A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
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In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:
Honestly this is absurd. These death machines shouldn't be legal in europe. That thing doesn't even fit in the parking space, even though the parking lot has the biggest spaces in the whole city. The ~~Golf~~ Polo is so small in comparison, it could even hide in front of the engine hood of the truck.
EDIT: It's a Polo and not a Golf, I don't know my cars, sorry for that!
The problem is that when you have a family to protect, you're faced with the choice of going on the road in a tiny car that will not survive a crash with those big vehicles. It's really an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mentality.
People should not have to compete in an arms race to get to work
Shouldn't have to, but DO have to.
It's not okay to endanger other people (and other people's families, since that seems to be relevant to you somehow) so that you can reduce the risk of your non-essential activities. Yes, I know you "need" your child killing machine to do some of the things that maintain your wasteful unnecessary lifestyle. But what portion of your trips do those necessities really make up? Are you still going to think it is still worth it after you have splattered some innocent family of poor people who can't afford to keep up with your antisocial practices, when you "had to" drive to the next city because yours doesn't have the good IMAX theater?
You have a choice: keep your kids safe or keep other kids safe. It is an either-or. Could I live with myself if I got into an accident and someone else's kid died? I don't know.
Could I live with myself if I was driving around in one of those teeny, tiny cars, and my kids died after being t-boned by some drunk in an SUV? Absolutely not.
Tanks are on the road. That's reality. If we, through government action change that, great! I won't miss them.
There are other better solutions, have everyone drive small cars or better, not need cars at all.
Bigger doesn't mean safer. I used to drive an 06 Corolla. I got rear ended at a stoplight by an SUV going ~40 mph. Their car was totaled. The rear body of my car was kinda mangled, but completely drivable. The driver of the other car broke their wrist and had their airbags deployed. I just got my knuckles a little scraped on my dashboard.
I drive an 08 Corolla these days.
"Fuck everyone else, I got mine." Why do so many people post apologia and the lies they tell themselves to assuage their shitty choices? Wrong fucking community. We do the opposite here.
I'm not apologizing for anything. I live in a world where, like it or not, people are driving around in tanks. Opting out of that means that I've be driving around with little kids on roads where our tiny car would be crushed in an accident.
Not going to let that happen. I'm not buying a tank, but I'm buying a car big enough that it scores high in crash tests against tanks.
I'm all for systematic change, but pretending we don't already live in the environment we live in is simply denial.
I'm here to talk to the grown-ups about this problem, and listen to serious ideas about the to fix this issue.
The end result of this logic is that everyone drives delivery trucks and busses to get where they want without dying. It doesn't scale. There needs to be a reasonable limit somewhere to prevent that.
I absolutely agree. I'd love to see it, but until we live in that world, I'm going to buy a car big enough to survive a collision with the aging boomer in their monster truck.
Ok dude... have fun being part of the problem I guess
This is so childish. "If you don't self-sacrifice when no one else is, then you, you're the one I'm going to call out."
Shaming someone for not being the one to make a change you want to see happen on a systemic level while doing nothing to fix the system is such a child's take.
I can acknowledge people buy big cars because they don't want to die on the road. That is logical. At the same time it makes the road more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists. I don't have to like that. Frankly I'm not sure why you're so desperate for the approval of a stranger on the internet. I'm not slashing your tires or forcing you to sell your car, I'm just stating a fact.
As for systematic change - I do what I can. I vote for politicians that want better forms of transport and let the council know what I think. I've donated to and volunteered for activists that want this. Myself I limit car use even when it's inconvenient. On the issue of oversized cars specifically, too many people here are emotionally dependent on their SUVs and Ford Rangers for any whisper of limiting their usage to have mainstream approval.
Wrt the climate crisis things are getting worse very quickly and these gas guzzlers are helping us accelerate on the road to hell. I and many other people are at their wit's end. But yes, I'm the bad person here for being a little resentful sometimes.
I'm not looking for any validation.
I just think the take of "you're part of the problem" is reductive and childish. And nothing you've said changes that.
Gas guzzlers contribute to man made climate change yes, but even if everyone went to an electric sedan tomorrow, it wouldn't slow climate change by more than a couple of days. The average person has no measurable effect on climate change by themselves.
And yes, you are. Because your resentment is pointed at the wrong person and is like a childish temper tantrum. The person you were speaking too isn't "attached" to the truck or suv, they actively said they would have no problem getting a different vehicle if their safety concerns were resolved. So calling them part of the problem is just lashing out.
Resent the people you're actually calling out. Not the person with a well reasoned argument and the desire to see change that would aid them the peace of mind to support your position. Snapping out at people like the previous poster puts people on the defensive and to dig in their heels, then you just alienate the people who would support you.
Fundamentally what irks me is that using an oversized car out of safety concerns becomes a zero-sum game. Yes in a crash you're more likely to be better off. The person you're crashing into - less so. It's rational behaviour to prioritize the safety of yourself and I understand why people do it. However myself as an external observer has no reason to symphasize with the person doing that over all other users of the road. I don't think I'm a bad person for being uncomfortable with that.
Perhaps "you're part of the problem" was poor wording, and better wording would have been "go ahead, but I don't like it". Either way - this is a comment I made at like 2am on the fly and I find no value in writing more paragraphs arguing about the implications of it.
Then stop.
You made your position public. That public posting opens you up to criticism. No one obligates you to write paragraphs defending it.
Your rewrite was better. As was this argument. But you're not going to convince anyone that they should subject themselves and their families to being less safe in order to be safer to others. Covid deniers proved you can't even convince people to be safer for themselves, and get the bonus of helping others. In fact you had politicians out there saying grandpa is happy to die for capitalism.
I still think your lashout was childish and I had the time and inclination to call that out. But let's be clear I never even implied you were a bad person for your position.
Goodbye.
Thank you. I mean this is basic game theory. It's in the best interest of everyone to size down cars, but unless everyone agrees to it, the only logical move is to have a big and safe car.
The way to get everyone to participate is by forcing the change universally through government action.
"In a world where murderers exist, the only logical solution is to murder everyone else first!"
Okay, but IF you get a big and unsafe car (unsafe because it fucking kills children) then you have a moral responsibility not to use it unless absolutely necessary. For the rest of your bullshit, you can just bite the bullet and take the chance, or find something else to do with your time that doesn't literally fucking kill children.
How does it "fucking kill children"? Is it being operated correctly?
Pickup trucks have worse single-vehicle crash safety. Statistically, the danger of injury and death balances out.
That sounds similar to pro gun logic.
Except that this is evidence based and the gun logic is counter to the evidence.