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I'm sure we have all noticed that pickup trucks are getting taller and have much worse visibility from the front. Why is this being done and how is this legal? I thought there were laws about visibility and requirements for pedestrians.
Coworker has a full size truck and two young kids. I sent him a link to a video news story about visibility. Said he’s extra careful now. It isn’t just trucks with these visibility issues. Many crossover/SUVs also have forward blind spots that could result in hitting pedestrians, mostly children or people on bicycles.
I remember when pickup trucks were used mainly for work instead of a status symbol, a major selling point was having a low loading height. Trucks then were easy to load and easy to get into and out of. Now, the most a truck usually hauls today is maybe groceries for a week and the oversized ego of the owner. It is utterly ridiculous that the full sized pickup truck is the best selling vehicle in the United States.
I don't know about others, but Ford raised the F150 to get rid of the transmission hump in the back since so many are now Extended or Crew cabs with a rear seat.
The visibility factor is substantially mitigated by front and rear-view cameras and obstacle sensors. They don't do much at speed, but they're quite useful at driveway/parking-lot type speeds. The vehicle in your attached image has front-mounted sensors at a minimum; the kid is standing right in front of two of them. Even in a 20-year-old truck with a lower profile, you'd be hard-pressed to see that kid as close as she's she's standing to the front of the vehicle. So if I had to select a preferred risk mitigation factor in the situation illustrated below, I'll take the hiked-up truck with cameras and sensors over the 20-year-old truck without them.
The visibility factor is substantially mitigated by front and rear-view cameras and obstacle sensors. They don't do much at speed, but they're quite useful at driveway/parking-lot type speeds. The vehicle in your attached image has front-mounted sensors at a minimum; the kid is standing right in front of two of them. Even in a 20-year-old truck with a lower profile, you'd be hard-pressed to see that kid as close as she's she's standing to the front of the vehicle. So if I had to select a preferred risk mitigation factor in the situation illustrated below, I'll take the hiked-up truck with cameras and sensors over the 20-year-old truck without them.
Fine if those cameras and censors aren’t obstructed or damaged.
Fine if those cameras and censors aren’t obstructed or damaged.
"Obstructed?" the entire point of them is to detect obstructions. In any case, where pedestrian safety is concerned I'll take a late-model truck or SUV with a 0.1% chance of having the camera AND sensors damaged over a 20-year-old one with no camera or sensors at all.
I remember when pickup trucks were used mainly for work instead of a status symbol, a major selling point was having a low loading height. Trucks then were easy to load and easy to get into and out of. Now, the most a truck usually hauls today is maybe groceries for a week and the oversized ego of the owner. It is utterly ridiculous that the full sized pickup truck is the best selling vehicle in the United States.
They are used for work in rural states. In places like Montana, most of the trucks are beat up or have some kind of company or farm logo on the side. Here in Texas, you'll see these stupid lifted trucks that someone paid half the cost of the truck on modifications. Maybe an easy fix for the problem is a tax on these vehicles. It's amazing how 99% of the world functions just fine without pickup trucks and uses panel vans for most business purposes.
It's a shame we can't have a massive tax on these trucks to encourage people to buy more practical vehicles that are better for the environment and don't wear on roads as much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bitey
"Obstructed?" the entire point of them is to detect obstructions. In any case, where pedestrian safety is concerned I'll take a late-model truck or SUV with a 0.1% chance of having the camera AND sensors damaged over a 20-year-old one with no camera or sensors at all.
I've got a 1980 Mercedes 300D and the visibility is FAR better than my newer model Honda Civic. Yes, the backup camera is helpful when reversing in the Civic but with the Mercedes, I can clearly see out of all windows, including the rear ones. The rear window is almost at the same angle as a sunroof in the Civic but in the Mercedes it's not as steep so you can see out of it easier. I also also see over the hood and see pretty much anything in the front unless it's a small animal directly in front of the car.
With the truck in photo, I bet you can barely see anything out of that windshield because of how sloped it is.
My buddy owns TWO huge GMC trucks. TBF, he is a contractor so he actually does need a "bigger" vehicle for work.
However, as an accountant I know that he's crazy carry the cost of 2 big expensive vehicles. One of them is on a ridiculously expensive lease.
I know for a fact that he bought them for his ego. He could have bought a cheap minivan and it would've served him just as well at easy 1/3 of the price.
Now he is crazy enough to consider leasing a NEW truck when his current lease is over. I told him that he is crazy as heck. Buy out the existing truck (which is in pristine condition) and you are golden for at least another decade or more with zero payments.
He told me that current trucks go for $80,000 and up! Are you nuts?
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