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In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:
Image description:
Text: Amazon's electric cargo bikes have arrived in DC.
Image: A four-wheeled vehicle that appears to be a cross between a bicycle, a go-cart, and a mini-truck
Response text from high t alpha shemale @gluetaster: that's not a cargo bike man that's a loopholemobile
Electric truck.
Looks like a useful vehicle. Whatever else people decide to call it is their problem, not the driver's.
It's a problem of where this thing is allowed to drive. It's pretty huge for a bike lane.
Oh and it's also a problem of whether the you need a licence to drive it.
Ahh, a western Took Took!
How to test if it's actually a bicycle:
I propose a simple ontological test by law enforcement. Simply steal one. If the police treat it like they do bicycle theft, it's a bicycle. If the police treat it like it's an auto theft, then it's an automobile.
If the police take the theft of one of these seriously, like they would a car theft, then point to that as justification for why they should be regulated like autos and banned from bike lanes. If the police treat it like bike theft....well....there's a lot of valuable materials in those loopholemobiles....and the police clearly aren't taking theft of them seriously...so....well the problem will solve itself.
That's kind of a dumb test. If I make a bicycle out of gold and diamonds and someone steals it, the theft will be taken seriously. Police just respond to crimes of different dollar amounts differently. It has nothing to do with the nature of this vehicle.
Edit. I haven't seen any more details on these vehicles, but it's clearly labeled a vehicle. I'm guessing it's registered and would be treated as an automobile theft.
That isn't really true. Police have a unique disdain for everything related to bicycling and cycling. Most cops are themselves morbidly obese, ideologically avoid exercise, and view bicyclists as hippies and fitness freaks who deserve to be run over. Police will go out of their way to not bring charges in the case of actual cyclists deaths. And they treat bicycle theft with active disdain, putting far fewer resources into bike theft than the value of the goods stolen would justify.
Is this satire? I can't tell it seems like you're serious but definitely reads as satire. Good luck.
The shit us Americans will do to not just fucking use Kei trucks like the rest of the world.
I work at Portland State University, which is embedded in downtown Portland. They have small maintenance trucks that go on street that have many traits in common with Kei trucks. They are too small, slow, and unsafe for a freeway, but are perfect for carrying cargo around campus. I am unclear why there is a carve out for those trucks, but not for Kei trucks.
A lot of it has to do with well-intentioned but stupid regulation.
The auto companies in the 2000s started calling everything a truck in order to get around fuel economy standards, so in 2008 the EPA announced that beginning in model year 2012, standards would be based on vehicle footprint instead of vehicle classification.
Notice how all the small trucks stopped being made after 2011? It's because small cargo vehicles suddenly had to somehow have better fuel economy than a sedan.
It's also why trucks have gotten stupidly big over the last 15 years. As standards increase, they can just make the footprint bigger.
I may be wildly misinterpreting what you’re saying but calling the chicken tax well-intentioned is bafflingly naive.
Your “representatives” are laughing at you all the way to the bank while they cash their oil checks. They knew exactly what the inevitable outcome would be of their shit legislation.
And miss me with the BuT DeMoCrAtS WrOtE aNd PaSsEd tHe BiLl So iT mUsT hAvE bEeN an aCciDeNt.
They aren't referring to the chicken tax, they're referring to the CAFE regulations.
I think its the tying of footprint/weight to emissions. The heavier/larger the car, the more it can pollute.
It wasn't a bill, and even if it had been it would have been signed by Bush. It was the NHTSA that changed the rules, back when they were actually trying to do things in service to the public. It was an attempt to close a loophole that resulted in a bigger loophole.
And nobody wins from the current regs. Auto companies still hate it. You think it's their preference to make bigger cars that are more expensive to manufacture? You think they don't want to be able to make small, cheap trucks and vans?
I used to sell snow cones out of something similar when I was a teenager.
Pretty sure all that bullshit is so they can use bike lanes, hence the helmet
It looks too wide for most bike lanes.
Capitalism, uh, finds a way.
Capitalism finds a loophole.
We have quite a few companies in Germany using similar vehicles in cities (I can't compare the sizes here). All in all it's a positive development. Maybe in this case it's a way to utilize a legislative loophole, but even then I would say: The loopholed law has a positive impact if the new vehicles are smaller and more energy efficient than the ones they replace.
I would love to see those taking over the streets, but I would hate to see them in the bike lane.
Aren't these still a whole heck of a lot better than cars?
For the environment, yes, but Amazon are doing it to avoid licensing, vehicle registration, and insurance costs, and putting workers at higher risk while doing so.
Not for the people they're now sharing a bike lane with, and not for the driver in bad weather or if they get crashed into.
I did see a real electric cargo bike, it was not only DIY-ed from a broken mountain bike and a broken kid's bike, but also from a discarded electric roller that one could rent.
