4 ms·

Because the distances people travel via car within Europe and Japan are an order of magnitude shorter than the US? Because European and Japanese towns/cities a

Because the distances people travel via car within Europe and Japan are an order of magnitude shorter than the US? Because European and Japanese towns/cities are much closer together whereas in the US they're much further apart with much more rural/wilderness land? Long drives in cramped cars _suck_.

adrianN 4y ago
No that's not true. Americans drive only a little more kilometers per trip than Europeans.
pintxo 4y ago
Also cities in Europe are significantly denser then most US cities.
busterarm 4y ago
Like, I've done multiple drives across the US in various directions and most of your time is spent looking at trees or vegetation. Meanwhile I've been watching robcdee this past month bike across Japan on roads that are virtually 99% in a town of some kind with very little time spent anywhere undeveloped.
hulitu 4y ago
TBHi heard that the main reason why american cars are bigger it't because americans are fatter.
- busterarm 4y ago
  Europeans are catching up. Not as fast as the Brits did but the EU is still majority overweight.
  - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
    Don't know if this thread is sarcastic or not, but Europe is not catching up. https://obesity.procon.org/global-obesity-levels/ https://obesity.procon.org/global-obesity-levels/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_r... US ranks very high 12 United States of America 36.2% First European country is Ireland at #51, first continental Europe country is Greece, at #54, my country is ranked #107.
    - djvdq 4y ago
      Hey, Lithuania and Hungary are still in Europe. They haven't moved anywhere and they are #42 and #43 ;)
      - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
        oops :) you're right I've missed them Anyway the difference is negligible.
    - busterarm 4y ago
      I didn't say obese. I said overweight. 59% of the EU measures as overweight, per the WHO this month.[1] Globally, human beings are moving in this direction and the reasons why are quite poorly understood. [1]:https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220503-world-health-organization-warns-of-obesity-epidemic-in-europe https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220503-world-health-org...
      - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
        the study says that 59% are overweight *or obese* so people overweight and not obese are less than 59%. While in US The U.S. adult obesity rate tops 40 percent; highest ever recorded. The U.S. adult obesity rate stands at 42.4 percent, the first time the national rate has passed the 40 percent mark, and further evidence of the country’s obesity crisis. The national adult obesity rate has increased by 26 percent since 2008. so the difference is still significant. average weight shows that Europe 70.8 kg (156.1 lb) North America 80.7 kg (177.9 lb) European population 606 million adults, North America 263 million. being overweight is not a severe condition, obesity is. https://www.tfah.org/report-details/state-of-obesity-2020/ https://www.tfah.org/report-details/state-of-obesity-2020/
boudin 4y ago
That's assuming that most people do long travels in the US, I'm not sure that's true and wouldn't be surprised that the main need is commuting which small cars are really sufficient for.
- WhyCause 4y ago
  You're assuming that the daily commute is short for most people. I live in a fairly dense US city, and there is a fair percentage of downtown office workers that live more that 40 miles out, which given the routes they have to take and the traffic involved can often take 45 minutes to an hour.
  - boudin 4y ago
    It's still short enough for a small electric car. You're often one or two in the car. And you can still buy a comfortable small car.
  - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
    Same here. In Rome 1.5 million people a day come to the city to work, over a population of ~3 million residents. In Milan it's 1 million people, over 1.5 million residents. Still on average cars are much smaller than in NY or Los Angeles, I'll say that in Rome and Milan cars are much smaller than the Italian average, because parking space is very limited. The western World is not that different everywhere you go, except some traits of US, which are not that western if you ask me, they are more similar to countries that just discovered market economy and consumerism.
  - busterarm 4y ago
    There are folks out in the (mid)west who have 3-4 hour commutes to work. In fact, the further you go in that direction up until a couple of hours from the west coast, that's closer to normal.
  - rufus_foreman 4y ago
    When I lived on the west coast, living 10 miles from work took (much) more than 45 minutes for the commute.
robotburrito 4y ago
I don't believe this is actually the case. I spent 15 years driving in the US. I'd say 95% of my trips or so were under 6 miles.
- SkeuomorphicBee 4y ago
  First, tThe fact that you believe that 6 miles each way is a short distance only confirms the original point. And second, you seem to be quite an outlier when it comes to USA commute. The average daily commute in the USA seems to be over 40 miles [1] [1] https://www.answerfinancial.com/insurance-center/which-states-have-the-longest-commute/ https://www.answerfinancial.com/insurance-center/which-state...
  - timeon 4y ago
    > The fact that you believe that 6 miles each way is a short distance only confirms the original point. Never been to USA but <10km here (CEE) is short distance even for bicycle.
United857 4y ago
I wouldn't be surprised if it's the opposite -- public transit is much better in Europe and Japan and used for most daily commutes that in America would be by car, so cars are reserved for longer journeys.
- adrianN 4y ago
  While public transit is a lot better than in the US, a very large fraction of all commutes is still by car. Even in big cities like Berlin a quarter of the commutes is by car. In even slightly rural regions, it's a lot closer to 100%.
- Overtonwindow 4y ago
  Perhaps $6/gallon will nudge some new passenger rail projects forward.
thawaya3113 4y ago
Long drives in SUVs are no ways better than in a decent sedan. The real dynamic is carmakers promoting huge trucks as Patriotic and American, with super bowl ads showing these trucks moving houses around. That leads to a significant number of people buying these massive vehicles. And once these vehicles are on poorly designed American roads where safety is barely an afterthought, everyone driving in more normal sized cars feel even more unsafe, leading them to replace their sedans (which are already oversized compared to Sedans even a couple of decades ago) with CUVs, SUVs and trucks. You will see this dynamic play out in household to household where people are essentially being forced into buying bigger, harder to handle, and more expensive cars because it truly feels unsafe to be driving in a normal car next to these monster trucks.

