Pickup trucks are a plague on Canadian streets

[teamgreen02]

Quote

Many things have changed in pandemic times. One that has not is North America’s love affair with the pickup truck. Even in the midst of economic uncertainty, consumers lined up to buy these hulking, belching kings of the road. Once the vehicle of the cowboy, the contractor and the good old boy, pickups have become the continent’s mainstream ride. Even city parking lots are simply full of them. In Canada, Ford’s F-150 has been the best-selling auto for years.

Auto writer Brendan McAleer came up with a colourful way of describing the extent of the phenomenon. “If you lined up all the F-150s sold in 2019 nose to tail, and then flew the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spy plane overhead at its top operational speed of 3,500 kilometres an hour, it would take about an hour and a half for the plane to cover all 896,526 of them.”

In the United States, five of the 10 top-selling automobiles are pickup trucks. Just three leading models accounted for 13 per cent of the vehicles sold south of the border in 2020. Last spring, for the first time, Americans bought more pickups than cars.

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For heaven’s sake, why? Most people no longer use pickups to haul bales of hay. They drive them to the mall to shop or the soccer field to drop off their kids. Why anyone thinks they need such a beast to do that is an abiding mystery.

“Since 1990, U.S. pickup trucks have added almost 1,300 pounds on average,” writes author Angie Schmitt in Bloomberg CityLab. “Some of the biggest vehicles on the market now weigh almost 7,000 pounds – or about three Honda Civics.”

What spectacular overkill. One survey found that three quarters of pickup drivers used the vehicles for hauling only one time or not at all in the course of an average year. Despite all those ads showing manly pickups growling up mountain roads or churning through mud, nearly as few drivers used them to go off road.

Pickups have evolved to suit the way people use them. They often have big second rows, four doors and shorter cargo beds than they had in the past. Their cabs have all the latest electronics and attendant bells and whistles. In short, they are sort of suburban sedans on stilts, with big tires, powerful engines and giant grills that serve little purpose except to impress.

That seems to be the main point. At the same time as they have become domesticated and urbanized in function, pickups have become super-sized and jacked-up in form. We’ve all seen the “lifted” versions with their high profiles and giant wheels, the tricked out models with gleaming chrome, extra lights, big bumpers and fancy racks. Ford even collaborated with the Toronto Maple Leafs on a limited edition bearing the club’s logo and colours. Buyers can drop $100,000 on luxury models, which most will spend more time polishing than loading.

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All harmless fun, you might say. Is it? Even though automakers have greatly improved the fuel efficiency of the modern pickup – and electric versions are coming soon – having all those mastodons on the highway isn’t exactly kind to the planet. A recent U.S. report found that more than half a million diesel pickups had been fitted with devices that override their emissions controls, dumping pollutants into the air. In the charming practice known as rolling coal, some pickup drivers blow past cyclists and electric vehicles and deliberately spew black smoke at them.

Then there is safety. Anyone who has travelled a Canadian highway lately has been tailgated by a speeding pickup driver. Being up there in that big cab over that huge engine seems to make the drivers think they own the road, lesser vehicles be damned. An investigation by Consumer Reports last month, titled The Hidden Danger of Big Trucks, said that hoods are higher on current models and “drivers have poorer front sight lines, creating a blind spot that can hide a pedestrian or smaller car right in front.”

Even if they weren’t polluting and dangerous, the parade of pickups would be a blight on the roadscape and a finger in the eye of other drivers – a way of saying to everyone else: I am bigger, badder and richer than you. A vehicle that started as a practical tool for hard-working people has become, for many, an obnoxious assertion of dominance and division.

 

Edited July 29, 2021 by teamgreen02
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-pickup-trucks-are-a-plague-on-canadian-streets/?utm_campaign=sophi-pop&utm_medium=post&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2_pTCrUwo-HJs8h7TErysa1LmEcHnBNg-zY8fAsjviOH9Qpg1T6p6uX6c

[Rod]

It’s an op-Ed by someone in Toronto.  GTA people in general are the dumbest people on earth.  So really this is the opinion of a communist loser that paid 300k for a lesbian arts dance degree and now blames people with pickups for their problems 

[Zambroski]

WeAR YuR Mazk anD NO MOOR PICK UPs!!!!!!

twats.

