Maybe roads would last longer if we weren't all being forced to buy super heavy SUVs just so automakers can skirt emissions and fuel economy requirements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPm4de6-eTg

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el_nahual 29 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

For people that don't watch the video (I don't even know if this is in the video): road wear is a function of axle weight to the fourth power. [0]

That means a 6,000lb escalade creates 3x the road wear than a 4,500 wagoneer from 1990.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_power_law

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bigbadfeline 27 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Maybe roads would last longer if we weren't all being forced to buy super heavy SUVs

Maybe not.

Due to battery weight, EVs are super heavy even if they aren't SUVs, so are delivery trucks without which an urban community cannot and will not exist. Urban roads should be able to handle the weight even if everyone converted to EVs.

	▲	deepsun 17 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Even EV weight is tiny compared to haul trucks. Yes they have multiple axles (hence "18-wheelers"), but even then pressure on the road surface is much greater still.

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tjwebbnorfolk 24 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

A lot of EVs are heavier than SUVs... but don't let facts get in the way of your crusade.

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thfuran 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I don’t think SUV vs car makes a meaningful difference when e.g. delivery vans and garbage trucks exist.

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trollbridge 9 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

People in cities generally want deliveries of goods, which requires heavy trucks.

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deepsun 21 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I've heard that cars have negligible impact on roads. 99% damage comes from heavy haul trucks, especially those who violate weight restrictions.

By the way, I've never seen SCALES OPEN sign for the trucks, it's always SCALES CLOSED, or maybe I'm just extremely unlucky.

	▲	dralley 16 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		The damage scales with weight. Cars cause less damage because they are lighter. Heavier cars still cause greater impact.

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atleastoptimal an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

People buy SUV's because they want to avoid being injured in crashes (at the detriment of the other driver)

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Freedom2 38 minutes ago | parent [-]

Yet per capita, US vehicle occupants are more likely to be injured in general while on the road than Europeans. Perhaps the driving standards are just far too different.

	▲	atleastoptimal a minute ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Because US roads traffic control systems suck ALSO licenses are much easier to get, there is more of a tacit tolerance of drunk driving, and the lower rate of public transport makes more people forced to drive despite preferring not to, leading to less of a selective effect of drivers. We've consequentially paved over the issues (no pun intended) via creating a socioeconomic hierarchy of insulation from traffic injuries. Giant SUV's have become the mainstay of the upwardly mobile 30s suburbanite, who is immunized from the road hazards, collisions and dangers that would cripple sedans.
	▲	kgwgk 11 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		They also travel twice as much.

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kev009 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Typical meme. Passenger vehicles of any type cause negligible road wear. The weight of a sedan (say, 4000lbs) versus a light truck (say, 6000lbs) is just not significant, further the ground pressure will be close due to tire sizing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_pressure)

Road wear is a power law, and heavy trucks cause the wear https://blog.ucs.org/dave-cooke/trucks-cause-the-lions-share...

	▲	bubblewand 18 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Correct, one of those “fun facts” of public policy is that (at least in the US) taxes and other fees, including on fuel, paid by heavy commercial trucks don’t come anywhere near paying for the damage they do to roads. The rest of us subsidize shipping-by-road with our taxes. (Whether this is a good idea or not is debatable, but it’s the way things work right now and the fact that we subsidize truck shipping to the tune of a large amount of money is not widely known)

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csto12 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The average American wants a big SUV/Truck

	▲	SimianSci 5 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		This is not supported by good data, Car manufacturers are pushing to make bigger larger vehicles because they require very little additional manufacturing overhead over smaller vehicles and the manufacturers are able to sell them at higher prices. What people want are Inexpensive vehicles, not necessarily larger ones. American car manufacturers have been actively suppressing cheaper smaller vehicles for their own benefit.

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IAmBroom an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

"Forced"???