park them on,the curb if they exceed 2,8t MGW...
https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/112118604320768940
@DrTCombs I just feel sick watching this. The amount of these monsters in the CITY, emphasis on CITY, of Montreal, is appalling. No one needs these in the city (and arguably, nowhere) to do their monthly Costco shop.
I've started making little pamphlets with similar images (from the media) and sneaking them into their windshields, but I'm genuinely afraid of getting beaten up one day for violating their windshield freedom...
They are here in Vancouver, too.
I drive an ancient corolla. I can’t see tHe traffic past these vehicles.
They cause accidents even when they aren’t involved.
@theteapixie @magalhini @DrTCombs. They are ubiquitous and make driving treacherous and walking, which I love to do, fatal. Here's hoping to 9 lives.
@theteapixie @DrTCombs That's a larger issue than the height of the vehicles. A motorist can't see through the windows of an ordinary van or panel truck ahead of them, either. Many don't even have any. Generally I hate technological solutions, but like backup cameras, I think the best solution to that problem is to require a rear-mounted screen displaying the feed from a front-facing camera on any vehicle that doesn't have a clear line of sight through the windshield from behind.
@DrTCombs @callisto @theteapixie
this and regulations on manufacture, taking us back to days when trucks weren’t like this
@theteapixie
There's nothing accidental about someone choosing to drive these monsters around, blocking everyone's view of the road, and hampering situational awareness leading to collisions.
These people should be held responsible for the damage they cause. They are not causing accidents but chaos.
@magalhini @DrTCombs A single person can probably do their monthly costco shop on a mountain bicycle with a makeshift trailer. And the mountain bicycle will get them both into and out of trouble in the mud faster.
@reinhilde @magalhini @DrTCombs me and my partner have trouble with regular bikes these days, but we do our shopping with a quad cargo e-bike, and it's fine.
there's so many options for a city other than monster truck.
@owl
Oh that bike is awesome!!!
@reinhilde @magalhini
@reinhilde @magalhini @DrTCombs I have a bike trailer and it is a great way to go to places with my kid. It is like an inverse truck because it looks very small, but it can hold a stupid amount of stuff.
Ebike+trailer is just the perfect way to go if you have the infrastructure to go. I could even buy a new bike and trailer every year and it still would be cheaper than owning a (shitty) car
@magalhini I call these ridiculous vehicles codpieces. I keep hoping it will catch on.
@mckra1g @magalhini @DrTCombs Haha, I know you had the /s, but in seriousness, I've done that in a compact sedan for my family of 4. Filled the giant Costco cart almost to the brim, and packed it all in the trunk.
Edit: compact, not subcompact.
@magalhini @DrTCombs post the flyers. If anyone who drives one of those trucks can actually catch me they deserve to try to beat me up.
@magalhini @DrTCombs Thank you for your service
@DrTCombs why do you need such big cars? 🤔
@DrTCombs bonus points for parking on the sidewalk so people who use mobility aids can't get past it
@callisto @DrTCombs
I like that in the alt-text it was mentioned that there was no sidewalk for the second truck to park on, because you know darn well they would have done so if one were available to park on.
They’re like the front end of an older school bus and they’re used mainly as a single-person vehicle. They’re beyond ridiculous.
As there is no practical reason for this, these are literally murdermobiles. How anyone can look at these fronts and not immediately imagine a cartoon villain cackling at the wheel is alien to me.
@DrTCombs im concerned if we use the current chevy truck model each yeah and the same girl we will find ourselves i 2034 with a 5ft high, taller than 30% of adult population, as the norm
@DrTCombs
I'm 6' tall and there's a couple Suburban Assault Vehicles in my neighborhood I can't see over the hood. It's wild.
@DrTCombs I just want a plug-in hybrid Maverick!
@wcbdata I want a '92 Tacoma with airbags.
@DrTCombs Or an early 90s hi-lux 4x4!
@wcbdata I had one.