[teamgreen02]

Just now, ACE said:

It’s an op-Ed by someone in Toronto.  GTA people in general are the dumbest people on earth.  So really this is the opinion of a communist loser that paid 300k for a lesbian arts dance degree and now blames people with pickups for their problems 

This is also a problem for people who live in Duluth that won't put their sled in the back of their truck and drive a couple hours to come ride with us.

[800renegaderider]

Why are these op ed articles always a whinny cunt liberal.

[Zambroski]

4 minutes ago, teamgreen02 said:

This is also a problem for people who live in Duluth that won't put their sled in the back of their truck and drive a couple hours to come ride with us.

Ride closer to Duluth.  I ain’t no fucking tourist!  

I hate windshield time to be able to ride.  Still, Good chance Ill be throwing it in the back this season because of my location in town.  THAT DOESN’T MEAN I’M DRIVING TWO FUCKING HOURS TO RIDE WHEN I CAN GET TO A TRAILHEAD WITH EXCELLENT TRAILS IN 5 MINUTES!!!!

……AND DON’T TELL ME TO SETTLE DOWN!!!!!!!!  

 

[Bontz]

6 minutes ago, Zambroski said:

Ride closer to Duluth.  I ain’t no fucking tourist!  

I hate windshield time to be able to ride.  Still, Good chance Ill be throwing it in the back this season because of my location in town.  THAT DOESN’T MEAN I’M DRIVING TWO FUCKING HOURS TO RIDE WHEN I CAN GET TO A TRAILHEAD WITH EXCELLENT TRAILS IN 5 MINUTES!!!!

……AND DON’T TELL ME TO SETTLE DOWN!!!!!!!!  

 

GO TO PM!!!

[Zambroski]

20 minutes ago, 800renegaderider said:

Why are these op ed articles always a whinny cunt liberal.

Why is the color red, red?

8 minutes ago, Bontz said:

GO TO PM!!!

YOU THINK THAT’S FUNNY?!?!?IMA HAVE SOME SPECIAL PUDDING FOR YOU!!!!

[teamgreen02]

14 minutes ago, Zambroski said:

Ride closer to Duluth.  I ain’t no fucking tourist!  

I hate windshield time to be able to ride.  Still, Good chance Ill be throwing it in the back this season because of my location in town.  THAT DOESN’T MEAN I’M DRIVING TWO FUCKING HOURS TO RIDE WHEN I CAN GET TO A TRAILHEAD WITH EXCELLENT TRAILS IN 5 MINUTES!!!!

……AND DON’T TELL ME TO SETTLE DOWN!!!!!!!!  

 

You shouldn't need to drive past Silver Bay.  We can swing up to Ryden's from there and have you back in time to get dinner at the Culver's drive through.

[Zambroski]

2 minutes ago, teamgreen02 said:

You shouldn't need to drive past Silver Bay.  We can swing up to Ryden's from there and have you back in time to get dinner at the Culver's drive through.

Right now, I’ll take the rear and do straggler patrol.

[Anler]

I love pick up trucks but I actually use mine for stuff like hauling materials and occasional towing. But most faggots I see with them are short dick poseur types who are on a 80 month payment plan and have them all jacked up with mudders and shit just to drive them around town to the bar and the breakfast place. Its these mother fuckers that are driving the prices up for those of us who need a pick up truck and these are the target buyers. Total faggots

[Mag6240]

15 minutes ago, Zambroski said:

Right now, I’ll take the rear and do straggler patrol.

You read my story from a few years back, they just leave you on the trail if you have a burndown!!  

If I didn't put in some windshield time, I'm not sure I would have ridden much at all last year - it would be nice not to have to, but living south of the states tallest buildings, that's not always an option!  So trucking the sled is it..... and in all its 10mpg glory!

 

Edited July 29, 2021 by Mag6240

[Zambroski]

1 minute ago, Mag6240 said:

You read my story from a few years back, they just leave you on the trail if you have a burndown!!  

If I didn't put in some windshield time, I'm not sure I would have ridden much at all last year - it would be nice not to have to, but living south of the states tallest buildings, that's not always an option!  So trucking the sled is it..... and in all its 10mpg glory!

