In Trade Deal With Trump, Europe Sells Out its Pedestrians
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2025/09/11/in-trade-deal-with-trump-europe-sells-out-its-pedestrians
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2025/09/11/in-trade-deal-with-trump-europe-sells-out-its-pedestrians
64 Comments
manxu@piefed.social · 72 pts · 347d
It's definitely not just pedestrians that have been sold out. Those monster trucks kill everyone from pedestrian to bicyclist, from motorcyclist to smaller car driver. The only thing they have going on for themselves is that if other people have one, you need one, as well, or you are blind on the roads and easy prey when they go hunting.
Soup@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 347d
Heck, they even have an astounding ability to kill children in their own driveways!
khannie@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 347d
Nephew of a guy I worked with was killed in Austin on a summer visa riding an electric scooter by someone turning right in one of these monstrosities. Driver didn't see him.
Fuck whoever allowed this deal.
supamanc@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 346d
And their own drivers - they are far more succeptable to roll over accidents, the most fatal type of accident. And due to being classed as light trucks, rather than cars, they have less rigorous protection against these types of accident.
fibojoly@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 346d
You say that like that's a bad thing.
shane@feddit.nl · 42 pts · 347d
Taken across the street from my house in Amstelveen, just about 15 km from Amsterdam Centraal Station.
The truck parks with tires on the curb, and won't fit in a space lengthwise either. I am filled with rage every time I see it.
Pechente@feddit.org · 31 pts · 347d
Getting a car like this in the Netherlands of all places is just stupid. This person should be ashamed of themselves (although I bet they’re not)
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de · 4 pts · 346d
They're probably ashamed of an anatomical feature.
witty_username@feddit.nl · 17 pts · 347d
utjebe@reddthat.com · 16 pts · 347d
You don't get a ticket for it in the Netherlands?
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 346d
bylaw
law
vandalism
ayyy@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 346d
All of that and you still can’t fit a standard sheet of drywall or plywood in the bed. What a piece of shit.
shane@feddit.nl · 6 pts · 346d
Workmen here all use vans. Although admittedly if they're doing a lot of work the materials are usually dropped off by a truck (an actual truck, not a pickup truck).
TBi@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 346d
Same here but I am seeing workmen slowly changing over to pick ups. More expensive and less versatile but they are still getting more popular.
rmuk@feddit.uk · 33 pts · 346d
As I posted in another community this was crossposted to: This article is bullshit.
With the exception of what's happening in the author's imagination, nothing that's is happening will make it easier to import or drive these in the EU. In fact, the EU, by respecting categorisations made in the US, will be mandating that these be treated as the dangerous, polluting industrial vehicles they are. They won't be able to drive through town centres, in low emissions zones, park in car parks, be driven on car licenses, or be taxed and insured like a Fiat Punto any more. So instead of there being tens of thousands of incorrectly regulated one-off exceptions like we have now, there will be vehicles held to the same standards as all the others.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 12 pts · 346d
Even that aside, there's just less demand for them in Europe. The Euro equivalent to a big American truck is the diesel wagon. Has torque, can put a bunch of shit in the back. And it's enclosed!
Our fuel prices are just so much higher and in a lot of EU countries, most people can't afford 100k € trucks in the first place.
itsralC@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 346d
Damn, if that's true this comment needs to be way higher
Goodman@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 346d
Interesting, may I ask how you know?
rmuk@feddit.uk · 17 pts · 346d
Because I read the actual announcement, and I remember something that all authors of sensationalist nonsense about EU laws want their readers to forget: any new law or agreement exists alongside all the existing ones. The actual agreement here is that vehicles can be imported from the US - in fact, it arguably makes it easier - but they will be categorised, regulated and taxed as if they were first registered in the EU rather than given special exemptions. That means they'll need to meet EU laws on pedestrian safety, emissions, efficiency , and so on. Even ignoring that, these cannot be driven in the EU on a car license because according to the EU they are not cars. So the EU has not opened a floodgate, they've closed a loophole.
Goodman@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 346d
Thanks for replying, are you implying that they can not be driven with a standard B license? I could believe it but I thought that B encompassed quite a lot of vehicles/mass/sizes
rmuk@feddit.uk · 9 pts · 346d
EU (and UK) car licenses cover a maximum fully-laden weight of 3.5T, which these trucks vastly exceed - some of them weigh well over 2.5T before you even put fuel in. Since US regulations are not currently being considered, it's up to the importer to declare the maximum weight so they just pinky-swear that the MLW is 3,499.9999kg or whatever. It's arresting to think that if these were judged fairly, most EU drivers couldn't drive one of these but could drive a LWB Sprinter.
