Unfortunately that's the logical choice for an individual, and it's not unique to America (the percentage of SUVs is increasing in Europe too). Probably needs some type of legislative action to curb the arms race.
I wondered how people who inspected the work of the folks who cut these hedgerows didn't notice that it blocks sight lines for everyone who isn't in a pickup truck or large SUV. Then it became obvious, that both the people who do this kind of work as well as the sort of people who inspect it are both very likely themselves to be completely habituated to truck level sight lines and forget what it looks like for passenger cars.