Fuck Cars
A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
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They do ok against regular sized cars, just yours are insanely big.
As a five foot tall person, I've been in love with Kei trucks since I frist saw one. I don't have one (I don't have any car), but I would if I could.
It's taller than my old mk4, and similar size to a standard 4 door sedan. I think I saw a video comparing the bed of a Kei truck to the bed of a new monster drive.tough.mydickisbig.I can't see children ahead of my bumber so they become projectiles, type trucks.. and the Kei truck holds more cargo.
Isn't there a sin against vanity? These giant trucks are more dangerous than these smaller ones, and they dont serve a purpose outside of vanity.
Oh, those big pickup trucks do serve a purpose beyond vanity for a lot of us. My big 4-wheel drive Dodge Hemi has to do things no Kei can possibly do. I've got a couple of trailers that your Kei couldn't even begin to move just half loaded. And one that it couldn't even move empty. So your blind blanket statement shows a serious lack of critical thought on the subject.
If you had seen me in town earlier this week at the clinic with my what you refer to as a "monster drive.tough.mydickisbig" truck, you wouldn't have seen the oils, greases, and other sundry items that I need to live in the middle of a very rural forest. And they were all things I do not want to haul in the "family" vehicle.
Now while I do sort of agree that many people that don't need a large pickup, there is no way to tell if they do or don't unless you know them personally. Perhaps they are a trades person who needs to pull and enclosed trailer filled with tools and supplies or maybe it's a family that has a fishing boat or pontoon boat they use when the weather is nice, maybe a couple of jet skis or a camper/ice fishing house. (Unless you want to outright ban the existence of such things) If you can tell the difference between someone who owns one for sheer vanity vs a need at a mere glance, then scientists really need to study you in a lab somewhere.
Kei trucks have a niche and reason to exist. And they are a great idea and can solve some issues in dense urban areas most definitely. But my big Hemi also fills a niche and has a reason to exist that no Kei type truck or Tuk Tuk can even start to fill. They both fill two very different types of needs and uses. They are both dangerous in their own ways, (what tool isn't dangerous). And they can both exist in the same space.
I've hooked a trailer to my fuckin jetta, my sister still has a trailer hooked to her civic. There are other countries that have workers who do the same thing you are doing, but with practical sized vehicles.
Growing up we had a 1950's model ford, and a 1990's Chevy s-10 as our two farm trucks. I drove that S10 starting at 11 years old. We had the big tractor and the little one. More than enough to get the job done. Dont know why you'd want to move used oil in the same truck you drive to the clinc, but that's a choice.
I grew up likely with similar people/way of life you did and yet my opinion is different. Doesn't mean I'm not informed. My jetta pulled a motor boat to a lake. Little vr6 with big fuckin balls. My sister is building her own house by hand, and uses her civic with a trailer. Other nations/cultures favor vans to harbor tools and such.
Im mostly seeing vanity trucks with four foot beds out in my small rural community, bordered by university "small city". My redneck uncles back in the 90s even agreed extended cabs were for yuppies, and my god how the culture has changed.
What value does your very rural lifestyle in a forest provide to greater society, to such an extent that society and the environment should subsidize the infrastructure and fuel required to support your large truck?
By all means live your very rural lifestyle with a massive truck, jet skis, campers, and fishing houses, but you are a special snowflake in a blizzard of millions - if not billions - of people who can and want to live as part of a flourishing and sustainable society. You should pay the real costs of driving your big truck.
You're welcome to own a Grand Cannoneer for all I care. Just pay for the fucking externalities of doing so is all I ask. I'm sick of leeches demanding a free ride for their choices.
I can think of one who owns a Hemi and won't shut up about it.
Have you heard of Land Rover?
At lower speeds perhaps. But at highway speeds probably not. Remember: You are the crumple zone in those Kei trucks. As an old and now retired Medic and Firefighter, I'm glad I will never need to cut a dead body out of one those things-- I bet it would be a messy and bloody affair. Because while cutting the first one or two wreaks is sort of fun and exciting, it quickly becomes depressing after that and leaves mark that ain't ever growing back. And I carry enough marks to take to the grave with me.
The acceleration is also poor due to the small low and powered engines. I would not want to try and merge onto a freeway in a metropolitan area in one. And you can bet long money that some suburban weekend warrior Bob Villa wanna be is going to try to do exactly that with the back end loaded with 10 sheets of plywood, 2 dozen 2x4's, a roll of outdoor carpeting and 8 bags of concrete. And then be super surprised when he becomes a hood ornament for a semi truck rolling along at 60mph or some SUV.
That said, I do think thing such small delivery vehicles have a place in the urban environment. Hell, even a Tuk Tuk, a cheap and popular 3rd world motorcycle taxi/cargo hauler hybrid would be even better yet. They would be excellent for operating on side streets and residential neighborhoods making small deliveries. Just keep them off of high speed roadways. And I'm not sure that's a solvable problem. Humans being what they are.
I’ve never seen one on a motorway, I’m not 100% sure that they’re allowed, plus in European countries small cars are far more common. We do ok.