Every time this comes up, someone comes in telling us how adaptive headlights will save the day now that they’re finally approved. Here’s the issue: this problem exists today, and stuffing ever more computers in newer cars is not going to fix all the jacked-up F-150s with retina-searing aftermarket replacement bulbs, and the new cars rolling off the line without adaptive headlights (which will soon become used cars on the road for many years to come).
It’s funny you single out trucks. Most all new-ish cars these days have the same headlights.
Oh trucks sit higher? Is that it? Should we exclusively develop low profile cars/trucks/SUVs? I think second-order effects would prove that this line of reasoning is a disaster.
So now what? Make headlights less bright? Is that safer, when you’re driving down a wooded road at night without any other cars around?
> Oh trucks sit higher? Is that it? Should we exclusively develop low profile cars/trucks/SUVs?
For the love of god, yes. The American auto industry is simply out of fucking control with the size of trucks and SUVs, which is not JUST making them more difficult to drive safely with larger blind spots, making them MORE prone for parents to run over their own children with, take longer distances to stop and require larger brake components which cost more, more likely to kill anyone they happen to hit whether they're in a car or not, more expensive to buy, and equally shitty on fuel as trucks from the early 2000's are despite 20 fucking years of advancements in ICE technology, but is ALSO making them blind people because the headlight of a Silverado is roughly level with the ROOF of a standard sedan or compact.
Like I'm sorry, there is no fucking reason at all that an accountant from Stevesburg Ohio needs a vehicle that has worse safety characteristics than an LTL truck. If we can make SEMI'S not blind me, then we can do it for Joe who works at Walmart. Like... I don't even know why you'd call that LOW profile? My 2010 F-150 is the biggest vehicle I've ever owned, and if I park next to a modern F-150, the newer truck makes mine look like a goddamn mid-size truck. It's ridiculous how HUGE they've gotten.
> I contend, knowing farmers who use their trucks for work every day, they can’t do their job without them.
Did I say "no more trucks?" No, I didn't. My complaint isn't the existence of trucks. My complaint is trucks that are MASSIVE for no reason.
I would also hazard a guess that the same farmers you're talking about have driver's licenses that cost more money and require more stringent testing to get, which is suitable when they are regularly driving vehicles like tractors, that can pancake a standard car. And like, at this point, you really should need a CDL for anything larger than an F-250.
I would also hazard a second guess that your farmer friends would find their trucks easier to use if they were lower to the ground and had smaller wheels, as pickup trucks did in the 80's and 90's, before the CAFE standards the auto industry begged for went into effect and allowed them to make the land mammoths that are now common in suburbs all over the United States, owned by not-farmers.
> So the question becomes, do we need regulation about who can buy a big truck?
No, we need regulation that states how big a truck can be and still be a consumer vehicle. And, we need an end to the subsidies in this country both on fuel itself and on the engines that it operates in vehicles people buy that make them financially feasible in a way they wouldn't otherwise, and failing that, there needs to be steep increases in gas and registration taxes and fees to account for how abusive these vehicles are to the roads they operate on and the communities they operate in. And once they actually cost what they should, the market can decide. If our accountant is just THAT COMMITTED to his F-350 SuperCrew with the 8 foot bed that he uses to buy groceries, that's completely fine! Assuming he can pay for it.
Oversize SUV's and farm vehicles are not the same thing at all.
Farmers with penis extension trucks, ute's, oversized bull bars, vanity spotlights et al are a thing .. but those vehicles are not essential for farm work .. they're there for the circle work.
We have farm vehicles, actual three trailer semi prime movers for road trains, modified nine tonne trucks, two storey high combines, chaser trucks for binning grain, ex military trucks for off road fire protection, etc.
These are not the road trucks the GP comments are rightfully complaining about.
I'm stating as a fact that farmers about the globe are able to farm millions of tonnes of grain without the use of oversize yank tank "trucks".
They are not necessary for farming, it's commonplace to farm without them.
If US farmers are overly attached to a penis extension with dog balls and claim they are unable to live without them then that's a pathological condition, not a fact.
Of course everyone should be allowed to use as large a truck with as bright of lights as they want[1] on their own land. Likewise, excessively bright or high-mounted lights should be illegal to use on public roads. High beams are fine if (& only if) there's no other traffic close enough to be harmed by the bright lights. These rules are not an onerous burden on anyone & we need them to maintain safety & civility on the roads!
[1] within reason, not to the point that it blinds aircraft, neighbors, etc.
