Thread by @BrentToderian

Trucks have been getting bigger, more energy & space consuming, more polluting, and much deadlier to everyone around them, including kids. Not because most of us actually need bigger vehicles, but as ego boosts, status symbols & “indicators of male virility.” HT @PickledEntropy

Over the last decade, global SUV ownership has doubled. If it keeps growing at its current rate, increased SUV ownership will offset the entire emissions reduction from electric vehicles. Plus they’re much more likely than smaller cars to kill pedestrians.
fastcompany.com/90420280/shoul…

Have trucks gotten more fuel efficient? Of course, thanks largely to government regulations. However they have also gotten larger on average, & as #JevonsParadox explains, improved fuel efficiency has helped us justify larger vehicles & more driving, causing emissions to go up.

If you’re a farmer, contractor, or just one of many who regularly make use of your truck bed &/or truck towing capacity (& as one responder put it, “has the real life dents to prove it”) THIS THREAD ISN’T ABOUT YOU. You’re not where the huge growth in truck sales has been. 1/2

This thread is about the MASSIVE growth of discretionary big truck buying in cities, by many who will very rarely use it as a truck (including as another responder put it, “all the stockbrokers in NYC buying trucks”). With all the REAL implications discussed in the 1st tweet. 2/2

"Driving around a city in a pick-up truck is like walking around carrying a big empty suitcase." - comedian @JimGaffigan years ago

A REALLY HEAVY empty suitcase. That pollutes more, takes up too much space, & is twice as likely to kill people, especially kids, when it hits them.