Ultimately all motor vehicles are pretty dangerous and negatively impact the environment- it makes no sense to have a problem with people that need trucks using them for their purpose, but being fine with people doing the same with a small car.
Ultimately all motor vehicles are pretty dangerous and negatively impact the environment- it makes no sense to have a problem with people that need trucks using them for their purpose, but being fine with people doing the same with a small car.
I agree with your sentiment. Large vehicles have a lot of utility for a lot of people. I don't want to tax rural folk out of owning an important tool. But in the densest zip code in my state? I'm tired of reading about pedestrian murders in my neighborhood.
Of course there are practical reasons for pickup trucks. But those are not the reasons why people actually buy them.
63% of F-150 drivers self report that they rarely/never tow:
* https://www.axios.com/ford-pickup-trucks-history
29% tow "occasionally", and 7% regularly.
> I grew up in the country in a house my dad built, and we got much of our food from plants and animals we raised- we needed a truck.
Fourth-fifths of the US population is currently in an urban area:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_in_the_United_Sta...
* https://www.statista.com/statistics/269967/urbanization-in-t...
Few people tow, and if you want to haul things a minivan would probably be most practical.
Even in construction, I think most folks would be better served with a van, as you can lock up your tools more securely and any supplies won't be exposed to the elements.
I live in Australia and am surrounded by people that choose to drive massive dual cab utes (trucks) as a lifestyle choice - they are mostly used for commuting. This is insane.
I have no problem with tradies driving utes to move supplies and tools to their workplace. But I would say at least half of the ones I see, if not more, are not used for this purpose.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6c/a8/29/6ca8299cb79d89b811da...
... and now it looks like this...
These trucks (and some cars, to be fair) visibly project hostility. As a commenter put it in a past HN article, "Emissions requirements don't require a truck to look like it's going to beat you up."[1]
That particular truck is a special performance model, trying to look supercar aggressive, and loaded with expensive hardware typically used only on desert racing trucks. This is a long standing thing car manufacturers do- look at the Subaru WRX STI or the 80s VW GTI for example. Wildly impractical, and usually sold at small volumes to draw attention and buyers for other models.
The regular F150 to me looks tacky, cheap, overly trendy, and faux futuristic but not aggressive. You see basically the same styling elements - lots of non functional protrusions and sharp angles - in economy cars like the Prius, it is the current trend. I think it looks awful.
Earlier this year I borrowed a family members 4 door short bed F150 with a lightweight pop up camper on the back for a family road trip where we explored offroad in desert national parks. The vehicle makes a ton of sense for uses like this- it was excellent offroad, just enough room for a family inside, and could carry gear for a week of camping in the back, without the risk of heavy items like firewood and tools hurting the passengers. We had all of the comfort of an RV with about 1/4 the fuel use, and the ability to drive and park anywhere easily. I can see why people buy them for this type of use, they are perfect for it.
If that were the case they would be classed as Neighborhood Vehicles and so on. You can buy a golf-cart or 4x4 and drive it on public roads after all. Just not a freeway.
It literally, directly, unequivocally is protectionism and insisting otherwise is ahistorical and factually incorrect. It’s a vestige of a 1964 protectionist trade war with Japan that the US auto-industry lobbied their way into keeping even after the other provisions were lifted.
These changes have generally has made new pickups designs much more of a pain in the ass to use for towing, hauling wood, feeding livestock, and harvesting crop. New trucks definitely fail the haybale stacking test.
They are now designed to be sold primarily as bro-dozers for suburban manchildren who want to LARP like they are some stereotype of macho, not useful tools for traditional rural living.
You can still get traditional 2 door trucks with a long bed… but I agree that isn’t what people using trucks inappropriately as cars are buying.