Trust me...it's not worth it lol
I'm surprised they haven't added spikes or something to the front for easier removal of smaller obstacles. /s
@TobiWanKenobi @DrTCombs All they need is to add a cow catcher.
@DrTCombs and also in the 2022 picture, taking up 3/4 of the sidewalk. How appropriately American.
@DrTCombs
The design of these trucks is ridiculous. We have a farm, and actually use a truck, and the best truck we have ever had was an F150 full bed, regular cab, standard, work truck built in 1985. Likely looks like a toy next to these stupid things, but could outwork any of them all day long and could be repaired in the field if need be. I drive a 2008 Corolla for daily stuff, and it's impossible to see around these behemoth trucks in parking lots or on the road.
@Lomaxcat @DrTCombs The beds of modern pickups have actually shrunk quite a lot (and as someone else mentioned, since they are so tall it is harder to actually get stuff onto the bed). So they're a lot less useful for what you'd actually want a pickup truck for.
Pretty good article on the subject here:
https://www.axios.com/2023/01/23/pickup-trucks-f150-size-weight-safety
@DrTCombs@transportation.social Good thing my F-250 has radar in the front to alert me of things I can not see.
@gme oh, and the truck has checks in place to determine whether the radar is working 100% of the time, and shuts the whole vehicle down when it detects an issue, right?
@DrTCombs@transportation.social It gives me an alert if something is wrong. It also has a collision warning system that's supposed to (never tested it) prevent me from hitting something in front of me. Starts off passive and then moves to active collision avoidance the closer I get (if I'm going over a certain speed). Again, never tested it because I don't want to intentionally hit anything.
@gme @DrTCombs What year? I've got a 2017 and I don't believe its "Active" avoidance. But once it starts flashing the red lights at you on the windshield, it preloads the brakes so that as soon you apply, you're getting a LOT of stopping power. But I thought Ford wasn't doing Active on the superdutys because when you're towing a trailer - at times, the best option is to drive right into whatever is in front of you since swerving or braking really hard can make a bad situation a LOT worse..
@Tedgarrison3@mstdn.social @DrTCombs@transportation.social 2022
Also maybe it's not active when I'm in towing mode? I do tow a 42' fifth wheel with it and the truck is definitely aware when I'm in towing mode or when the trailer umbilical is hooked up.
@consumtariat@merveilles.town @DrTCombs@transportation.social Then I guess it's a good thing that the way our laws our written the driver would be the one to go to jail and not the radar system or did you not know that?
@consumtariat@merveilles.town @DrTCombs@transportation.social They're called "accidents" (or "collisions" now-a-days) because most drivers' don't set out to intentionally hit another object or person.
When it's intentional it's called vehicular homicide (if it's intentional) or vehicular manslaughter (if it's unintentional) and the person dies.
@DrTCombs i had to cross the street with a modified one that couldn't see me and had loud music so they couldn't hear me. They almost hit me but i had been gesturing at their passenger, who stopped them.
Im 5'8" without shoes.
I think you'd have had to be more like 6' to bee seen over the central intake hood thingy, though 5'10 would be fine elsewhere... You don't even really get in trouble for killing people with your vehicle. No jail. Just an "accident."
These trucks need banned.
@cykonot @DrTCombs
Full agreement. Straight up ban.
Introduce strict design regulations that require direct lines of sight from shortest legal driver comfortably seated to 2 year old at all points along the front. And crash regs that require impact at knee or lower on adults, falling on hood. Etc. For sedans, trucks, delivery vans, etc etc.
@cykonot @Gurre @DrTCombs so basically, what the EU does. Here, the regulations also take the other participants of a crash into account to reduce the damage for these. For example, the hood must be designed in a way that a pedestrian is directed over the car instead of under it. That regulation helps to reduce the number of deaths and severity of injuries and is the reason, why the Cybertruck with its current design is not legal in Europe.
@DrTCombs That was horrifying in 2022 and it's even more horrifying now. In any sensible society, monster trucks like that would be outlawed.