Just look at that. This truck is taller than a used kid (10 years old). I assume the truck can run over pretty much any other age but probably the driver might be able to see older kid’s heads. Or we could teach our kids to jump to school rather than walk. If you see a truck, jump and make eye contact before jumping while crossing the street. Or we could tell our kids to never go outside until they are 21.
Used kid?
NHTSA recently published a proposed rule taking on pedestrian safety, specifically calling out this problem. Expect it to be killed early next year.
Oh you mean the new kid regulations requiring stilts and helmets to bring your kids outside? We probably also need new construction regulations to required bollards along the side of the property facing the street so as to prevent damage to trucks if the house happens to get too close.
There’s a link to the proposed rule in the first paragraph. Note the diagrams on page 35, page 51, then page 84. They’re working on it. NHTSA is slow, and they won’t be allowed to finish.
You can comment here if you’d like to actually do something besides be snarky on a website nobody reads.
In other news, NHTSA with the help of major manufacturers has determined the typical height of a ten year old is eight feet tall. Personal vehicles will be mandated to be able to see people of this height over the hood
No stilts and helmets, that would be silly. The regulations require jumping up and down like a frog to stay visible, but also you’re entirely responsible to crossy the road while cars and trucks continue at speed
So, no change?
Probably going to require front-facing camera. Similar to how they dealt with the rear visibility issue.
IE one more screen based thing to distract from the fact that other humans exist.
Rear cameras make sense and help people who might no be tall enough or flexible enough to twist and look out the rear window.
But the front camera will be a distraction from lying proper attention while driving forward.
We need more vans really, but consumers (who can afford the fucking things) are too insecure to drive anything that might make their wieners look small.
Yep sounds like “burdensome regulation” to be.
Just gonna keep on posting this
I’m surprised a school bus isn’t on this list
Looking at normal buses, the driver is sat high up, right at the front and with a clear view in front of them. And it’s so weird the US school buses just ignore that design and are shaped like an old truck.
shaped like an old truck.
Up until recently, a good chunk of school buses were trucks, mainly based on the E/F350 - F650 platforms (or 3500 - 6500 if using GMC). Recently though, bus manufacturers are switching to internally designed platforms and the result is more cab-over buses and the ones that aren’t have a more swept hood (look at the Blue Bird Vision for an example). However, small buses are still based on truck platforms (E/F350, or GMC 3500)
A lot of those have been replaced with modern designs. Just like most things, the farther you are from a city the shittier things get.
School busses have barriers to force children to walk far enough away. When you don’t care about smooth lines, practical solutions are possible.
I swear GM and Ford are competing with each other on blind spot length
They sort of are. Long hoods and large grills look powerful (like there’s a huge motor in there) so they compete to look tougher and more powerful
I like how they put a golf cart in there.
That’s a tuktuk
I don’t disagree with the general premise.
But saying “this quarry hauler is only barely worse than pickup trucks” when it takes double the distance to see one…feels disingenuous. Same with the “this tractor cab has better visibility but requires a special license”, yeah cause a heavy laden trailer massively increases the stopping distance and requires a more advanced skill set.
I also feel like the kinda situations where “a three year was suddenly less than 1m from my bumper with zero warning” is more of a walkability/road design/driver awareness issue than one specifically solvable by increased visibility. I’m also aware I’m no traffic safety scientist; also more visibility is of course better.
I feel like this focuses on something that’s rooted more in emotion than logic or data, but there is a link between hood height and pedestrian injury severity iirc, and lowering that does increase visibility as a result.
Used kid?
Not everyone can afford a new one bro. Don’t sound so put off about it.
Once they’ve been run over a few times, they tend to be longer for some reason.
I believe the proper nomenclature is “adopted kid”, not used. They don’t like either term however.
From the legendary Used Kids Records store, maybe?
This truck is taller than a used kid (10 years old).
Well there’s your problem: you’ve got a used kid. New kids are, on average, about 5’9" - plenty tall to compete with today’s civilian tanks.
Donnie Wahlberg was a New kid on the block??? Wow. I had no idea!
I’m used to the normal transition between toddler pupae to child-like human. That’s when I though children were brand spanking new.