 

Yeah, riding with “friends” for safety.  

I know trailering is in my future if I want to continue to ride.  I’m looking for land right on the trail again….that’s harder to come by than a good used sled!  

[Zambroski]

9 minutes ago, Anler said:

I love pick up trucks but I actually use mine for stuff like hauling materials and occasional towing. But most faggots I see with them are short dick poseur types who are on a 80 month payment plan and have them all jacked up with mudders and shit just to drive them around town to the bar and the breakfast place. Its these mother fuckers that are driving the prices up for those of us who need a pick up truck and these are the target buyers. Total faggots

We should do a “pic of your truck bed” thread to spot the posers.  Don’t get me wrong, mine isn’t an off road road either, it’s an all loaded up mall crawler but, it gets used like a fucking truck.  I can say that at lease. Also, my new nitto ridge grapplers really hug the pavement!!!

 

[Anler]

1 minute ago, Zambroski said:

We should do a “pic of your truck bed” thread to spot the posers.  Don’t get me wrong, mine isn’t an off road road either, it’s an all loaded up mall crawler but, it gets used like a fucking truck.  I can say that at lease. Also, my new nitto ridge grapplers really hug the pavement!!!

 

I put a roll top cover on mine and sometimes I will throw garbage in there to take back to the shop and then forget about it. Then I go to throw something back there and its full of garbage and I get pissed! LOL

[Rod]

Today’s trucks are better on fuel than yesterday’s minivans too 

[Mag6240]

7 minutes ago, Zambroski said:

We should do a “pic of your truck bed” thread to spot the posers.  

How about door dents and rusty rocker panels?  Mine is posted!  

[Highmark]

1 hour ago, Zambroski said:

WeAR YuR Mazk anD NO MOOR PICK UPs!!!!!!

twats.

CoWZ FaRtZ aRe MaKIng the OshENs riZE!

[Zambroski]

13 minutes ago, ACE said:

Today’s trucks are better on fuel than yesterday’s minivans too 

I averaged 10 mpg towing my trailer up north.  I though that was decent.  I get 12-13 normally.  I think I’m part of the problem.  If I wear a mask, would that even it out?  

2 minutes ago, Highmark said:

CoWZ FaRtZ aRe MaKIng the OshENs riZE!

wE sHoUld Eet ThEm!!!!

[Highmark]

1 minute ago, Zambroski said:

I averaged 10 mpg towing my trailer up north.  I though that was decent.  I get 12-13 normally.  I think I’m part of the problem.  If I wear a mask, would that even it out?  

wE sHoUld Eet ThEm!!!!

All you have to do is claim to be for the fight against MMCC.   Then drive your gas guzzling truck and oil burning snowmobile and claim you need to do it as a part of the fight.  At least that's what all the elite like John Kerry tells us.

This year while up north I gonna wear a MMCC is bad hat.....that should cover me.   

[Zambroski]

1 minute ago, Highmark said:

All you have to do is claim to be for the fight against MMCC.   Then drive your gas guzzling truck and oil burning snowmobile and claim you need to do it as a part of the fight.  At least that's what all the elite like John Kerry tells us.

This year while up north I gonna wear a MMCC is bad hat.....that should cover me.   

Like, maybe I can open a polystyrene manufacturing facility?  

 

[Highmark]

1 minute ago, Zambroski said:

Like, maybe I can open a polystyrene manufacturing facility?  

 

  

 

[Zambroski]

2 minutes ago, Highmark said:

  

 

I don’t think anybody worked so hard backpedaling as he did. This is what lying hypocrites are forced to do their whole lives.  Imagine.

[Highmark]

4 minutes ago, Zambroski said:

I don’t think anybody worked so hard backpedaling as he did. This is what lying hypocrites are forced to do their whole lives.  Imagine.

I almost spit up my pop when I read what he did for his wife's family.   Simply amazing. 

Edited July 29, 2021 by Highmark

[Zambroski]

1 minute ago, Highmark said:

I almost spit up my pop when I read what he did for his wife's family.   Simply amazing. 

Watching him and Tools slide around the forums for 10 years as complete hypocritical, lying idiots as they touted themselves as the smartest people on he web was an amazing experience.