A rising road toll in the US. A rising road toll in Australia. Journalists give 1000 reasons why it could be happening.
And they studiously avoid mentioning the growing proportion of massive SUVs and pickup trucks on the roads. If they mention it at all, it’s only in passing: https://youtu.be/Hb5_RUNeC0g?si=uuns6D1I6fGINdpU
But.
If you have larger and heavier cars, with larger blind spots, of course you’re going to have more fatalities!
Remember kids: Every 10cm a vehicle’s hood height increases, the risk of fatalities grows by 22%: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212012224000017
@ajsadauskas @fuck_cars
Here in Melbourne the driving has become INSANE.
Weaving from lane to lane on the freeway. Jumping red lights. Going the wrong way along service roads. Changing lanes or turning without indicating. Swerving. That’s just what I’ve seen in the last week.
I cant say what age group it is but it’s all about entitlement and feeling they have a right to do as they please. And the large SUVs are worst of all
@Godfrey642 @fuck_cars You raise a really good point — it’s not just the size and weight of the massive SUVs and pickup trucks that’s the issue.
It’s also that they encourage the people who drive them to be far more reckless than they would be if they were driving — say — a small sedan or hatchback.
@ajsadauskas @Godfrey642 @fuck_cars
There s some really old research out there originality focused around Volvo cars that came to the conclusion that people drive to a constant level of personal risk. Put them in a safer car and their driving will be riskier. This lead to memes about spikes on steering wheels that threaten drivers.
Also many younger people have never seen a police patrol on the roads so they feel that their behaviour carries no risk.
@Steveg58 @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars
Interesting.
That would seem to align with the idea that younger ppl skill up in video car chase games and as a consequence they think they’re untouchable on the road in real life. Nuts, really