Not Just Bikes
11 HN recommenders · recommended in 11 months, 2023–2026
35:07 · 7.3M views · Mar 6, 2023
Not Just Bikes explains how SUVs and light trucks have grown in size and share of US sales, and why that is dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists and city life. He covers the regulatory loopholes, such as fuel economy rules and the chicken tax, that favored them.
It is HN's default link whenever vehicle size comes up, with commenters recommending it for the history of the light-truck loophole and the safety effects of tall bumpers.
20 comments from Hacker News
Here's a video I wish I could make every American watch this video It provides a deep-dive video into the history of how we got to the situation we're in today with American cars exploding in size. It actually has its origins in Obama-era legislation for emissions standards that made an exception for "light trucks". SUVs are legally classified as light trucks so the industry has massively pushed these tanks onto the consumer promising more safety. It has led to a dramatic decrease in public safety and pedestrian deaths that is unique to the US. One contributor to these deaths is literally parents running over their own children in their own driveways. THIS IS NOT SOMETHING THAT IS HAPPENING IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY. The video goes over the visibility issues with these trucks, how our safety regulations fail to account for them (light trucks only need to be tested in collision with other light trucks) and also covers how modern trucks have the same carrying capacity as pickup trucks from 30 years ago (the main thing that's increased is the hull and cabin size) while being harder to use for actual work since the bed is higher offer the ground
As a European I was really surprised why SUVs are so popular in the US, making biking extremely dangerous. This documentary was quite eye-opening for me: this video Similarly in Germany we’re building a new Autobahn in the middle of a city (Berlin) under extreme costs, while still neglecting investment in trains, because we’re a car country.
Just do yourself a favour and watch this video[0], you might learn why SUVs and in general cars with a taller bumper height are more dangerous. .0: this video
> Article didn't mention CAFE (which is the reason for larger sizes) nor chicken tax (which makes, even if they qualified under CAFE, foreign small trucks economically non-viable). I was pointed to the article from the just-posted Not Just Bikes video "These Stupid Trucks are Literally Killing Us", which does go over those things: * this video The point of the Axios article, which comes up at the 25m25s point in the NJB video, goes towards the point that the pickup truck has actually become less practical over the decades. And to the idea that most folks would be better served with a station wagon or perhaps a minivan. Trucks have gone from the cargo bed being >60% of the usable length (ignoring the engine), to the (crew) cab being >60% of the useable length. Pickup trucks gone from thing-haulers to people-haulers, in which case, why bother with that form factor?
> That's the first time I hear this argument. SUVs and the like exploit a loophole in various standards like fuel efficiency requirements because they are not "cars" but "Light trucks" and therefore those standards don't apply to them; which makes them cheaper to design and build for automotive companies. The "Light trucks" category was supposed to be used for light commercial vehicles, not personal vehicles but then the law of unintended consequences had a love-child with profit seeking corporations and their linguistic games. Literally the only reason SUVs and trucks became popular is because the automotive manufacturers could make more money doing it that way and convinced the consumers to buy them. NotJustBikes did a good intro video on the subject. * [LINK] * this video