A 7,000-Pound Car Smashed Through a Guardrail. That’s Bad News for All of Us.
Vehicles are getting way too heavy to be safe.
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In a better world roads would be closed for cars which exceed the capacity of those guard rails. Just put up a sign, do some enforcement and people will start buying smaller cars when they can't use them.
Vehicles that weigh more than 4 tons make up a significant amount of road traffic right now.
Literally everything you purchase in a store, your food, your toiletries, your clothes, any consumer good you have every purchased traveled on a road at some point in a vehicle that far exceeds 8 tons.
Ambulances weigh more than 8 tons, fire trucks weigh more than 8 tons, mail is transported in vehicles that weigh more than 8 tons.
7,000lbs is an extremely low failure point for a guard rail given the number of vehicles that exceed that weight on the road today.
Require a CDL for the big vehicles. Maintain stringent requirements for the CDL.
Do you still want that electric Ram?
Commercial driver's license? I AM TRAVELLING AND NOT ENGAGED IN COMMERCE
I DEMAND TO BE ABLE TO DRIVE MY 18 WHEELER WHEREVER I PLEASE, HEIGHT CLEARANCES ARE A DEEP STATE PLOT TO TAKE AWAY MY FREEDUMB
11'8" bridge cares not for your "freedoms"
Oh, that brings back some memories of Reddit
A good chunk of what's mentioned in GP already requires a CDL. That's not the issue.
I keep seeing "CDL" brought up as a magic solution, and it's clear people haven't looked into how it works and what it affects.
It failing against a semi or a firetruck is kind of understandable but....yeah. Ambulances and then the 'smaller' every day vehicles? this shit is unacceptable
In an even better world, policies wouldn't be manipulative shitstains aimed at consumers and instead be regulation on those actually creating the thing that needs to change...
What would we do about semi trucks, delivery vans, busses, dump trucks, etc. etc. etc. Personally I've seen some pretty short busses but never a sport compact model.
Pretty much all of those vehicles require a CDL.
Seems like vehicles over a certain weight requiring a special license classification is a pretty straightforward and reasonable requirement.
But we can't do it without simultaneously addressing mass transit, bikeped, and our general absolute psychological fixation around designing all of our society around cars first and people second.
Actually, you only need a CDL if you're driving it commercially. I could walk out and buy a semi right now and drive it home. This is why you can rent Uhaul trucks and buy bus-sized RVs without a special license.
It varies somewhat by state, but that's generally incorrect.
Because the type of vehicle, and not the driver, defines who needs a CDL, the following characteristics have been set forth to define what a commercial motor vehicle is. A CDL is required of any driver of:
- Any vehicle designed to carry 16 or more persons including the driver, such as our campuses’ mini buses.
- Any vehicle that weighs over 26,000 pounds (defined as the greater of manufacturer’s gross vehicle weight rating, manufacturer’s gross combination weight rating, actual weight, or registered weight).
- Any vehicle that carries hazardous materials that require placarding as found in Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 397.
These requirements include volunteers and temporary renters of such vehicles who are driving commercial motor vehicles on University business.
Uhaul intentionally goes right below the cutoff. Their largest truck is 26':
https://www.uhaul.com/Truck-Rentals/26ft-Moving-Truck/
Which has a GVWR of 25,999lbs. Very precise of them and totally real.
I appreciate the correction
I did not know that, but it unfortunately makes sense. You should always be absolutely terrified for your life when you see a uhaul for a reason.
God, it truly is "for non-commercial use only". I hear a chorus of sovcits cheering.
Actually pretty much none of them require a CDL unless you’re operating commercially.
You can go buy a school bus right now and drive it around without a cdl. Only needed to carry passengers.
You don’t need a CDL to be a delivery van driver either at all.
The current GVWR limit before you need a CDL is 26,000lbs. No light duty vehicle on the road comes close to that. Even the biggest Ram 4500 caps out at 16,500lbs GVWR. The Hummer EV caps out at 10,550lbs.
There are already road signs that limit vehicle weight or restrictions for these vehicles anyway.
