30 associations are proposing to the European Commission to impose a limit on the size of new cars, in particular the total width and bonnet.
A report connected with this request showed that the average bonnet height of newly-sold cars in Europe is increasing by 0.5 cm a year.
Many studies showed that bigger cars and higher bonnets are related to more collisions, and worse outcome for pedestrians and cyclists (and those in smaller cars), especially in regards to children
Those SUVs are kid crushers, they shouldn’ be on our roads
crossposed from: https://mastodon.uno/users/rivoluzioneurbanamobilita/statuses/114674420551539891
I’ve said it’s stupid when the whole SUV crazy began some 15 years ago. Everyone rushing buying SUV’s to chug their children to school and everyone was buying them with excuse of safety and visibility. Nevermind that when everyone has these oversized dick compensators, no one is “safer” any longer and for visibility, people have proven they can’t drive for shit whether they are in a small hatchback or a tall SUV. They still don’t see shit and still hit things because they don’t actually look.
And there is no way going back, it’s just getting worse. Few years ago European sized SUV’s were the most we’ve seen. Now some are Murica sized SUV’s that are the size of aircraft carrier and I’m seeing more and more stupid pickup trucks like F150. And it’s not driven by some lumber worker who needs heavy equipment in a middle of forest, it’s always some rich posers driving them.
They can’t revert what has been done, they can just stop this madness at what it is now.
Honestly I think it was more than 15 years ago. As soon as “light trucks” (a category including SUVs) became less regulated than any other vehicle, it’s been aggressive marketing from automakers to push them. Remember when even the Simpsons was pushing how terrible and dangerous SUVs were with the canyonero? It’s just been political loopholes pushed by corporations, and now we live in a country where the top 3 best selling vehicles have all been 20 foot long pickups for years.
In my opinion that should by handled by vehicle taxes. If your car exceeds the dimensions cities are designed for right now, your tax increases. If it’s noticeably smaller/lighter (think kei car), you get a tax rebate.
People would be a lot more interested in compact vehicles if driving one made a real difference in their wallet.
Issue is, people who buy oversized SUVs already have money, they don’t really care if taxes on them increase. It’ll just become even greater showcase of who has cash to throw around and who doesn’t.
@Jesus_666 @RejZoR I agree, as long as non-car owners are considered. If a kei car owner gets a rebate, non-car owners should get an even bigger one.
Mind you, I’m talking about a partial rebate on the vehicle tax. People who don’t own cars don’t pay vehicle tax, of course.
Here in belgium the car and car-related expense are income-tax rebatable (because “you need to drive to work”).
I’m paying 2 times more taxes because I don’t have a car
beyond a certain size should require a Commercial Drivers License as well