The growing threat from monster cars
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Hello from London,
What is the greatest division between America and Europe? You might think it is over attitudes to food or sport, policy towards China or something about the guardrails needed for capitalism. Not a bit of it. The biggest split is over cars. Americans expect to drive huge ones, ideally something that has the heft and noise of an elephant. Europeans are far likelier to opt for smaller beasts. When an American friend once visited, renting a stylish but tiny Fiat 500 at the airport, his teenage daughter was mortified, announcing it was obviously a toy vehicle and not fit for the road.
Admittedly, Europeans are also driving bigger cars than they used to. But Americans increasingly prefer monsters, relishing the thrill of revving up a big truck and judging that, for drivers and their passengers, bigger vehicles bring more safety. Unfortunately, as we set out in a new article published this weekend , this is becoming a fatal trend for others on or near the road. The monsters increasingly flatten pedestrians, cyclists and drivers of smaller cars. Last year one pollster noted that 41% of Americans thought SUVs and pickup trucks had grown too big. Too right.
Germany is on our minds today. State elections in the east of the country are usually not of huge interest to outsiders, but the two held yesterday help to show how strong extremists are becoming in the political system. The hard-right Alternative for Germany, which stirs up support on the back of hostility to refugees and other migrants, has come top in Thuringia and has run the conservative Christian Democratic Union close in Saxony—though it won’t be in government in either state. On the hard left, the party of Sahra Wagenknecht, a pro-Russian opposition leader who is hostile to migrants, came third in both places. (Read our weekend profile of Ms Wagenknecht. )?
Our latest Dateline history quiz is now live. Do you remember the year DVDs were launched? Or when Jack the Ripper prowled the streets of London? I certainly didn’t. Let me know how you get on at [email protected] .
Adam Roberts, digital editor
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2 个月I think physics is critical when a very big car collides with a small car. The driver and passengers in the small car will come off second best in a collision with a big vehicle. This is a very bad outcome for the occupants of the small vehicle which impacts negatively on the family of the occupants, first responders etc..it’s time again for vehicle manufacturers to make smaller vehicles
UNIX/Linux Systems Adminsitrator
2 个月Small cars are great for only one thing. Fuel economy. Try driving one on rough country roads or in rush hour traffic surrounded by larger vehicles where people are on their phones and not paying attention. They won't hold up or they might even get you killed. I drove into the city 2 weeks ago and was nearly hit twice. One was a driver coming into my lane and forcing me onto the shoulder. Another was a driver cutting me off where I had to brake hard to avoid him on the freeway. Almost every time I pass someone driving erratically they are looking down at their phone or at a huge touch screen on the dash. I drive a 2013 F150 4x4. It is paid for and still runs great at 265k miles. No need to switch. Maybe I am biased because I live in Texas and we still have open places here at least for now. I don't have to pay people to deliver stuff for me. I haul and tow. I've had an economy car in the past, but I always had to have a truck for things the car will not do. Not everyone lives in an apartment or a tract house and only goes to work no matter how cute and environmentally freindly they try to make is sound.
#julikasArt, #julikasSound, neu gegründet #P?dophilieNo
2 个月Well, I got hitten by a huge SUV, being a pedestrian. The driver might haven't noticed me as he wanted to leave a parking lot a little too fast. But he quickly left the place where I had hit the road, skull and multiple other bones broken, damages by bleedings inside my brain. Comatous, of course. 9 weeks in hospital. Second, I just want to mention a guy named Donald Trump and his Proud Boys and the states what are worshipping him because the people there has the pretty same ideas as the idiots from the German AfD. I really don't know why Americans ain't aware of the fact that most of them have anchestors which have been refugees from Europaen countries, taking over every living places of really Native Americans. Mr. Trumps parents left Germany to make money in New York.
Filmmaker — Screenwriter — Photographer
2 个月My wife and I have two cars: a Prius and a Corolla. We plan to replace the Corolla with a micro EV within twelve months — The Zero from Eli Electric Vehicles seems ideal.
Hospitality Professional
2 个月I can see the line of thoughts of environmentalists and although I often side with them I must disagree through experience. I recall over 20 years ago buying a 'medium size 4x4 vehicle and had a similar conversation (the gas guzzler one!) with my nextdoor neighbour (we were both commuters at the time), and she would only buy very small cars 'to be kind to the environment'. Well, whilst I kept mine for almost 11 years and managed to clock 140k miles, in that time she changed 4 cars, all small and all marketed to be kind to the environment... Consumerism is the biggest problem, and manufacturers which keep pushing us in believing that we must keep buying new stuff. My motto has always been: research, buy well, and replace it only if needed.