adrianN 4y ago

No that's not true. Americans drive only a little more kilometers per trip than Europeans.

pintxo 4y ago

Also cities in Europe are significantly denser then most US cities.

busterarm 4y ago

Like, I've done multiple drives across the US in various directions and most of your time is spent looking at trees or vegetation. Meanwhile I've been watching robcdee this past month bike across Japan on roads that are virtually 99% in a town of some kind with very little time spent anywhere undeveloped.

hulitu 4y ago

TBHi heard that the main reason why american cars are bigger it't because americans are fatter.

busterarm 4y ago
Europeans are catching up. Not as fast as the Brits did but the EU is still majority overweight.
- peoplefromibiza 4y ago
  Don't know if this thread is sarcastic or not, but Europe is not catching up. https://obesity.procon.org/global-obesity-levels/ https://obesity.procon.org/global-obesity-levels/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_r... US ranks very high 12 United States of America 36.2% First European country is Ireland at #51, first continental Europe country is Greece, at #54, my country is ranked #107.
  - djvdq 4y ago
    Hey, Lithuania and Hungary are still in Europe. They haven't moved anywhere and they are #42 and #43 ;)
    - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
      oops :) you're right I've missed them Anyway the difference is negligible.
  - busterarm 4y ago
    I didn't say obese. I said overweight. 59% of the EU measures as overweight, per the WHO this month.[1] Globally, human beings are moving in this direction and the reasons why are quite poorly understood. [1]:https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220503-world-health-organization-warns-of-obesity-epidemic-in-europe https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220503-world-health-org...
    - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
      the study says that 59% are overweight *or obese* so people overweight and not obese are less than 59%. While in US The U.S. adult obesity rate tops 40 percent; highest ever recorded. The U.S. adult obesity rate stands at 42.4 percent, the first time the national rate has passed the 40 percent mark, and further evidence of the country’s obesity crisis. The national adult obesity rate has increased by 26 percent since 2008. so the difference is still significant. average weight shows that Europe 70.8 kg (156.1 lb) North America 80.7 kg (177.9 lb) European population 606 million adults, North America 263 million. being overweight is not a severe condition, obesity is. https://www.tfah.org/report-details/state-of-obesity-2020/ https://www.tfah.org/report-details/state-of-obesity-2020/

boudin 4y ago

That's assuming that most people do long travels in the US, I'm not sure that's true and wouldn't be surprised that the main need is commuting which small cars are really sufficient for.

WhyCause 4y ago
You're assuming that the daily commute is short for most people. I live in a fairly dense US city, and there is a fair percentage of downtown office workers that live more that 40 miles out, which given the routes they have to take and the traffic involved can often take 45 minutes to an hour.
- boudin 4y ago
  It's still short enough for a small electric car. You're often one or two in the car. And you can still buy a comfortable small car.
- peoplefromibiza 4y ago
  Same here. In Rome 1.5 million people a day come to the city to work, over a population of ~3 million residents. In Milan it's 1 million people, over 1.5 million residents. Still on average cars are much smaller than in NY or Los Angeles, I'll say that in Rome and Milan cars are much smaller than the Italian average, because parking space is very limited. The western World is not that different everywhere you go, except some traits of US, which are not that western if you ask me, they are more similar to countries that just discovered market economy and consumerism.
- busterarm 4y ago
  There are folks out in the (mid)west who have 3-4 hour commutes to work. In fact, the further you go in that direction up until a couple of hours from the west coast, that's closer to normal.
- rufus_foreman 4y ago
  When I lived on the west coast, living 10 miles from work took (much) more than 45 minutes for the commute.

robotburrito 4y ago

I don't believe this is actually the case. I spent 15 years driving in the US. I'd say 95% of my trips or so were under 6 miles.

SkeuomorphicBee 4y ago
First, tThe fact that you believe that 6 miles each way is a short distance only confirms the original point. And second, you seem to be quite an outlier when it comes to USA commute. The average daily commute in the USA seems to be over 40 miles [1] [1] https://www.answerfinancial.com/insurance-center/which-states-have-the-longest-commute/ https://www.answerfinancial.com/insurance-center/which-state...
- timeon 4y ago
  > The fact that you believe that 6 miles each way is a short distance only confirms the original point. Never been to USA but <10km here (CEE) is short distance even for bicycle.

United857 4y ago

I wouldn't be surprised if it's the opposite -- public transit is much better in Europe and Japan and used for most daily commutes that in America would be by car, so cars are reserved for longer journeys.

adrianN 4y ago
While public transit is a lot better than in the US, a very large fraction of all commutes is still by car. Even in big cities like Berlin a quarter of the commutes is by car. In even slightly rural regions, it's a lot closer to 100%.
Overtonwindow 4y ago
Perhaps $6/gallon will nudge some new passenger rail projects forward.

thawaya3113 4y ago

Long drives in SUVs are no ways better than in a decent sedan. The real dynamic is carmakers promoting huge trucks as Patriotic and American, with super bowl ads showing these trucks moving houses around. That leads to a significant number of people buying these massive vehicles. And once these vehicles are on poorly designed American roads where safety is barely an afterthought, everyone driving in more normal sized cars feel even more unsafe, leading them to replace their sedans (which are already oversized compared to Sedans even a couple of decades ago) with CUVs, SUVs and trucks. You will see this dynamic play out in household to household where people are essentially being forced into buying bigger, harder to handle, and more expensive cars because it truly feels unsafe to be driving in a normal car next to these monster trucks.