this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
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A 7,000-Pound Car Smashed Through a Guardrail. That’s Bad News for All of Us. (slate.com)
submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

@LovesTha @CableMonster @DriftinGrifter Okay, let's break this one down a little bit:

  1. The typical size and weight of pickup trucks has increased massively since the '90s:

"Since 1990, U.S. pickup trucks have added almost 1,300 pounds on average. Some of the biggest vehicles on the market now weigh almost 7,000 pounds — or about three Honda Civics."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-11/the-dangerous-rise-of-the-supersized-pickup-truck

"Moreover, pickups’ weight increased by 32% between 1990 and 2021 ... In the 1980s, about half of pickup trucks were categorized as small or midsize. But by the 2010s, small pickups had nearly vanished as Americans increasingly bought into the big truck lifestyle."

https://www.axios.com/2023/01/23/pickup-trucks-f150-size-weight-safety

  1. Pick-ups are also larger than their '90s counterparts:

"A [Consumer Reports] analysis of industry data shows that the hood height of passenger trucks has increased by an average of at least 11 percent since 2000 and that new pickups grew 24 percent heavier on average from 2000 to 2018. On some heavy-duty trucks, such as the Ford F-250, the front edge of the hood is now 55 inches or more off the ground—as tall as the roof of some sedans."

https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/the-hidden-dangers-of-big-trucks/

  1. Paradoxically, pick up trucks made before the '90s had more capacity for transporting construction supplies and equipment than their new counterparts:

"As pickups transitioned from workhorses to lifestyle vehicles, their design shifted accordingly: Cabs expanded to accommodate more passengers, while beds shrank.

"The first generation of F-150s was 36% cab and 64% bed by length. By 2021, the ratio flipped, with 63% cab and 37% bed."

https://www.axios.com/2023/01/23/pickup-trucks-f150-size-weight-safety

  1. Each time you double the weight of a vehicle, you cause roughly 16 times as much pavement damage:

"The generalized fourth-power law explains why road damage is disproportionately inflicted by the heftiest vehicles. Developed after extensive federal roadway testing during the 1950s, the law is a rule of thumb showing that roadway stress caused by two vehicles is a function of their relative weight per axle scaled to the fourth power. As a result, a single 80,000-pound auto hauler with five axles can cause around 4,000 times the destruction of a two-ton car."

https://slate.com/business/2023/06/electric-vehicles-auto-haulers-weight-capacity-roads.html

  1. In Australia, main roads are generally funded by federal and state governments through a mix of fuel excise and consolidated revenue. Local streets, which account for most of the road network, are funded by local councils through rates.

  2. Despite the added cost, receive several tax breaks under Australia's tax code.

"Temporary Full Expensing allowed for vehicles to be claimed as an immediate, one-off tax deductible expense, and while that deduction was capped at $60,000 for passenger vehicles, there was no limit for vehicles that can carry at least a tonne.

"And the Loss Carry Back tax offset allows a business to claim the purchase of a new vehicle against the previous year's profits if that vehicle creates a net loss for the business."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-09/australian-cars-getting-bigger-should-government-intervene/103287604

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

@LovesTha @CableMonster @DriftinGrifter So pick-up trucks are now typically larger, heavier, and cause more road damage than their '90s counterparts.

All while having smaller cabs, making them less effective tools for transporting construction supplies and equipment.

  1. Then there's the higher pollution. This leads to more frequent and severe bushfires, droughts, floods, hurricanes and heatwaves.

"Currently, automakers must hit a fleet-wide target for cars of 181 grams of CO2 emitted per mile, but 261 for light trucks, a 36 percent difference. By 2026, cars must average out to 132 grams of CO2 per mile compared with 187 for light trucks, a 34 percent difference."

https://www.vice.com/en/article/3abk7b/bidens-new-fuel-economy-standards-still-allow-cars-to-pollute-more-if-theyre-not-called-cars

  1. The 2023 Australian floods alone, which were directly linked to ocean warming (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/18/everything-is-saturated-whats-driving-the-latest-floods-in-eastern-australia ), had a cost of $5 billion:

"Treasurer Jim Chalmers has warned economic pressure from natural disasters will continue through 2023 after modelling showed severe flooding across the country last year cost the economy $5 billion."

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/floods-cost-economy-5-billion-last-year-20230112-p5cc1t.html

  1. Then there's the added costs of higher fatalities from larger, heavier vehicles:

"More than 7,500 pedestrians were killed by drivers last year — the highest number since 1981. The final tally may be even greater given that Oklahoma was unable to provide data due to a technical issue."

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/26/1184034017/us-pedestrian-deaths-high-traffic-car

"The chances of a pedestrian dying in a single-vehicle crash were 68 percent higher when that vehicle was a light truck relative to a car, all else being equal.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/01/higher-vehicle-hoods-significantly-increase-pedestrian-deaths-study-finds/

  1. More tailpipe emissions means more deaths and hospitalisations:

"Tailpipe pollution contributes to the premature death of 11,105 Australians every year, according to new research.

"The modelling from the University of Melbourne claims vehicle emissions in Australia are also to blame for more than 12,000 hospitalisations annually due to cardiovascular issues, along with almost 7000 respiratory hospitalisations per year."

https://www.drive.com.au/news/emissions-kill-10x-more-australians-than-road-toll/

So that's 10 good reasons right there.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

@LovesTha @CableMonster @DriftinGrifter So let's sum this up then.

Modern pickup trucks are substantially larger and heavier than their '90s counterparts, with a smaller cab.

That means they weigh far more, are far bigger, and yet carry less than the vehicles that did the same job 30 years ago.

At least in Australia, they are directly subsidised by the federal tax system. Federal and state taxes pay for main roads.

And they're giant economic externality machines.

On local streets, which are funded by local councils, they cause additional road damage that is cross-subsidised by local councils.

They generate externalised costs from higher emissions, in the term of more frequent and severe bushfires, floods, droughts, and hurricanes.

They generate externalities in terms of pedestrian injuries and deaths that are subsidised by the healthcare system.

They generate higher health costs from air pollution. Again, these costs are cross subsidised.

That's without even getting into the massive subsidies at play with car-dependent suburban sprawl.

Or how modern pickup trucks are a massively inefficient use of road space.

Or how businesses are forced to cross-subsidise car ownership by needing to have large parking lots for motorists.

So yeah, it's probably not unreasonable to ask you to pay your fair share for some of those costs.

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