I remember when I was a kid, they were starting to bring in snub-nosed schoolbuses because of how dangerous it was that drivers couldn’t see children walking in front of the old long-nosed models. Now basically *all* buses are like that—but yet somehow, 40 years on, we’ve normalized these monstrosities.

They should be illegal.

never see these plowing snow - too fancy, and too long, and terrible visibility.

Large commercial driveway clearing companies use smallish agricultural tractors with a snowblower attachment.

Small independent operations use an old, short box regular cab truck from the 90's or earlier. Easy to maneuver, and cheap to repair.

After 1 season, everything plastic on the outside of that will be broken. Clients aren't happy if you plow the rosebushes into the garage door.

The city really should be leading the charge on pedestrian safety standards in the same way that California is doing with emissions standards

They should not be street legal here (maybe with a CDL) and should be towed any time one is seen whose owner did not register it to prove they have a CDL or if they are parked even a little bit illegally.

It's kinda like owning a giant dog that you can't control... It makes _you_ feel safer.

I guess.

I dunno. I don't own a giant dog that I can't control or a giant truck that I can't control.

I'm not even sure it's ego that moves people to buy these things... I think it might actually be _fear_, as counter-intuitive as that might sound.

I got rear ended by one of these almost a year ago because he pulled up behind me at a light, lost my ENTIRE CAR in his blindspot, and forgot I was there. Light turned green and he went before I did.

I flinch a little every time I see one in my rear view mirror now.

I'm visiting Mexico, and they have little mini pickups and I love them. One of those massive Rams or F150s wouldn't make it around the tiny streets and sharp turns.

Where I live everyone drives these massive trucks, pretending to be a cowboy. They are really babymen.

i view these massive trucks, massive SUVs, as a parallel to american gun culture

this zero sum, absolutely psychotic need for overpower. carrying around a handgun, because "the guy with a knife." when more have handguns, you "need" to carry around an AK-47, etc, etc, all the way to "i need my own nuclear bomb"

the parallel "logic" with tank cars is that in an accident, the other sap dies, not you in your tank

(better road safety and gun control is never considered by psychos)

apologies for sounding like a European, and a European who lives in a car-free city to boot, but,

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING

JUST ABSOLUTELY NO

Is it okay for me now to say that I hate such vehicles?

It feels like they are built for people (especially "men" (boys)) who wants to be biggest, better, best over all. I tend to watch American dashcam videos on YouTube and most of them who road rage use big trucks. Some of them even pulls out a weapon like a gun or a baseball bat.

I saw a video on TikTok before TikTok became a popular platform for religious extremists (for an example flat earthers) and other idiots. That video shows an American male living in Sweden and he lists top 3 or 5 he miss the most from USA. The first one that he missed the most was "big, fat trucks"

A few years ago, I walked across on intersection and the girl in a suburban one of those really large ones from five or seven years ago was in it. She could barely see over the dashboard.

A cussed her out for nearly running me over. It’s all forms of stupidity..

I don't think it could ever be understated how much of a problem these are.

A lot of police departments have moved to large SUVs with frontends like this. I was rear-ended by a cop in my small car because I disappeared under his hood at a stop sign and he thought I had made my turn.

There was a crosswalk there. It was right next to the police station, too, which was across the street from an apartment building where children live.

These make little sense where road conditions or loads do not require them. I live rurally, where hilly muddy dirt roads are ubiquitous, and high snows make low clearance vehicles useless. We are a low traffic area where walkers and horses and loose dogs and chickens are not uncommon.

But a large vehicle in an urban area is an unnecessary liability for all.

although we are not plagued by large vehicles in the UK to the extent you are in theue US, they are becoming a problem here

The common view here is still that those (usually men) who drive the larger vehicles in towns and cities are clearly over compensating for something

use _that_ for plowing snow?

...meanwhile in Germany...

"SUPER DUTY"

more like super dooty

TBF I have noticed they have commercial plates, but they were still double parked on a NYC residential street. Just don't ever do that.