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Meanwhile in North America we have a arms race where everyone is buying bigger and bigger trucks for "safety" reasons, even though they're proven to be more wil

Meanwhile in North America we have a arms race where everyone is buying bigger and bigger trucks for "safety" reasons, even though they're proven to be more wildly more lethal to pedestrians in collisions. There's no end in sight and I don't know how we turn around from this trend, but I do feel that NA cities would be a lot safer and more efficient if we and our cities were trending toward the compact sort of small kei cars (and compact, thin streets) that they have in Japan.

syntaxing 8y ago
Agreed, but I am not sure how receptive small cars are in the Americas just from a practicality point of view. I've sat in many vans/sedans and they feel much more cramped. My family tends to have a significantly smaller frame and we still feel cramped. I cannot imagine a typical American family fitting comfortably in there for a 10+ hr roadtrip.
- romwell 8y ago
  >I cannot imagine a typical American family fitting comfortably in there for a 10+ hr roadtrip. From my experience, a Honda Fit is more than enough for 2 people + more stuff than two people may possibly need for a week-long road trip. And it's the same length as a VW Beetle New. The average US household size is about 2.5[1], and the median is 2[2]. Again, to emphasize: over half the country are either living by themselves, or with one other person. So, a typical American family would do well with a subcompact. [1]https://www.statista.com/statistics/183648/average-size-of-households-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/183648/average-size-of-h... [2]https://www.statista.com/statistics/242189/disitribution-of-households-in-the-us-by-household-size/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/242189/disitribution-of-...
- thucydidesofusa 8y ago
  Curious. I'm a large person - 6'4" and I weight train extensively and my experience has been that pickup trucks and cars are the only vehicles that can comfortably fit in. And I'm usually in agreement with other large people. CUVs have a squished passenger compartment and the seating is very high off the floor pan. 4 people like me could comfortably fit inside a Corolla or a Civic but not a RAV4 or CRV. My hunch is the CUVs have some amazing appeal for people who don't want hassle in general and don't care about the additional costs. And some people think they're cool. It's easier to grab stuff out of the back of a SUV than rummage through a sedan's trunk although they're comparably voluminous And if your knees are weak, it's nice to shimmy into a CUV than squat into a car. But you see so many people with large guts schlepping themselves into CUVs and scraping their carcases out of the seats they're sweat-welded too and the things loose their cool image. And you can run winter tires and get your accord through the snowy and icy weather or you can just pay the extra money for AWD and let Jesus take the wheel as needed.
examancer 8y ago
It's not all doom and gloom. Major American cities are also being invaded by a litany of battery powered vehicles, especially through ebike and electric scooter rental services. Some places, like here in Denver, seem to be embracing this with open arms and it could eventually help with both congestion and pollution. Inexpensive power-dense batteries will unlock a real revolution, not just in car-like transportation, but transportation you can pick up and carry with you, or stow under your desk at work. Electric skateboards, electric kick scooters, electric mopeds, electric giant wheels you straddle like a snowboard (OneWheel), electric unicycles, electric rollerskates... these are just a few of the device categories exploding in popularity. I think the battery transport revolution is already upon us, it's just harder to see because it's much smaller than we expected.
the8472 8y ago
> There's no end in sight and I don't know how we turn around from this trend Various european cities have bans on certain car categories and expand the bans further on smog days. If widespread enough it might drive people to choose cars that would still allow them to drive on such days, e.g. electrics.
hnaccy 8y ago
>Meanwhile in North America we have a arms race where everyone is buying bigger and bigger trucks for "safety" reasons, even though they're proven to be more wildly more lethal to pedestrians in collisions. It's not the pedestrian's safety they're worried about.

syntaxing 8y ago

Agreed, but I am not sure how receptive small cars are in the Americas just from a practicality point of view. I've sat in many vans/sedans and they feel much more cramped. My family tends to have a significantly smaller frame and we still feel cramped. I cannot imagine a typical American family fitting comfortably in there for a 10+ hr roadtrip.

romwell 8y ago
>I cannot imagine a typical American family fitting comfortably in there for a 10+ hr roadtrip. From my experience, a Honda Fit is more than enough for 2 people + more stuff than two people may possibly need for a week-long road trip. And it's the same length as a VW Beetle New. The average US household size is about 2.5[1], and the median is 2[2]. Again, to emphasize: over half the country are either living by themselves, or with one other person. So, a typical American family would do well with a subcompact. [1]https://www.statista.com/statistics/183648/average-size-of-households-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/183648/average-size-of-h... [2]https://www.statista.com/statistics/242189/disitribution-of-households-in-the-us-by-household-size/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/242189/disitribution-of-...
thucydidesofusa 8y ago
Curious. I'm a large person - 6'4" and I weight train extensively and my experience has been that pickup trucks and cars are the only vehicles that can comfortably fit in. And I'm usually in agreement with other large people. CUVs have a squished passenger compartment and the seating is very high off the floor pan. 4 people like me could comfortably fit inside a Corolla or a Civic but not a RAV4 or CRV. My hunch is the CUVs have some amazing appeal for people who don't want hassle in general and don't care about the additional costs. And some people think they're cool. It's easier to grab stuff out of the back of a SUV than rummage through a sedan's trunk although they're comparably voluminous And if your knees are weak, it's nice to shimmy into a CUV than squat into a car. But you see so many people with large guts schlepping themselves into CUVs and scraping their carcases out of the seats they're sweat-welded too and the things loose their cool image. And you can run winter tires and get your accord through the snowy and icy weather or you can just pay the extra money for AWD and let Jesus take the wheel as needed.

examancer 8y ago

It's not all doom and gloom. Major American cities are also being invaded by a litany of battery powered vehicles, especially through ebike and electric scooter rental services. Some places, like here in Denver, seem to be embracing this with open arms and it could eventually help with both congestion and pollution. Inexpensive power-dense batteries will unlock a real revolution, not just in car-like transportation, but transportation you can pick up and carry with you, or stow under your desk at work. Electric skateboards, electric kick scooters, electric mopeds, electric giant wheels you straddle like a snowboard (OneWheel), electric unicycles, electric rollerskates... these are just a few of the device categories exploding in popularity. I think the battery transport revolution is already upon us, it's just harder to see because it's much smaller than we expected.

the8472 8y ago

> There's no end in sight and I don't know how we turn around from this trend Various european cities have bans on certain car categories and expand the bans further on smog days. If widespread enough it might drive people to choose cars that would still allow them to drive on such days, e.g. electrics.

hnaccy 8y ago

>Meanwhile in North America we have a arms race where everyone is buying bigger and bigger trucks for "safety" reasons, even though they're proven to be more wildly more lethal to pedestrians in collisions. It's not the pedestrian's safety they're worried about.