5 ms·
Shouldn't parking fees be dependent on area and not weight?
by rowyourboat 3y ago
Shouldn't parking fees be dependent on area and not weight?
- n4r9 3y agoThis is one way to discourage pollution in the city.
- lowkeyoptimist 3y agoAnd discourage EVs since they are heavier than ICVs.
- yohannparis 3y agoEV are not the one solution!
- footy 3y agoAnd thus more dangerous when they hit pedestrians in a city.
- creer 3y ago[flagged]
- Swenrekcah 3y agoIt is about safety. Larger cars on the streets are more dangerous for the people living in the city. Cars have been getting ridiculously large over the past decades because the only force acting upon carmakers is the desire of the car buyer. If I’m buying a car, I obviously want the largest car I can afford and semi-reasonably fit where I’m going to be. This has many benefits for me, but a lot of negative externalites for everyone around me. That is why policies need to discourage larger cars in many ways, to keep the average size in check, so to speak.
- technothrasher 3y ago> If I’m buying a car, I obviously want the largest car I can afford Is that obvious? I guess I'm weird, as I always want the smallest car I can get that gives me the features I want. I'm constantly annoyed that I end up in larger cars than I ideally want because that's basically the choice I'm given.
- shakow 3y ago> Is that obvious? The best-selling cars in the US are (and from afar) the F150 and the Dodge RAM, so empirically it seems correct.
- salamandersss 3y agoI mean the US effectively outlawed an arguably most versatile of all vehicles for vast spaces of US, the compact truck, which fits somewhere in the middle of vehicle sizes. I suspect most of those people had to move to another class, perhaps to these larger trucks.
- shakow 3y agoBy themselves, the F150 and the Ram sell over 1.5 millions units per year. I can not believe that yearly, ~0.7% of the US adult population needs a truck.
- salamandersss 3y ago>decades because the only force acting upon carmakers is the desire of the car buyer. Trucks, and perhaps some cars also got bigger also because of fuel efficiency regulations (CAFE) that require a larger footprint if gas mileage is worse. They had to make for instance the Tacoma much larger to match a barely changed engine. And foreign small import trucks were stifled with the chicken tax, pushing consumers towards Americas McGigantic brands.
- atoav 3y agoIf I am buying a car I am buying the smallest, most efficient and reliable thing that still fulfills my needs. A car being big is not a quality in itself unless you need that size twice a week. An there are quite few SUV driving people that really do. At the same time there are real advantages for small cars in any city that isn't designed and zoned around cars (so literally every city where I live). You find easier parking, fuel consumption is lower, tires last longer, most maintenance is cheaper, you usually have an easier time in traffic avoiding kids, animals and cyclists, because you will see them more easily, etc.
- fxtentacle 3y agoRoad wear scales with weight^2 so if you want to refinance road maintenance off the parking fees, this seems reasonable.
- SoftTalker 3y agoIt's worse than that, more roughly weight^4 https://pavementinteractive.org/reference-desk/design/design-parameters/equivalent-single-axle-load/ https://pavementinteractive.org/reference-desk/design/design...
- redwall_hp 3y agoFourth power of axle weight, apparently. So (weight/2)^4 for a car or SUV. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_power_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_power_law Also, squishy humans really prefer to not be hit by heavier objects travelling at similar speeds.
- MandieD 3y agoAll other things being equal, taller front bumpers and hoods make for worse pedestrian outcomes, as well.
- 6c696e7578 3y agoWhat irks me most is that most children are invisible in the blind spots around SUVs, which typically are seen around school drop off/pickup.
- MengerSponge 3y agoI learned the name "ChildCrusher GTX" from BlueSky. You could also have a ChildCrusher 150 or a ChildCrusher 2500. All are equally detestable.
- MandieD 3y agoI still call them “Maibatsu Monstrosity” because my senior year roommate played a lot of GTA 3, and I can still hear that silly radio ad in my head.
- tmnvix 3y agoSome combination of both would be best in my opinion. Weight due to wear on roads and size due to the safety implications (some personal vehicles are now almost 2m tall and impossible to see over for pedestrians and cyclists - creating a much more dangerous environment).