@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii Which is kinda absurd but then explains the extreme #lethality of U.S. roads even when adjusted per capita:
Vehicles are allowed to be sold as road-legal in the #USA that would be completely illegal in the #EU due to their front being basically a lethal wall, increasing the chance of more severe and lethal trauma by less protected traffic participants like pedestrian, cyclists, scooter and motorcycle drivers as well as smaller vehicles...
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii For example the only way to get those front "grills" or rather push bars legal in Germany that are commonplace on U.S. trucks and cop cars is by importing them and restoring the car with documentation for this to be "period correct as sold to initial customer"...
Otherwise these are just flatout illegal due to being extremely lethal towards non-cars and non-trucks when hit...
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii So yeah, #ChickenTax and #CAFE are being used as shitty ways to commit #Protectionism whilst also skirting regulations.
Gladly the latter one doesn't work in #Europe...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo
Save $20 on an annual subscription to Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/notjustbikesEngineers, planners, politicians, and advocates all around the world are tryin...
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii and as @notjustbikes shows:
Americans are just shitting themselves for some reason...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo&t=348s
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes
So yeah, the lack of mandatory crash safety standards also accounting for weaker participants resulted literally in this arms race...
Pretty shure a lot of "light" trucks form the USA would qualify as "illegal armoured vehicles" by German tech inspection:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo&t=381s
https://mastodon.social/@threetails/111044172637253217
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes
To me it's just absurd when a #SuperUselessVehicle's oversized front can literally hide an entire #Kindergarten class...
There's a reason this doesn't work with European Designs - not even heavy trucks and buses...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo&t=559s
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii and yes @notjustbikes makes a good argument which is why car insurance for new drivers on fast cars is so expensive in Germany:
People tend to be overconfident too fast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo&t=693s
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii And even in #Germany I can confirm @notjustbikes 's words:
The higher the #SuperUselessVehicle [unless it's an actual #Offroad car like a real #Jeep, not that #SUV crap!] the bigger the #asshole-level...
I've been cut off driving a scooter several times by Mercedes G GL & GLK classes but not by a single Audi A1-A8 to this day...
I wounder why?
Maybe people buy these as overcompensation for their egos??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo&t=714s
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes
Which conveniently brings me to the point that if we can't have everyone living in walkable neigbourhoods with excellent public transport and biking infrastructure, we should at least do the #AntiSUV and make #PersonalLightVehicles:
https://github.com/KBtechnologies/PLV
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes the only "demographical shift" I notice is that rich #boomers buy these shitcars because they can't be bothered to get down to enter a #car...
Literally saying "It's easy to get in and out" to justify buying a Tiguan over a Passat Variant...
I KID YOU NOT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo&t=852s
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @notjustbikes Just like with the #Humvee the #MercedesG-class is just a pitch to sell "Mil Spec" to assholes with more money than sense...
The only versions of those I'd ever drive are the milsurp'd ones and even those would be a #0thWorldProblem "#OffroadToy" that I can't even park in my neighbourhood because even my 2007 Corsa D won't fit in a Garage built in 1953 and the #Datsun1200 from the late 70s that @fuchsiii owns barely does.
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @notjustbikes @fuchsiii I mean, the #Gclass is a replacement of the #Iltis with more options like a literal ambulance truck...
And also as #Technical by the #USMC for some reason because OFC they gonna bolt an Mk19 automatic grenade launcher on it's back and go fast with it...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Iltis
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_(Fahrzeug)
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii
So yeah, the amount of #MotorizedViolence is rising due to #AssholeDriving and #ViolenceCulture that normalizes that shit!
@notjustbikes
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes
I mean, what's this shit?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ByEBjf9ktY&t=1485s
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes That's just a #KeiCar-esque electric #Minitruck and they are great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo&t=1095s
So much that #PICNIC uses them exclusively for their #GroceriesDelivery service and #DeutschePost / #DHL literally bought a manufacturer for their electric minitrucks and calls them #StreetScooter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StreetScooter
And #UPS converted a lot of their trucks to a drop-in electric kit in order to serve Regulated areas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-emission_zone#Germany
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes
Also if someone wants to move a shitton of very bulky stuff occasionally if not tow a trailer there's a simple solution for that:
It's called a #Car #rental...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo&t=1251s
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes
IMHO it's not enough to make #SUV's and obese #Pickup #trucks uncool, but I wished that #taxation would not just go by engine displacement * emissions class as is now in Germany, but by deadweight - maximum weight and useable volume.
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes and yes the only contractors driving #Pickups in #Europe are #Gardeners and others who use the bed to stow bulky tools and materials like bags of soil and rocks and sit-on mowers and snowplows and so forth...
Stuff they'd otherwise put on a seperate trailer...
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes And yes it's quite shocking that the truckbed of a Datsun 1200 shortbed is bigger than that of a Isuzu DMAX longbed ( short cabin...
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes And sadly the shitty loopholes and tariffs are intentional - and in fact car manufacturers will use billions to prevent that from ever happening...
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes pretty shure they'd rather kill #EPA staff than bow before logic...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo&t=1740s
#sarcasm ofc
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes But #NHTSA #CrashTesting being done only in-class and not like #EuroNCAP with ALL traffic participants is telling...
It has nothing to do with #safety bur solely with #lobbying.
https://youtu.be/jN7mSXMruEo?feature=shared&t=1770
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes Sadly #VehicleTaxes and #Tolls are a #federal and not a #city level decision in #Germany....
Otherwise some Cities would try the same as one did with Bulldogs and tried to outlaw them with an absurd dog tax of €3.000 p.a. which OFC got canceled by courts as it was clear that it's an illegally high #paywall ...
But IDK how it's done in the #USA...
#Japan does incentivize #KeiCars tho with lower costs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo&t=1811s
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes And whilst I dilike a general national speed limit on motorways, I think a speed limit of 30 km/h if not 20 km/h within city limits is better anyway as it allows for equal participation by cyclists and the weakest scooters road-legal...
@threetails @douglasvb @GreenFire @fuchsiii @notjustbikes so whilst "#TireExtinguishing" aka. non-consensually deflating car tires may seem like an act of self-defense, I doubt this will do much longterm except people getting portable compressors that run of 12V DC to undo the nuisance if not create additional cost by pressing charges at the police.
Granted it's not a permanent damage or active hazard like unscrewing the tires, but yeah, #SuperUselessBehicle are shit.
Kevin Karhan 
