Until the US is safely walkable or bikeable, people...

mekka okereke :verified:'s posts Post Back to profile

Until the US is safely walkable or bikeable, people will continue to buy urban tanks in self-defense.

Since my kids were three years old, they've known to raise their hand as high as they can and wave it around whenever they hear a car engine start.

Some strangers smile and wave back when they see my kids do this. They think it's cute! But it's not really that cute.

An image showing the grill Heights of a BMW car from the seventies versus a BMW SUV from 2021. The grill height of the modern SUV is taller than a child on a bicycle and taller than a child walking.

Like 10 Feb 2023 at 22:04 | Open on hachyderm.io

2 comments

Charlie Stross replied to mekka okereke :verified:

@mekkaokereke

I want to see motor vehicles taxed by the volume they occupy.

Multiply the length x breadth x height together, divide by number of seats, charge it annually. (Allow a discount for commercial vehicles that carry freight, but NOT for pickup trucks or vans used for general business, i.e. the dentist driving a tricked-out Ford F150 for the tax break.)

Such a tax scales as the cube of the vehicle's overall dimensions, so it punishes oversize SUVs and pickups accordingly.

11 Feb 2023 at 11:40 | Open on wandering.shop

tellyworth replied to Charlie

@cstross @mekkaokereke @tellyworth here’s a 12yo beside a vehicle whose owner pays the same registration fee as I do for my small hatchback. It’s also exempt from emissions targets and is probably a tax deduction for its owner. It didn’t fit in the parking space.

11 Feb 2023 at 23:30 | Open on ioc.exchange