Keep these Stupid American Trucks out of Europe

Not so fun fact: For every 10cm in car hight theres a corresponding increase in fatalities by 22% (source)

These machines maim us, they kill us, and they cause permanent bodily harm to us. However in exchange they make us fatter, more depressed, less connected, more lonely, angrier, allow us to waste time in traffic, and enjoy cities with less green spaces.

But on the bright side when you spend a significant portion of your paycheck on these horrid machines, and some child in Africa dies for the raw resources needed to make them you can sleep easy at night knowing an automobile CEO can afford his sixth mansion and his eighth mega yacht.

Hey, I know they are dumb, ugly, dangerous and annoying, but some people in Europe have micro penisses too! Oh wait, we have Porsche for that. Never mind, fuck off with those testosterone tankers.

At least Porsches look beautiful and aren't as tall. I'd say it's a better spending of money than those compensation cars.

We need to limit the size of cars that can enter our cities. Seriously.

It can also be done in an indirect way, e.g. by making smaller parking spaces and give fines to cars that exceed the shapes.

As and American and specifically a New Yorker I absolutely despise cars and I mean all cars. Genuenly I think if any city in America, New York should be the one that bans all cars and replaces the roads with biking/pedestrian roads. The grand majority of people here dont even own a car let alone acturally use one, most drivers here are coming in from New Jersey (probrally because the New Jersey public transportation system sucks.)
Hell I say we should bring back trams (modern European Trams) to replace the busses and expand the metro system. We dont need cars we need more options for public transportation and a greater biking infrastructure. We are so close yet so far from completely changing the image from a loud city with garbage drivers to a beautiful city with no cars.
I know many Europeans are feeling the same so for those living in cities I encurage you to demand the same from your city governments. CARS DONT BELONG IN CITIES
Allow them, don’t ban.
BUT make owning one so expensive and annoying nobody wants to get one.
Extra taxes, extra costs, don’t let big gas guzzlers in city centres etc.
- Nah, just ban them.
  Extra Tax and Fees just makes it a poor people tax, and rich assholes will carry on as if nothing changes. A straight-up ban makes them not appear at all.
- Americans are paying 100k for these fucking things now. Taking out 10 year long loans to pay for it. And then crying about gas prices on twitter. Not sure cost will stop people. People are idiots.
- So, pass a ban that only applies to poor people and let the rich continue to do whatever they want still since they can afford the fine?
- Agreed, wasn't it a 'work truck' heavy vehicle tax break after the fuel crisis in the 70s that created these monstrosities?
  (Please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm late for work.)
Some places are taxing / fining vehicles over a certain weight. That seems like a good solution. The fine should be proportional to the offender's wealth/income though or rich people will just be able to ignore it.
- Certain weight and size, would be good, imho.
  Have a bit looser restrictions for road freight lorries and vans, but only regarding the back if they're fully covered (instead of open), and owned by actual transport companies, with logs of what they transported, and actually used for that purpose at least 40 x a year.
- Yes, but unfortunately not many countries have that system.
  I think all of the EU should implement wealth/income based fines.

Came back to my car the other day to find one of the trucks parked to me. Could barely squeeze into my car then it was 2m longer than my car and so much higher i literally couldn't see a thing to drive out.

Had to creep forward but i had zero visibility until my driver window was past the front of the truck. It then stuck out the space so much i needed a 3 point turn to get around it due to cars parked opposite.

I was at end of the row so had to turn across it to get out. Just totally unsafe for anyone not inside it!

As an American construction worker, I'd much rather have HiLux than these monstrosities. It's ridiculous. No need for this shit.

The worst part is you can't see children and teenagers walking Infront of them. Which means you can't see normal cars Infront of you either. They are essentially worse than semi-trucks because they have slanted hoods, mirrors and better designed visibility and laws.
- Part of why these monstrosities are possible is that pickup trucks, and most SUVs, are regulated as "trucks" not "cars" and so they don't have to follow all the same safety rules as cars.
  There are some that actually have a camera in the front so you can look at a camera view of what's in front of you and blocked by the monstrous hood. I suppose that's good, but it seems like if they have to put a front-facing camera in a vehicle, they're admitting that the view out front is so obstructed that the vehicle shouldn't be legal.

Wish we didn’t have these big stupid things in Canada. Every dumb asshole you could ever meet has one and they all drive and park like the dumb assholes that they are.

Also out of Japan as well, please. We definitely don't need these, especially in pedestrian- and cyclist-heavy areas. (I have seen hummers trying to drive some streets in Tokyo and it's insane).

A Hummer in Tokyo?! Honestly that's impressive, considering the width of most non-main roads there. But still, why would one need such a car in such a place? Tokyo works even better without a car at all, imho.
- No one needs it and it's inconvenient. Some people with money import foreign cars (particularly around Roppongi/Akasaka/Meguro in Tokyo)

You see a few of them here-and-there in Korea these days. They're extra infuriating here because they don't fit in most parking spaces and they'll straight-up turn a lot of two-way roads into one-way. I don't think I've ever seen one with something in the bed. Purely for show.