It's also worth remembering that even in the US, trucks are commercial vehicles distinct from cars and it's only because of terminal car-brain that they're subject to exclusions and subsidies that makes it possible to use one just for commuting.
Goodman@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 pts · 346d
I think you might be right. But there are pbbly still some of those lighter pickups that can be driven by a B licence, which is unfortunate. I found the vehicle chart on Wikipedia quite helpful https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_classification
P.S. also crazy that so many US vehicles exceed that weight limit. Heavy and big cars are generally bad for everyone.
lime@feddit.nu · 1 pts · 346d
not all vehicles can be registered as "mainly for personal transportation" (don't know the actual term), which is a requirement for B licenses.
trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 345d
The B license is only about gross weight. The limit is 3.5t, it doesn't matter what the vehicle is registered as. If it's too heavy, it's too heavy. If a too heavy vehicle has a light enough empty weight, it might be possible to downrate its gross weight. Of course that means you'll have much less load capacity then, and getting caught overloaded is no joke.
lime@feddit.nu · 1 pts · 345d
maybe it's a regional thing, i know the eu license system is a mess. here it also limits the amount of passengers, and vehicles can be re-registered for use with a b license if they meet certain criteria like number of seats.
trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 345d
The limit to the number of passengers to 8 applies to all licenses other than class D1 and D.
ExtremeDullard@piefed.social · 24 pts · 347d
Europeans can vote with their wallets and boycott nonsensical vehicles from the fascist country across the pond. They don't have to wait for their increasingly corrupt powers that be to do the work for them you know...
Lembot_0004@discuss.online · 75 pts · 347d
CosmoNova@lemmy.world · 39 pts · 347d
Yup. This is the best argument for regulations because voting with your wallet isn‘t as democratic as it sounds.
ExtremeDullard@piefed.social · 17 pts · 347d
Well, it's not final. I remember a time - in Belgium I think - when a utility vehicle was defined as having no backseats for passengers. Scores of people registered Porsches and other obviously passenger cars with the backseats removed as tax-exempt minivans.
Belgium put a stop to that and suddenly, all those backseat-less sportscars got taxed like they ought to be. Just like that, retroactively.
The same thing can happen with your vroom-vroom-loving neighbor very quickly.
syklemil@discuss.tchncs.de · 8 pts · 347d
Depends on what's actually in the trade deal.
But yeah, hopefully we can tax the yank tanks out of Europe if we can't ban them outright.
RedstoneValley@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 347d
It was similar in Germany. I owned a pickup truck campervan a few years ago (really old ford ranger which was tiny compared to current models) and they suddenly taxed the vehicle as a commercial truck instead of an RV, this made it really expensive. Taxes are the way to go to discourage people from driving these cars.
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 347d
A few years ago, seeing a US style pickup truck in Germany was very rare. Those that were around were usually genuine work vehicles. But now you see more and more douchemobiles that clearly serve no other purpose than to boost their owners' fragile egos.
trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 347d
They are extremely impractical. With the typicallly sized American pick-up, You get virtually no loading space on the footprint of a decently sized van, powered by an engine that guzzles fuel like no tomorrow. Unless you absolutely need 4x4 and low overall vehicle height in combination, you're better off with a van. If you need that combination of features to do some actual work, better get a Hilux, because that's a seriously mass produced vehicle for which you'll easily get spare parts and that can be repaired with metric tools. If you actually need a pick-up with dead serious off-road capabilities, get the pick-up version of the Land Rover Defender. Instead of one of those extremely large pick-ups with twin tyres on the rear axle, as you see over in the US, you can simply get a proper truck, which offers better visibility, far superior loading space to footprint ratio, and, thanks to European workplace safety regulations, more comfort, because it has mandatory air suspension in the driver's seat.
