[Tom_77]

Interesting piece in The Guardian about SUVs.

[quote]

Sold as a means of escape from the concrete realities of the modern world, a symbol of individualism and the pioneer spirit, the SUV represents instead a uniform kind of selfishness, a collective indifference to community to which, alas, we are all more or less prone.

[/quote]

 

Topic

[chrisonabike]

Yes – another persona they
Yes – another persona they dug up again from the past. IIRC they claimed to be a Dutch bike shop owner when using this one before! If I’ve not confused the various multiple identities that is. (But since they can’t even keep track themselves why should I?)

[Left_is_for_Losers]

wycombewheeler wrote:

I’d also extend this to power limits, and minimum fuel econmy figures as well. Being out of the EU should allow us to control our own roads. Could be the first actual benefit of the whole debacle.

So, how would that be policed! Minimum fuel economy? I’m all for good economy, but that is impossible to police. 

[Rendel Harris]

wtjs wrote:

I never wrote any statistics, you did. Why do you love electronic bikes so much? Does your wife have one or something?

That ought to confirm to Rendel who this inept retread is!

Suspected as much, the posed illiteracy is a red flag in itself…

[wtjs]

I never wrote any statistics,

I never wrote any statistics, you did. Why do you love electronic bikes so much? Does your wife have one or something?

That ought to confirm to Rendel who this inept retread is!

[wycombewheeler]

marmotte27 wrote:

marmotte27 wrote:

Which solves exactly what as regards SUVs?

reduces the number of people killed  or injured by them

[wycombewheeler]

chrisonatrike wrote:

chrisonatrike wrote:

Well – it’s not easy to fight the market – unless of course we want to (“war on some drugs” – which to be fair was lost almost everywhere).

Unlike drugs it is perfectly feasible to legislate against monster cars, no one is going to be buying an SUV from some dodgy guy in a shady back street.

set out maximum dimensions (length, width, height and weight) for new car registrations, with exemptions for work vehicles, which must be vans or pick ups and not just over sized land rovers.

I’d also extend this to power limits, and minimum fuel econmy figures as well. Being out of the EU should allow us to control our own roads. Could be the first actual benefit of the whole debacle.

[chrisonabike]

Left_is_for_Losers wrote:

Left_is_for_Losers wrote:

Cars have been getting bigger, but the road, parking spaces and so on haven’t – because it is of course very difficult to just make a road wider.

Well – it’s not easy to fight the market – unless of course we want to (“war on some drugs” – which to be fair was lost almost everywhere).

Cars getting bigger is no more inevitable than cars becoming electric. Or electric bikes and scooters appearing on the streets. Or indeed any of our transport choices. (Doing nothing is also a choice…)

Interestingly there are examples from several nearby countries – with the same access to car brands as here – where they’ve decided that they should actually go the opposite way and make roads smaller. Maybe by adding cycle infra, or more pedestrian space, or trams or just some nice places to walk / sit / some greenery.

[Left_is_for_Losers]

Cars have been getting bigger

Cars have been getting bigger, but the road, parking spaces and so on haven’t – because it is of course very difficult to just make a road wider. The addition of cycle lanes also narrows lanes, and while a cycle lane is generally considered a good thing, it does put pressure on the cars and roads. 

I think we’re in a big transition phase – roads need to get better, the number of cars is going to increase, and the network need some serious upgrades. Getting cycle lanes out of roads and onto separate infra like some European countries do well would be a start (but knowing what our infra is like, the lanes will be shoddy)

In short, it’s not the cars or the speed limits – its the general direction we are headed in. Even a tesla is very wide – and a lot are not SUV’s per se

[Jetmans Dad]

I know I have said this on

I know I have said this on here before but given how many of these things are on the roads (and not only that but cars generally are bigger and heavier than they were 30 years ago), the very least we should be doing in response is reducing speed limits around built up areas … if greater damage and injury is caused by a vehicle carrying greater kinetic energy, and the amount of kinetic energy is determined by the mass and speed of the vehicle, then reducing speed limits in line with the increase in average mass is vital in maintaining safety on the roads. 

