this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2025
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xkcd #3167: Car Size

Title text:

'They really shouldn't let those small cars drive in traffic. I worry I'm going to kill someone if I hit one! They should have to drive on the sidewalk, safely out of the way.'

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3167/

explainxkcd for #3167

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[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago (1 children)

the original (my) comment mentions tax

[–] fahfahfahfah@lemmy.billiam.net 4 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Which they already pay, the sales tax would be higher and they’re paying more in gas taxes.

[–] frank@sopuli.xyz 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, but I'm with the OP here. It should cost significantly more tax wise than it does to disincentivize it

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 3 days ago

I like the idea of just having a tax linked directly to how much wear a vehicle causes to roads, because the wear goes up exponentially with weight. Not only would this make oversized cars (and cars in general) much more expensive, it would also provide the funds needed to repair roads that get completely annihilated by trucking companies.

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

and yet, people keep buying these things to buy groceries and drive on asphalt, so just fuel inefficiency is clearly not enough

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

the average carpayment is 750 new, 500 used. I bought a new car last year and my payment is $300. technically i could afford like a $1000 payment.

americans often pay like 30%+ of their income to cars. And yes, they actively choose to do this. Nobody is forcing them to buy a 60K F150 over a 30K sedan.