Monster pickup trucks accelerate into Europe as sales rise despite safety fears – A Dodge Ram 1500 is bigger than a Panzer I tank and campaigners say heavy trucks are ‘lethal’ in collisions
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/12/monster-pickup-trucks-accelerate-europe-sales-rise-safety-fears
Posted by Canal_Volphied
37 Comments
>Researchers have seen such mechanisms play out in crash data. In August, the Vias institute in Belgium found a pedestrian or cyclist hit by a pickup was 90% more likely to face serious injury than one hit by a regular car, and almost 200% more likely to be killed.
>In November last year, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the US found the risk of death was about 45% greater if a pedestrian were hit by a vehicle with a tall bonnet than one that was low and sloped. In January, a US study found a 10cm increase in bonnet height causes a 22% increase in fatality risk for pedestrians. The increase in risk rose to 31% for over-65s, and to 81% for children.
>But few people seem aware of the dangers. Just 40% of British adults agree that SUVs and pickup trucks are dangerous to other people, a YouGov survey found in February, falling to 20% for owners of such vehicles.
When most people seem unaware of the lethality of those vehicles, it’s the law that should come in to ban them.
Just why.. they don’t even fit on some roads. You literally can’t get through some small villages
We’ve got men here too with little peepee’s. Sadly a truck like that doesn’t compensate.
At least these cars will struggle a ton with a lot of the park houses you find all over Europe.
But still wish they couldn’t be bought here.
Can’t we start importing more of Japanese micro cars instead?
It’s like an arms race. I come from Canada and two to three decades ago this started happening. For context, these are not monster trucks by Canadian or American standards, where SUVs are the norm and a full sized sedan is considered among the smaller vehicles out on the road. The point is when the majority of vehicles are big like this it’s intimidating for regular sized cars. It’s hard to feel safe when you’re looking at some guys front grill in your review and you’re at eye level with a set of tires in front of you. Having said that, I don’t see people shifting to larger vehicles in Europe the way that they have in America. The roads are smaller and narrower and good luck parking that thing anywhere.
Evidently everyone is clearly determined to give the planet a fighting chance.
Some are hybrids and don’t have taxes, and others install LPG conversions on them to reduce the fuel expenses. If you want, there’s a workaround. Also, I’ve heard you can register them as utility vehicles, and the taxes are also reduced, like the Suzuki Jimny that the manufacturer had to remove the rear bench and install a partition to make the vehicle compliant with the shitty and absurd laws.
> and campaigners say heavy trucks are ‘lethal’ in collisions
What kind of retarded phrasing is this? What’s next? Campaigners say water is ‘wet’?
The Panzer I probably is more fuel efficient, too.
Part of the reason trucks have become so big in the US is due to a fuel efficiency regulation that’s more lenient on larger cars/trucks. Does such a regulation exist anywhere in the EU?
That type of vehicles should be banned from public roads in EU.
They are for Farms not for generic roads.
American culture is continuing to ruin Europe
People have them here because they’re the only affordable way to have some horsepower. Also, contrarians “sticking it to the man” and people who genuinely like such vehicles (my previous manager eg)
I just don’t get why Europe is turning into the US, when we used to shake our heads over this kind of thing
Won’t ever be a problem in bigger Polish cities – can barely find parking for a small car, let alone something double the size.
Small d energy
I like tak and its engine. But would prefer hilux for off-road capabilities
There is one in my same group of private underground car boxes. It’s so big the owner can’t even close the damn box door. It’s absolutely nonsensical on EU roads. This kind of stuff undermines the trust of the public in EU’s “car pollution laws” – I can’t take them seriously, I had to get a special historical exemption to drive around in a 2002, 680kg car & I cant take it into the city BUT it’s fine to have a 3200kg pedestrian killer? LOL.
I see some of these in Amsterdam. These monsters riding in those super narrow streets! I mean, if you buy one, at least make sure there is some space for you to use it!
Sad to see this trend picking up in Europe. These ridiculously sized cars can cause hell on the roads here in the States. Their massive size inflicts serious damage on smaller vehicles in collisions, increasing injury and death risk. Because of the height of the vehicle, it can be difficult for drivers to see and react to sudden changes in their environment (ie a child chasing after a ball in the street). The extra and unnecessary CO2 emissions. Not to mention the things just look so damn ugly and out of place.
Now this seems like the sort of thing that the EU should be legislating against
Tax empty weight and grill height.
It’s too late for Estonia already. Big American pickup trucks are everywhere over here.
Those things should be taxed out of existence.
It’s not the trucks that are the problem. It’s the large quantities of steroids and cocaine the drivers consume.
Just tax them to death, don’t make the same mistake the US did. Close all loopholes.
I Denmark, the yearly tax on owning a car is based on fuel economy and size. I think a car like that would be around 1600 euro per year in tax. Also fuel is taxed and the level is rising every year. I think that is why there is almost no cars like that in DK. Maybe a builder or a farmer with MEGA tendency will buy a car like this, but why not just buy a van like everybody else. If you’re really in need of an offroader then buy a Toyota or Nissan.
It’s not the truck but the idiot drivers that are more lethal.
Sounds about right as their dimensions are the same as Cybertruck’s.
RAM 1500:
Height 1917 mm 6 ft 3 in
Width 2465 mm 8 ft 1 in
Length 5833 mm 19 ft 2 in
While length and height are not an issue, the width is. Even most of the cargo delivery trucks (think DHL truck) are ~2,1 metres wide.
Some knobheads have these in England, where we drive on the left. They can’t even overtake, and park over 2-4 spaces wherever they go. It’s the XL Bully of cars. Strictly for morons only.
Again a bunch city people who do not even own cars are yelling about these..
You do understand EU is a big place, and that there are rural places outside of the main cities where big cars have their uses?
I like to drive comfortably over all the potholes and shit dirt roads, i rather take my chance in a “panzer 1” against a moose/elk than in a small electric shopping cart, i like to tow heavy trailers and i cant do that safely nor legally with a small car.
A lot of people who have heavy equipment in work use these to haul stuff both on the flatbed and on trailers for them, all year around.
I seriously do not get the hate for larger pickup trucks, all vehicles have their uses. You dont see a Nissan Micra out in the woods hauling a horse trailer, just like you usually do not see a Ford F350 in Paris driving to the shopping mall and back.
Stop the mindless hate, the world has too much of it. Use your brains instead
Awful cars, not safe at all and they are polluting more than smaller cars.
Why do we have to copy all the stupid shit that comes from the USA
“bigger than a Panzer I tank”
They couldn’t come up with any other comparison? And as if a regular person knows how big Panzer I tank exactly is?
why use Panzer I’s as a relative measure?
who is the intended audience?
also, were Panzers metric?
Yeah a lot of parking will not work in Berlin for this car. In smaller cities, why not but in big cities these monsters are to wide for many parking houses.
Maybe it’s time to get myself a s Sonderkraftfahrzeug 101 as a daily driver then. /s
As someone who does some agricultural work on the side, I do see the value of pickup trucks, but if you attempt to drive those through narrow European towns for no good reason, I question your sanity.