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U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high
(text.npr.org)
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this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2023
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Big ass trucks can't see pedestrians immediately in front and to the side of them because they're so tall.
I own one of those trucks. There's several feet in front of me that I literally cannot see. Some models had an optional front facing camera to address the issue.
There's no reason for the height, other than "We can't be shorter than other brand". It's less fuel efficient, less convenient for hauling things (you have to lift stuff that much further into the bed), makes it handle worse, and makes it less good for towing. Unfortunately there are no heavy duty short trucks being made. Nor can you really lower the current truck due to the design of the rear axle. You might get a few inches, but that's about it.
I really like the Ridgeline, but it cannot handle the work we do with our 3/4 ton pickup (towing a heavy trailer).
I hope you know you're an outlier. The vast majority of people who own trucks in the US don't use them for things like towing or hauling.
According to this data from Axios,^1 on a self-reported survey, only 7% of US truck owners regularly use them for towing, and only 28% regularly use them for hauling.
87% use them for fucking grocery shopping.
They are called pavement princesses and mall crawlers.
Lifted trucks and jeeps that have never even seen a gravel road
I think you mean "street princesses". "Pavement princesses" seems to be slang for prostitutes.
Yes, and this is the kind of thing I hate. We have tools to use them, but get looked down on because most people are buying completely insane tools for their actual use case / needs. It also leads to the fricken "Luxury Trucks" and all around the trucks costing more and more.
Of course, we're also privileged to be able to get a truck used, and not drive it unless we need to haul or tow something heavy. So we drive much smaller vehicles for commuting or getting groceries.
Had a friend in tenth grade die that way, large truck hit him while he was crossing an intersection on a bike (they didn't stop at a stop sign). Even on the bike he wasn't tall enough to be seen over the hood.
And not just big ass trucks. I sat in a toyota highlander the other day and the hood was tall and massive. Why? Just for style. It has a small 4 cylinder. The nhtsa or whoever needs to add a car safety category for visibility. Until then massive grills and low visibility will be the norm.
Ironically pedestrian crumple zone requirements mean biggers hoods.