Obi@sopuli.xyz · 4 pts · 347d
I seriously hope people start vandalizing these things, I think that would go further than voting with their wallets.
hector@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 347d
You could shame them for being a stupid asshole buying it.
taldennz@lemmy.nz · 23 pts · 347d
Except the endangered pedestrians aren't the buyers... The rules are to protect the pedestrians from buyers that value their purchase above the safety of others
NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io · 15 pts · 347d
When you're voting with your wallet, people with bigger wallets have bigger votes, and those guys tend to not be on the right side of most issues.
Parasail2109@jlai.lu · 9 pts · 347d
Consumers does have a lot of power but consumers seems to be influenced a lot and not reflect "logical" and "human" in their choice.
BigShammy80@feddit.org · 6 pts · 347d
Yeah, no... that will not work. People always want the biggest dick, car, home whatever... Some people will buy them for sure.
homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 347d
They can, but propaganda works. A few commercials of driving those things over pristine wilderness and throw in some sex - boom Every idiot wanker has one.
threatcat@infosec.pub · 21 pts · 347d
A few years ago I saw a massive Dodge Ram at an autobahn rest stop in Carinthia in Austria, license plate from Mödling, a suburb of Vienna. Stuck right the hell out as an outlier in the parking lot, towering over and wider than anything else. I went to go take a pic of it, and surprisingly/unsurprisingly on the back was a 3D-printed badge that says WWG1WGA
stoy@lemmy.zip · 20 pts · 347d
For those confused, I took one for the team and googled "WWG1WGA", turns out it is related to Q and means "Where We Go One, We Go All" or something dumb like that
khannie@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 347d
What's that?
azimir@lemmy.ml · 22 pts · 347d
It's from the Q Anon cult in the US. It's the crew who push a ton of antisemitic and conspiracy theories designed to push it's followers into Nazism.
Bassman27@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 347d
Everyone’s kicking off about trucks but what about the millions of SUV’s people drive without even needing to ability to go off road. The most common argument for owning one is the higher driving position or it being “safer”
ChaosInstructor@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 347d
witty_username@feddit.nl · 5 pts · 347d
stoy@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 347d
Someone should demonstrate the center of gravity concept for them
gian@lemmy.grys.it · 3 pts · 347d
I would add to have some more loading space (or better usable)
trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 347d
If you're looking for loading space, get a station wagon instead of a SUV, because the enormous wheels of a SUV take away quite a bit of interior space. Also SUVs are rather heavy empty already, so you can't load that much weight without overloading. A family of 4 with baggage for a 2 week vacation might already be too much for some models.
Bassman27@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 347d
All cars have collapsing rear seats this is a moot point unless you’re carrying large loads frequently. And if you are just get a van
gian@lemmy.grys.it · 1 pts · 344d
So have SUV.
And if you practice some sports like scuba diving is really convenient to have some more load capacity and and higher trunk that you can use to seat down while preparing.
rustydrd@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 346d
I can hate two things.
Zacryon@feddit.org · 15 pts · 347d
My keys feel suddenly very drawn to these cars.
Kissaki@feddit.org · 7 pts · 347d
They won't even see you when you get close enough
blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 12 pts · 347d
I've not seen any of the small penis vehicles in Spain yet, or France for that matter...
I do drive between Spain and the UK twice a year, just got back from the UK yesterday after driving through France.
However, I've seen a fair few in the UK and they look ridiculous.
If we all catch on and get them known as small penis vehicles, or SPV's colloquially then hopefully people will be scared to buy them
Kissaki@feddit.org · 10 pts · 347d
Insane
chuckleslord@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 346d
I'm 6'4" and my head and shoulders is really all that's visible. (And that's for the trucks without lift kits)
swemg@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 347d
Can't wait to draw dicks on them tanks ^^
witty_username@feddit.nl · 2 pts · 347d
Kissaki@feddit.org · 2 pts · 347d
I would prefer Murderous Monster
parlaptie@feddit.org · 5 pts · 346d
Appeasement never works. They tried that with Hitler back in the day.
asbestos@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 347d
sad sounds of penises shrinking
bufalo1973@piefed.social · 5 pts · 347d
Guess what insurance businesses will do with that. Maybe not all is lost.
trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 347d
I doubt that it will change much, those monstrosities are so massively impractical that only a handful of select idiots will even consider buying one.
Ooops@feddit.org · 9 pts · 347d
Unfortunately you are severely underestimating the amount of idiots...
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 346d
disgusting
if the government endangers the populace, it's up to the populace to ensure the fuckers who have these vehicles are inclined not to drive them