It is also noticeable that an increasing number of the vehicles parked at the supermarket do not entirely fit within the spaces even when “well” parked thanks to the move away from family cars to crossovers and SUVs. 

Those necessary for work, I have no problem with at all. Those that are simply a status symbol, or forced on us by manufacturers (Ford, for one, have stopped production of almost all of their “normal” cars in favour of SUV types vehicles, for example) are just a nonsense, especially in towns and cities. 

[CyclingInGawler]

Once upon a time (well, say

Once upon a time (well, say five years ago) Australian car parks would be full of V8 Falcodores (i.e. Ford Falcons/Holden Commodores). Since the demise of on-shore car manufacturing they’re now full of even heavier and larger dual-cab 4WD utes, most of which are being bought or leased using tax breaks, and most of which never do anything more extreme than drive down the gravel track to the local conservation park. As Andy Stow notes below, the standards office is now suggesting car park spaces should be made bigger to accomodate the increased size of these vehicles…. at the same time as a climate emergency is being declared! As they say in Lancashire, there’s now’t so queer as folk!

[David9694]

Watch as Romford car thief

Watch as Romford car thief rams police car before crashing Range Rover into a wall during dramatic police chase

The thief also used the vehicle to ram a police car during the chase in the SUV

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/watch-romford-car-thief-rams-8892220

[chrisonabike]

As others have pointed out,

As others have pointed out, all the uses of “SUV” (not least by some manufacturers running after a trend) cover a rather wide garage.  The ones I’m down on would be the examples of predatory advertising – call something the exact opposite of what it is (neither “sporty” nor utilitarian).  So “vehicles for people who would be better served by some other kind of vehicle if it wasn’t for the need to express their status / project a ‘rugged’ image.  Those which cause problems for everyone else by being more dangerous to others, space inefficient, heavy etc.”

Some people live on hill farms.  The vast majority of us don’t and don’t even visit them.

Is it a pickup you have?  Clearly there are good uses for pickups – for a few people.  4 wheel drive is obviously also useful to a few.  Otherwise there are all kinds of vans / minibuses and other utility vehicles (not “sporty”) which are much better for the job of “transporting stuff and / or people”.

[Left_is_for_Losers]

JLasTSR wrote:

SUV and anti-social sums me up nicely. 

And me! Give me a Ineos Grenadier or Defender over a Twizy any day of the week

[Rendel Harris]

Very few people object to

Very few people object to SUVs/4WDs that are needed for work, as clearly yours is. It’s people using luxury SUVs that are far too big for cities that have no purpose other than to advertise their wealth and that will only ever go off road to park on the grass at Cowdray Park for the polo that is the problem.

[JLasTSR]

SUV 4WD large bodied vehicles

SUV 4WD large bodied vehicles capable of towing a 3 tonne trailer off road if necessary have been part of my life for 38 years. We also take it to Norway once a year when it has eight peoples luggage crammed into it along with a working domestic freezer so we can return with our catch of salmon that will then be smoked in Suffolk. We are trying to change the Norway trip because we can get salmon smoked in Norway but believe it or not certain members of the group object because Norwegian smokehouses do not slice the Salmon. Anyway hate away, my point is SUVs do not just only do what a hatchback does. In addition when it comes weight a Rolls or an S Class is definitely going to compete with most SUVs. An SUV in my case have allowed me to work, move hay, wood, pallets, go off road around three farms, all in the last 2 months. I could have done most of this with a car but it would have taken multiple trips and I would have got stuck on one farm and grounded out in one wooded bit. On the road as vehicle it does not handle as well as a sporty car. It is not economical but it is not that much worse than some cars. Visibility out is pretty good no worse than a car. The damage I could do is to be honest considerable but I tend to avoid cities too many people, cars, they hold no interest for me. Even towns I try to avoid as much as possible. SUV and anti-social sums me up nicely. 

[Author]

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