
A car diet – WillCycle
Recently, I caused a bit of a storm on social media. My crime? Simple – I asked why we do not have laws that limit the size (width and length), along with top speed and engine power of cars. Yes, I’m aware there are laws which specify certain limits, esp w.r.t vehicle width, and that different licence categories impose weight restrictions, but this is more specific that that.
You will note that – despite rather strongly believing that we should have tight laws governing this – what I did was merely ask a question. Never once did I suggest that we should immediately scrap all cars that exceed certain limits, nor that everyone everywhere should be forced to all drive exactly the same car.And yet, some of the reactions I got suggested that some people at least convinced themselves that this was exactly what I proposed, and as a result became extremely defensive.
One person (unsurprisingly, a Land Rover driver) claimed that SUVs were somehow safer for pedestrians – the reality is SUVs are lethal to pedestrians, and becoming more so.