Our problem is not that we drive small cars (I drive a Focus). It’s that newer vehicles are enormous, usually for no reason.
Nearly every time I get on the highway, I’m tailgated by someone in some newer massive SUV where the headlights are at the same height as my rear view mirror. I don’t understand why those vehicles are allowed to operate on the same roads as me. They aren’t safe. By default, stock, out of the factory, they blind the other drivers in reasonable cars. I can’t imagine what getting into a wreck with one would do to my car (and me in it).
Oh, there is a reason, and it’s the fucking NHTSA. Those absolute fuckrockets mandate proportionally stricter emissions standards on smaller cars than larger cars. They base it on the area of the rectangle formed by where the tires touch the pavement.
If your car can’t quite pass emission standards, just make it a little wider, a little longer, and you get a looser standard.
Repeat the process for a few model years, and now 2025 subcompacts are larger than 1995 sedans.
Same, and they might even have properly adjusted headlights, but as soon as they tilt up (e.g. due to a speed bump), the flashing lights make it look like they are sending me a light signal. Usually takes a few seconds until I realise they just hit a speed bump.
My problem is that I drive a low car (Ford fiesta) and most other cars are taller, this makes them way more blinding.
Our problem is not that we drive small cars (I drive a Focus). It’s that newer vehicles are enormous, usually for no reason.
Nearly every time I get on the highway, I’m tailgated by someone in some newer massive SUV where the headlights are at the same height as my rear view mirror. I don’t understand why those vehicles are allowed to operate on the same roads as me. They aren’t safe. By default, stock, out of the factory, they blind the other drivers in reasonable cars. I can’t imagine what getting into a wreck with one would do to my car (and me in it).
Oh, there is a reason, and it’s the fucking NHTSA. Those absolute fuckrockets mandate proportionally stricter emissions standards on smaller cars than larger cars. They base it on the area of the rectangle formed by where the tires touch the pavement.
If your car can’t quite pass emission standards, just make it a little wider, a little longer, and you get a looser standard.
Repeat the process for a few model years, and now 2025 subcompacts are larger than 1995 sedans.
Fuck the NHTSA with a rusty bayonet.
Same, and they might even have properly adjusted headlights, but as soon as they tilt up (e.g. due to a speed bump), the flashing lights make it look like they are sending me a light signal. Usually takes a few seconds until I realise they just hit a speed bump.