I’m sorry, why the fuck aren’t these street legal in more than half of the states? The article says something about safety, but these are street legal all over Europe where we have stronger safety regulations.
Also there’s something I can’t put my finger on about the journalist choosing a hero image of the van losing its cargo.
European road safety regulations are significantly weaker than those in the US and Canada.
Pretty sure that’s not the case, had a little Google and it seems like I’m right, but I’m open to being corrected if I’m wrong or misunderstanding what you mean. Here’s evidence to support my claim:
https://etrr.springeropen.com/articles/10.1007/s12544-014-0131-7
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457518300034
Here in the states we have
legal corruptionlobbyists which the auto manufacturers pay to keep cheap vehicles from being used. And then the lawmakers claim safety concerns as the reason.Speed restrictions.
Kei trucks were designed for use in dense Japanese cities, which is why they also work in European cities. They are nimble but have a low top speed. You’re not going 70 mph around a street corner for instance.
It would work in places like NYC for the same reasons, but remember that most of the USA is suburban or rural. You need vehicles that are capable of going fast if you’re going to get on a highway.
A possible workaround is to have a separate class for these, like mopeds or scooters, which are road legal but are not highway legal.
thats honestly a problem that can be solved with a small turbocharger and a slightly higher msrp, its not like they are ever getting close to the price of one of the huge ones.
We desperately need smaller vehicles to counter the behemoth light trucks that are in the road today. Everything about these kei truck bans just scream corruption and incompetence from politicians to domestic auto manufacturers.
What ban?
Many US states have laws preventing people from registering these kei class trucks.
For example, https://dmv.ny.gov/registration/how-register-imported-vehicle
On that page
KEI-Class vehicles cannot be registered or titled in New York State. (Authority: Section 400-a of NYS VTL)
Is there a reason for the ban related to how the car is built or designed, or is it politics?
I think any person who has a hand in making those laws would say it’s for safety. Though I also think many people looking at it and comparing it to other vehicles that are allowed would call it politics/corruption/stupidity. I personally think it’s politics
Americans just love being the biggest on the road. Bigger is better in their minds. Maybe we put an extra tax on very large vehicles.
Or stop making fuel artificially inexpensive?
We need to require special licenses for those behemoths.
I’d prefer they get banned entirely because there’s really no practical use for them that isn’t solved by some other commercial vehicle.