The only thing I've seen people haul with these (in Europe) is their own overinflated ego. That's all they're for it seems.
that one way becomes a no-eay real quick when they meet somebody who calls their bluff
I don't think I've ever seen one with something in the bed.
That's usually the case here in the States as well. Not to mention how high the bed sits! You have to lift stuff to shoulder height to load the damn things, lol. They've become caricatures of trucks at this point.
How are they legal then? Sounds like either those streets should have limits against trucks and the trucks should be categorised as such or they shouldn't be legal at all.

Are these trucks classified as cars or trucks in most EU country?

In Norway (EEA but not EU) they are trucks (due to weight and carry capacity), and require a C1 truck driving licence. Which helps keep the numbers low. Though there have been cases of importers downgrading the suspension to lower the maximum carry capacity to reclassify them so they can be driven on a normal car class B driving license.

In the USA (and I think Canada, and maybe Mexico) pickup trucks, SUVs and minivans are classified as "light trucks". That's a different category from cars. That exempts them from a lot of regulations that would seem like they should apply to every vehicle. For example, you'd think that every vehicle on the road would have to have their bumpers at the same height, otherwise when two vehicles collide their bumpers might miss. While it's true that cars have to have their bumpers at a certain height, "light trucks" don't have to follow that same regulation, and often have higher bumpers, meaning they go over the bumpers of cars and directly impact the bodywork. They also get away from having to follow emissions standards, etc.
I don't know what EU regulations are like, but I really hope they prevent the US manufacturers from exporting that loophole to Europe. They'll probably get away with classifying them as a kind of vehicle that requires the same license as a normal car. However, hopefully the EU will require that they follow other car-like regulations too, like bumper height, safety systems, etc.
- The bit that's so perplexing is that in north America they are not "cars" but "light trucks" , yet they can be legally driven on a normal "car" driving licence.
  Here "light trucks" are a separate, expensive, license, which is usually only taken for occupational reasons. Which is a good thing, since weight (and securing loads etc) has a massive impact on road safety.
Under 3.5 tons they're cars
- 3.5 tonns maximum total capacity right? Or net weight?
  So a 3 tonne truck that can haul 1 tonne of goods for a total of 4 tonnes gross weight would be a need a truck license

How can people stand to drive these. You are so limited with how you can navigate the environment with barely any benefit.

The excuse I've heard is that they want visibility because everyone else has tall ass jacked up trucks they need to be jacked up too.
With that mentality, we should fit all of our toddlers and preteens with stilts and hivis vests so these poor truck owners will see them over the massive hood.
- True example of "race to the bottom"
- The other excuse is that they want to be protected in a collision. And, there's some truth to that. If you're in a small car and you're hit by a huge truck, you're probably in a lot of danger. But, if you're also in a huge truck you might not be hurt as badly. But that's also a race to the bottom.

I wish I could ride my bike like a Scythed Chariot and destroy all these death machines that have the gall to ride on the bike path.

I mean fuck! I hate cars and pretentious drivers so goddamn much. The only thing they have to do to accelerate is push a pedal once with less effort than moving a feather of a newborn chick, yet they for some reason consistently claim the right of way, or get it by law even. Topsy-turvy society.

“I reduced the insolent crowd of carriages which cumber our streets, for this luxury of speed destroys its own aim; a pedestrian makes more headway than a hundred conveyances jammed end to end along the twists and turns of the Sacred Way.” ―Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar (1903–1987)

If nobody buys them, then they'll exit the market. American companies value profit.

I think there is a certain percentage of the population that is a problem everywhere.

At least trucks are useful for farmers and construction workers. What you need to focus on is making your transit network better so nobody needs a small car at all, and these trucks are only used by the few people who need a big truck.

these trucks are only used by the few people who need a big truck
Did I miss your sarcasme or are you not connected to reality?
- These truck should only be used by the few people who need a big truck. That is a small minority of people.
farmers use tractors. construction workers use vans. nobody here uses big trucks.
You mean serious farmers and construction workers are better off with an american style "truck" (60% comfy family and passanger space, 40% bed for your construction stuff) than with a van or a "classic" truck (two seats and a big bed for all your stuff)?
- That will depend on what they are doing. a lot of construction crews need a seat for everyone on the crew, and the small bed is enough. The reason trucks cabs have got much larger as we no longer accept people riding in the bed of the truck, or in front with no seat belt. This is overall for the better, but either the truck needs to be longer or your need a shorter bed.
- Not the same seating capacity though. Also, it's hard to tell, but it seems like there's a difference in bed widths?
  Edit: Could someone help me understand the downvotes? The seating capacity is just an objective fact, so was it the speculative difference in bed width? Or something else? (Sometimes I have difficulty understanding people)
The only people who can afford these 100k€ rams and f150s are rich assholes. Farmers drive around in their toyota hilux or ford ranger that is small in compariaon to these massive american trucks and all of the construction workers use vans.