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The guy on the right has never seen a worksite or a dirt road. He drives around town to go shop at Whole Foods
(lemmy.world)
this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2025
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Fuck Cars
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A max vehicle tonnage won't work since you need to exempt trucks and delivery vans (or change a couple of things drastically). So you could say that when something is used for work/delivery they are exempt and all others have a max tonnage. But since these guys buy and register it as a work vehicle, they will not be hit by the max tonnage.
Would imposing a limit on the ratio of useable volume/volume be reasonable ? Or hight off the road?
I don’t want fewer of these beasts, I want them gone. They are absurdly dangerous with no net benefit (offroading? Seriously??)
Maybe an easier one would be mandating that cars should not be allowed to have open-air transport areas, for safety reasons such as transport not sticking out, pedestrian safety, and so on. Since it's possible to stick out with those pickups, that automatically prohibits cars
What also can be added, is abolishing the lease for SUVs altogether, and prohibiting the import and building of those that are taller, longer, wider, and heavier than certain dimensions (say 4 by 1.8 by 1.5 m), even for work.
Mandate that people sell them. Those who bought the SUVs before 1 January 2025, then can get a subsidy of 25% off for the new car, if it's more energy efficient, smaller and lighter, and doesn't have an open rear. Or, they can get 50% off for a bike (electric, transport, or whatever, but no fatbike).
But it’s possible to stick out from any car? I think I am not understanding correctly what you mean
With those pickup trucks, they have a large open back. The open back can be considered part of the car itself. If you put a long plank on there, it can stick out, and that's deadly for other drivers and pedestrians.
With vans, it can only ever be enclosed, and that's safer.
That would ban all pickup trucks but still allow huge SUVs with similar build. I don’t think that would solve much of the problem
Maybe then the tonnage, length/height/width too?
Or alternatively, tax cars according to length/height/width, tonnage, energy efficiency, and % space left unused. Obviously, the car also has to adhere to safety regulations before being allowed on the road.
The smaller the car, the lower the tonnage, the more energy efficient, the better.
For space usage, you could say that it needs to have space for 2-6 passengers, all having seats with enough leg space. The 'storage' space may not take up more than 20% of the car's inner volume, and must be fully covered.
We also need to look at the supply chains and see what would incentivise car companies to support these moves.
I guess, these things weigh more than 3.5 tons. In Germany that means that you would need a truck driver's license to drive them. That license alone costs 3000-5000€ and you have to pass a medical test every few years to keep it. You also need a digital driver's card which, combined with a digital tachograph permanently stores your speed and your driving times. You'll be treated like a professional truck driver, so you can't drive for more than 9 hours per day, have to have an 11 hour break every night and at least a 45 hour break once a week. In practice that means that you can't use your vehicle after 8pm if you drive to work at 7 in the morning and you can't really use it on the weekend etc.
That's enough of a hassle to deter most of the people from getting such a car so much that I rarely ever see them here.
For delivery vans that's no problem because they have to adhere to these limits anyway, because of workers protection rights.