this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2025
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Fuck Cars
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Oh wow. They did the math.
If I recall my driver's ed, most current "rules of the road" (such as leave a two second gap) are based around WW2 tank driving regulations.
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States should be taxing or increasing licensing fees on these vehicles to pay for the increased medical services because of these unsafe vehicles.
The state is actually a big part of the problem in this case. Small gas trucks are effectively illegal.
Automakers were fucking around with vehicle classifications in the 2000s to get around CAFE regulations. Things like the PT Cruiser were being classified as trucks. So starting in 2012, CAFE regulations were changed so that fuel economy standards were based on vehicle footprint. But it had a huge unintended consequence.
Suddenly a Toyota Corolla had less-strict fuel economy standards than small commercial vehicles like the Dakota, S-10, and Ranger. Notice how all 3 models were discontinued by 2012? And now that the Ranger is "back" its footprint is larger than some old F-150s?
As the CAFE standards get stricter over time, manufacturers have learned it's easier to just make the car bigger than to meet the fuel economy standards. They've made the marketing about penisnsize and shit, but it's really more about meeting regulations.
A more recent casualty was small cargo vans. The Transit Connect, ProMaster City, and NV200 were all discontinued by 2022 because small cargo vans can't meet CAFE. This is also why New York had to cancel its new Taxi fleet that was based on the NV200.
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*fucking. You can say fucking on the internet. Don't worry, we won't tell your mommy.
We should start packing nitroglycerin into kids backpacks to force drivers to be more careful. Sure, some kids would die unnecessarily but dead children seems to be a price Americans are very willing to pay.
Sure but what if some parents are too lazy or bad with money to be able to buy their children nitroglycerin without receiving government handouts? I don't want my tax dollars helping strangers kids.
/s seems necessary here
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They really should be! They're like cockroaches here in Alberta...they're everywhere.
I know right, children are the worst
YSK you can say "fuck" on the internet
Especially on the fediverse, we don't have corporate sponsors, who want us to be sterilized.
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Trying to ban them would be extraordinarily difficult. A potential solution would be to push to reclassify them as trucks, under trucking regulations (I'm unsure how this is done in the US). Once you need a tachograph and a requirement to keep driving records, it would cut back on sales. It also still allows "legitimate" usage. This would weaken the argument against the change.
Basically anything where you can't see a 5 year old within 0.5m of your bumper should be under "truck" rules, not "car" rules.
For this purpose, it’s not a question of banning them, but adding pedestrian safety regulations. You can still build these monstrosities while also providing better visibility and less likelihood for victims to be run over.
It’s just banning the “wall” of the front. That’s only required as a style choice and style should not trump safety
I’ve actually been paying more attention lately since my brother bought a Chevy ~~Behemoth~~ Silverado EV. As a big and tall guy I’m used to being bigger than most people I encounter, but looking at the “wall” at the front of these vehicles, it is also well above my center of mass. I would also be thrown down and run over. It’s not just children but there really is no “big enough” to survive getting hit with those
(And yes I will keep giving my brother a hard time. After All these years of owning a house and large property where he could have argued he needed a truck, he gets one after he gave up that property. He bought this monstrosity to commute alone and do road trips alone. Nothing to tow. Nothing to haul.)
“Nothing to to tow, nothing to haul.” is so typical. And when they do it’s something even a sedan could pull or a van would have been better for. And then they’ll claim they want winter safety even as I comfortably rip by them in a blizzard with my goddamn BRZ(partly because I actually bought winter tires and they think their frozen “all-terrain” tires are good enough).
I know a guy who's like 250 lbs and like 3 feet wide at the shoulders and he has driven an early 2000s honda fit hatchback for two decades with a family of four. He has a work truck he borrows sometimes to haul things, which he does way more than anyone I know with a truck (farmworkers excluded). Nobody needs one of these shitty ass giant trucks.
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Since I live in a place where driving is necessary (Texas), I drive a smaller electric car.
From my perspective, even small SUVs are far too big. If I'm behind them at a light, I can't see when the light changes.
I was recently surprised to learn that in other countries, they have popular versions of pickup trucks that are smaller than almost anything you can find here in the states.
Anybody who buys a vehicle that size in OP's picture would have to be a sociopath. They do not consider how other people are affected by their selfish actions.
The thought of what America would be like if kei trucks were popular...
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I thought this was about the freaky little mankins, I was like "yeah they're freaky, but banned is a bit harsh" then I saw that the background was a modern truck grille, not a building.
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12 yards long, 2 lanes wide, 65 tons of American pride!
Well, I assume the idea is to see the children before they're that close....
That being said, from my small vehicle I could probably tell what shoes someone is wearing from the same distance that the driver of one of these monstrosities can barely tell their hair color.
I get why trucks exist, I just don't get why so many people drive them as their primary or only vehicle when they don't regularly haul anything more than groceries.
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But how will I advertise how insecure I am about my small wiener if I can't drive a monster with five gallons to the mile on diesel?
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btw when they blind me at night going 75 mph in the rocky mountains, i find it to be deadly too.
I always get nervous whenever i see one of these new GM pickups cuz they are just wayy too tall.
And you know the driver's not a bright spark.
The solution will never be ending the obvious problem, but rather replacing windshields with giant LCDs using front mounted cameras or something.
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THE NEW MAIBATSU MONSTROSITY
Why drive a small car? Are you a small person? The new SUV Maibatsu Monstrosity guzzles gas and is equipped for crossing Arctic tundra! Driving one will make you feel good!
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Agreed, we shouldn’t be letting the goddamn ephemeral mannekinder block roadways.
How would they carry stuff, guns and their alpha male ego? Did you think about that? /s
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