@breadandcircuses @jensorensen
Jen Sorensen is a treasure, and these vehicles are ridiculous as well as deadly to pedestrians. Here is some recent news:

https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/nhtsa-proposes-new-vehicle-safety-standard-protect-pedestrians

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen
Sorry i don't have links, but there's been some interesting reporting about how the auto industry has been progressively swelling the size of pickup trucks to dodge EPA fuel mileage regulations. And yes there's an entire sector of the "backup camera" market dedicated to nose cameras, just to accommodate these rigs.

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen As a pedestrian, I'd be interested in a comparison of frontover deaths between pickups, semi tractors, and buses. I'm curious to see if it's the vehicle's fault or the driver's negligence.

@jensorensen @breadandcircuses Don’t forget the #dachshund

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen Then there'd be an increase in deaths due to falling off stilts... and the ensuing uproar about stilt safety... can you imagine? Stilt airbags, gyro-stabilized stilts, self-walking stilts? Aaah, it's already getting out of hand!!

(Sarcasm, of course... maybe they should regulate the truck size)

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen Worst of it all is, it's another Great Moment in Unintended Consequences.
Regulations put the squeeze on small vehicles so now mfgs are making bobtail semis with pickup beds.
As the squeeze gets tighter, the vehicles get bigger. Starting to blur the line between a pickup truck and a rig that needs a commercial license.

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen no taxes are going to stop this. If legislated in 2025, production might stop in 2030, and they'd be on the road another 2 or 3 decades (1 decade for american makes). What does work are city bans and elevated licensing for vehicles over 3000lbs or with fronts at organ height.

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen Do not use words like "folly" vainly like that thanks.

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen I get some looks in my 90's S-10, but nobody says anything disparaging. Probably because I use it for actual work.

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen

I'm a dwarf (not like the character in my profile picture), and these trucks terrify me.

At the same time I don't understand the appeal of having to climb these monstrosities. People look ridiculous doing so.

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen

I've walked on stilts with @naugeleh.

There's no way I would risk getting near a car on them, which I think says a lot.

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen @davep

There are now gadgets to hang from door latches and over tires so people can work on the engines of these trucks or in order to reach things put up on the roof.

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen cc @euklidiadas

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen I hate them for all the usual pedestrian safety and gas guzzling reasons. But they also block visibility for other drivers at intersections, which must also increase the number of accidents.

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen
I think the ADAS systems need to be able to see the ground 12 feet ahead of the instrument. This means a good system does not work on an F-150.
It also means they won't be allowed on European roads, soon.

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen I've owned and driven an SUV since 2005. The reason was because my wife started needing a wheelchair in 2004 and we needed a car into which it would fit along with our two kids. I don't need a monster truck, but... If you got rid of big vehicles, you would be impacting the disabled and light construction/service people.

@breadandcircuses The fact that *actual tanks* have shorter blind spots than these monstrosities is baffling.

@breadandcircuses @jensorensen I'd feel a little safer if I knew the person driving the hunk of steel got their licence in it
Or maybe, before they could drive it, had to get a specific certification to prove they could safely control the vehicle