You know Mark Walberg was in a funky bunch right?
Not just any funky bunch, THE Funky Bunch.
We’re gonna need their average size at 10yos.
If we need a bigger sample size, I’m open to pulling in Backstreet Boys, and Nsync
bruh… a used kid
But can we talk about how comically awful those tiny-ass wheels look that raised truck
Looney-toons-ahh-truck, smh
Technically they aren’t that badly sized. You don’t want the whole wheel well filled with the tire, it needs room to move around. If they were ever to go offroading they would have plenty of room without their tires scraping against the body of the truck, although this pavement princess probably never sees dirt.
Here’s another such killer truck just steps from the previous one in the same parking area.
You know that kid is just like “Mom, can we just go home? No I don’t wanna stand in front of any more trucks! Mom, stop being weird.”
Why does that person have a bull bar on their truck in a garage?
That bar also looks designed to push its target down under the vehicle. I bet that performs super deadly in the crash tests it has never done
Drivers are warned that bull bars (commonly “roo bars” here) will make the car less safe by preventing correct deployment of airbags in a collision, yet people fit them. They also add steel tubes to carry four fishing rods, which emergency services people call “sausage makers” for their effect on vulnerable road users
Its Nevada. Nevada has signs for drivers to watch out for deer, cattle, donkeys, horses, pigs, slow trucks, rams and I’m probably missing a few others. Not signs about kids. They probably put those near schools only where parents actually drop off the kids at the front entrance.
Do you think people remove bull bars just to park or something?
In my country you’re not allowed to have them on public roads. Because they do pretty much nothing additional to protect your life (only your property), while obliterating others.
Yes then people take them on or off if they want to take an agricultural/industrial vehicle on public roads.
That’s surprisingly enlightened and humanist. Not all pieces of equipment needed in rough environments should be allowed in non rough environments just because “I needed it out there!”, which is the small minded US logic we seem to be okay living with.
Doesn’t seem like that would be legally required or expected in the US, so again your surprise seems unwarranted.
Also for this:
I was at a car dealership recently. In the front was all their pickup trucks. My car was lower than half of them.
All the cars in that picture are ginormous. That’s crazy. Cars are trending to be larger here in Europe, but that is something else.
I recall about 10 years ago, a guy at a shop i used to work at bought a GMC6500. I’m 6’2" and could easily walk under the side mirrors.
I noticed the truck was parked in the same spor for about a month. I asked some of the guys I worked with why it hadn’t moved. Apparently, the owner was getting into it when he fell out backward, injuring himself.
It’s nice when stupid vehicles attack their owners rather than pedestrians and cyclists
lol
I’m 5’3 and had to do an oil change one one when I worked at wal-mart. I was in the pit so I had to stand on the top rung of the step ladder we had down there just to reach the suspension so I could hang off it to get at the oil filter.
They don’t make kids like they used to. Can you imagine that a brand new kid in 2024 is much shorter than this 10 year old used kid!
A brand new kid, in this economy?!
I’ve seen one that had a front camera specifically added so you can see what’s in front of you for parking the monster. It looks like the dumbest design that’s just screaming how impractical it is for both safety and driving.
Like, maybe if you need a front facing camera to use this thing, maybe this limited visibility is also inappropriate for driving, no?
I mean it worked for the Boeing 747 🙄
The perfect height to deliver devastating head and chest injuries. It’s almost like they deliberately designed this thing to kill kids.
Not to mention it’s so high up and the hood is so massive, you can’t see the ground for like 10 feet in front of it.
I drive one of these. MPG isn’t great, if I’m being honest.
Have you tried installing a flaming guitarist to the hood?
I have but it, I dunno, it upsets the handling somehow.
Need to mount the camera so your guitarist isn’t always shifting to keep in frame.
Probably why you carry all that fuel around with you.
I witness!
At least that truck is serving a purpose.
A 2005 Ford Focus is my kid deadening tool of choice.
And 30lb e-scooters that can fit under your desk are the problem! /s
In all seriousness, is it any wonder why pedestrians get murdered at crosswalks? The drivers of those tanks can’t see anything below the dash!
Anyday now American kids will start wearing a big pole with a high viz contraction at the top whenever they leave the house.
