How does either of those lead to less cargo volume for the same or larger length?
Lots of dead volume that isn't usable... unless you wanna smuggle drugs with these vehicles.
Readit NewsAstralJaeger commented on Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them economist.com/interactive... · Posted by u/avyfain
AstralJaeger commented on Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them economist.com/interactive... · Posted by u/avyfain
There are already different classes of licensing in the US for larger industrial vehicles.
> for larger industrial vehicles
See, thats where the difference is, here 3.5t is considered a bigger vehicle with few exceptions. Most campers are close or overweight for the normal B class license.
AstralJaeger commented on Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them economist.com/interactive... · Posted by u/avyfain
> the reality I've observed, especially in unlimited speed sections of the Autobahn, can be quite different.
My experience is that it depends on where in Germany you are. I drove from France to Norway this week so I went through northern Germany and the autobahn was great, where it wasn't restricted because of the more or less permanent roadworks that is. I drive on Tesla Autopilot when I can which has a maximum speed of 150 kph and only once in the 600 km from Venlo to Flensburg did I notice someone get too close behind me even though many were travelling considerably faster.
It's a different story further south around Munich for instance.
I agree though that road safety in Europe has a lot to do with road design, vehicle standards, maintenance, driver education, etc.
I fully agree on that, I'm mostly travelling through the south of germany, think Salzburg to Kufstein, and that route is terrible, including the pavement.
AstralJaeger commented on Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them economist.com/interactive... · Posted by u/avyfain
Yep also bigger cars can do slightly more.
Considering there are europeans sedans that have more cargo volume and are sginificantly shortler than some of these american battering rams
AstralJaeger commented on Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them economist.com/interactive... · Posted by u/avyfain
This was all caused by the CAFE emissions standards that allow cars with bigger footprints to emit more. Nobody wants bigger trucks, and in the Tacoma community it's a standard refrain to bemoan just how fucking big they've gotten. They aren't compact trucks anymore. They're midsize today. Compact trucks do not exist.
I miss the days where PickUps were the size of the Fiat Strada and didn't have a turning radius of an Abrams M1 battle tank.
AstralJaeger commented on Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them economist.com/interactive... · Posted by u/avyfain
They know how to avoid this, because heavy autos are considered utility vehicles. They'll claim this is bad for the economy because small companies need access to utility vehicles.
This could simply be avoided by introducing a similar model to how it is handled over here in europe, with different vehicle classes and weight limits, a higher weight class requires a more advanced drivers license. Certain utlilty vehicles 3.5t and over can't be driven here without a D class license, which costs extra, requires extra training and the tax and fee structure for these vehicles is drastically different.
Usually, these heavier vehicles also pay higher toll fees on toll roads like in France, Spain, Austria, Italy, etc. In Austria higher engine power vehicles also cost more on a monthly basis, while registration is a 150€ one time fee, monthly insurance and tax can be around 150€ for a 200hp ice vehicle, even just a Ford Fiesta.
AstralJaeger commented on Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them economist.com/interactive... · Posted by u/avyfain
They drive with a discipline / care that Americans refuse to even consider. Perhaps Americans should.
As someone who regularly drives on German highways, including the Autobahn, I may ad my two cents. While German drivers are often praised for their discipline, the reality I've observed, especially in unlimited speed sections of the Autobahn, can be quite different.
Many drivers there seem to focus primarily on their perceived right to drive as fast as they want, often creating dangerous situations for others who may be able to or want to drive as fast and thus often not have time to react. I've witnessed numerous close calls and risky maneuvers that don't align with the idealized view of German driving discipline.
That said, the significant difference in road fatality rates between Germany and the US suggests there are indeed factors contributing to safer roads in Germany. However, from my experience, it's not simply due to more careful drivers across the board. Other elements like road design, vehicle safety standards, strict enforcement of traffic laws, and comprehensive driver education systems likely play crucial roles, see the pathway to a german drivers license which includes about 9 hours of practice training with a driving instructor.
Rather than looking abroad for examples of driver behavior, it might be more productive for the US to focus on improving road safety through comprehensive measures. This could include enhancing driver education, implementing stricter enforcement of existing traffic laws, and investing in safer road infrastructure.
The goal should be to create a system that encourages and facilitates safer driving for everyone, regardless of individual driver attitudes. While there's certainly room for improvement in American driving habits, the solution likely lies in systemic changes rather than simply emulating perceived behaviors from other countries.
AstralJaeger commented on Kobo announces color e-readers theverge.com/2024/4/10/24... · Posted by u/lxm
I have very little to add about the color aspect, but I can say that I love my Kobo. I've had three Kindles before buying the Kobo, which I got because it has a "better" integration with my local library (better in quotes, because I still have to do with the Adobe DRM, which is so bad on Linux that I borrow my wife's computer just to transfer).
The Pocket integration is fantastic, as are the physical page turn buttons. I always thought they were unnecessary, but I really do prefer them now. The warm night light is also great. It's a bonus as well not to be in the Amazon ecosystem more than I have to.
The biggest downsides are maybe a bit niche: the dictionary is terrible (although you can upload your own, but not make it the default) and there's no built-in translate function. I read mostly in my non-native language, so these two features make life a bit more difficult, but they're outweighed by the rest.
> as are the physical page turn buttons. I always thought they were unnecessary, but I really do prefer them now.
I felt that one, the reason I love those buttons is, because that way I can keep my display clean as I don't have to touch it.
AstralJaeger commented on Kobo announces color e-readers theverge.com/2024/4/10/24... · Posted by u/lxm
I've used a Pocketbook Color for over a year now. And yes, it is a somewhat darker screen, but that mainly just means I turn on the frontlight in some cases where I wouldn't have needed to with other e-readers. I've otherwise been having a good time with it - comics and PDFs benefit greatly from the color screen, and regular text is fine too.
Fully agree here, I'm in the PocketBook Color squad since 2020 and got it at full price and absoltuley love the thing. Appart from the fact they don't sell official covers for it anymore since i seem to disassemble those regularly.
AstralJaeger commented on Code search is hard blog.val.town/blog/search... · Posted by u/stevekrouse
OpenGrok (https://github.com/oracle/opengrok) is a wonderful tool to search a codebase.
It runs on-prem and handles lots of popular programming languages.
I fully agree with you there, OpenGrok is a wonderful, oudated-looking and feeling but lightning fast code search engine!