Big Cars are killing Americans

[coobie]

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Get out of my way

 

[Andrus]

i know many here will not agree with this article, but just to stir the pot.... inho increased size of the pickup over the years to the now monstrous has posed safety hazards for pedestrians. add all the small vehicles now on public roads (i hate scooters, etc) only increases risk.
we have a voracious appetite for power/size/creature comfort, which is ok in iteslf. but there are blind spots on these larger trucks, & the increased power & creature comfort sometimes makes us unaware of our surroundings...add our thirst for social media while driving & it makes a recipe for disaster

(this comment is not intended for those who depend on larger pickups for their trade, etc. just for the mall cruisers in crowded areas)
your thoughts? the link should work

I agree with Big Bubba, I see a lot of "mall cruisers" in full size pickups that they do not need for any good reason. It's wasteful and stupid and harmful to the environment. A four wheel drive Tacoma or similar is plenty for the hobby farmer or weekend adventurer.

 

[Dunno]

i know many here will not agree with this article, but just to stir the pot.... inho increased size of the pickup over the years to the now monstrous has posed safety hazards for pedestrians. add all the small vehicles now on public roads (i hate scooters, etc) only increases risk.
we have a voracious appetite for power/size/creature comfort, which is ok in iteslf. but there are blind spots on these larger trucks, & the increased power & creature comfort sometimes makes us unaware of our surroundings...add our thirst for social media while driving & it makes a recipe for disaster

(this comment is not intended for those who depend on larger pickups for their trade, etc. just for the mall cruisers in crowded areas)
your thoughts? the link should work

Kill, or be killed.

 

[BradB]

Big giant pickup recently rear ended our Lexus while stopped at a red light. Over $15k damage. Laws of physics would tell us a lighter vehicle at the same velocity would not have done the same amount of damage. Correct? So the larger the vehicle the more hazardous they are.
Also, Just a month prior to this collision a guy (he was a surgeon) in a humongous pickup swiped the driver side of the Lexus, which was parked, pulling into the parking spot beside us. He smeared the side bad and didn't even know it. He got out of his vehicle and started walking into the store. Fortunately my wife waited in the car while I ran into the store. She had to chase after him to tell what he'd done. Most any other standard vehicle this accident would not have happened. Fortunately nobody was injured in either of these instances but these two events prove to me big trucks cause more damage and most likely more deaths.

 

[Jstpssng]

I've oft heard people comment that people with 4WDs are the worst drivers in a snowstorm, citing this or that incident. I tend to think that's because it's what people want to see. In pre-Covid days I would plan to go to the office on the crappiest days; a 90 mile ride one way, half of which is on the interstate. My favorite "trick" was to get behind a tractor trailer which was going at a sane speed and follow about 1/10 mile behind him, which kept my speed down. I would count vehicles which passed me; invariably, more than half were some type of sedan. That's also the vehicle type which would be poking along at 30 mph...

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

We are a minority but thrive on reason and common sense. We don't own anything for show.

Partly because there are so few other people around there is no one to show off to.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

Big giant pickup recently rear ended our Lexus while stopped at a red light. Over $15k damage. Laws of physics would tell us a lighter vehicle at the same velocity would not have done the same amount of damage. Correct?

Or perhaps a vehicle height mismatch made his bumper ride over the top of yours resulting in excessive damage to your vehicle which could have happened with any modern pickup.

So the larger the vehicle the more hazardous they are.

It isn't the size of the vehicle that makes it hazardous, it's the skill and attentiveness of the driver. I operated a Kenworth W-800 with double trailers in city traffic for several years and never had an accident with it. I learned that to make a right turn, I had to have my trailer blocking the right lane and the tractor in the next lane over with my turn signals on. Even then when my trailer moved far enough left someone in a Lexus or BMW would try to cut inside to make a right and have to stop to keep my trailer off their hood.

 

[PILOON]

People seem to have just too much money or simply don't know how/where to spend it.
That or it is 'live up to the Jones' syndrome.

Guess credit is just too easy.

I remember, years back, in Popular Mechanics where they did a 10 year comparison of maintaining/repairing your car.
They had it well pinned down, tires, brakes 2-3 paint jobs clutches etc.
The difference was very impressive and would be even more so at today's prices.

I have seen some prices that are simply appalling, like a $3000. bumper (because of all the sensors built in).
Then look at exhaust systems, those they like to steal, many of which, if U go OEM, will set U back over $1.5K.

A friend that owns a storage facility is now refusing to accept diesel powered RV's as they are targeted by the thieves and he's being sued as they claim they parked 'in his care and custody'.
While he has dozens of cameras the perps all wearing hoodies can not be identified.
Besides the LEO's don't care and even don't want to write a report.

 

[JasperFrank]

My daily driver is a 1993 Ford Festiva. Its a three speed automatic and gets 37 MPG, even with 230,000 on the odometer Its had the back seat removed which gives me plenty of space to haul just about anything I need. And I've hauled a great many things, from stone pavers to rooted 8 foot trees to ten, five gallon buckets of gravel. With the passenger seat set down, I can also load up to 12 foot dimensional lumber and a few 4 foot wide plywood sheets. Its the little car that can, and will be a hard thing to part with this year, as i do need a mid-sized pickup to tow boat stuff with. Love this car cause its an honest econo car that isn't pretending to be any thing else.
Luxury is defined as a Radio and Heating. You roll the windows down using a lever. Looking at the trucks available, they all seem obscene in excesses. They are just too big, have too many bells and whistles and too powerful for any application I can think of, that i wouldn't just have delivered anyway. To see that these are used as commuter vehicles, makes no sense. But people can buy what they have been told to buy.
I do have to laugh inside, knowing I pay less than $600 a year in insurance and a fill up is less than $40. And no one, even a crack head, will bother to break into a Ford Festiva, even though there were only four different key sets made for the entire series of cars.

 

[CADplans]

I am 2 meters tall (6'7"),, I do not fit in a "Mini Cooper",,
so, I drive a ,,,,,,,,

anything smaller would be hazardous to "MY HEALTH"!!