A 7,000-Pound Car Smashed Through a Guardrail. That’s Bad News for All of Us.

boem@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 415 points –
A 7,000-Pound Car Smashed Through a Guardrail. That’s Bad News for All of Us.
slate.com
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What a load of shit. Pretty sure roads are already used by many vehicles of Greater mass than 7000lbs. Trucks. Buses. Coaches.

18 wheelers and other heavy vehicles are definitely not going to be stopped by a guardrail. They also disintegrate any small passenger vehicle they come in contact with at any significant speed. I'm not sure how pointing out that they are dangerous is a load of shit.

Additionally, heavy vehicles cause upwards of 80% of road wear, which means we are subsidizing private transport companies by not forcing them to fund a proportional amount of road maintenance.

Additionally, heavy vehicles cause upwards of 80% of road wear, which means we are subsidizing private transport companies by not forcing them to fund a proportional amount of road maintenance.

They do. There are additional fee's and fuel surcharges that states make transport companies pay for road upkeep.

They pay more but not 80% of the total cost of maintenance. That's what the distribution would need to be in order to cancel out the outsized influence they have on infrastructure degradation.

The article is focused on passenger cars becoming heavier, no?

Yes, but you brought up other heavy vehicles not me.

But not with nearly every vehicle being one of them and operated by people with CDLs that understand a lot of the safety features of the road aren't going to work for them.

Not to mention that the 7,000 pound EV can do 0-60 in waaaay less time than a big truck.

Mentions skidding on ice in first paragraph. No amount of training can reverse the laws of friction.

Thing is, I agree and think normal consumer passenger cars are getting far too heavy. Like people.