Ever feel like there's less and less daylight on the roads?
You aren't alone — the freeway is most definitely congested, and the cars are getting bigger, too.
One Redditor documented this inflating size of consumer vehicles with a photo posted in a subreddit that discusses car and transit issues. It shows a young person standing next to a parked truck — and the base of the truck's windshield is practically above their head.
The original poster compared the David versus Goliath-esque image to what it's like standing up for walkable cities, pedestrian safety, and bike lanes.
Indeed, car sizes seem to only go up, and that has proved to be deadly for anyone else not inside these vehicles when they are involved in accidents.
This danger of driving cars nowadays has given some people, such as this subreddit's community, a push toward looking for other ways to get around — and safety isn't the only reason.
Gas prices are an intense drain on people's wallets, and so are the upkeep costs of owning a car, such as oil changes, inspections, and repairs. Not to mention the tailpipe pollution many cars spew into the air that contributes to overheating the planet and poor air quality.
Electric vehicles address many of these issues, but many simply want accessible and reliable mass transit: trains, subways, and buses. Each one is safer for pedestrians, more cost-effective for consumers, and better overall for the environment than a set of personal wheels, especially a behemoth truck.
That said, not many places are equipped with such great transit options, making cars more or less a necessity to get around. Still, driving something modest-sized, taking public transit when it is available, and biking, walking, or carpooling are smaller ways to work toward the same goals.
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No way 👎 The original poster's photo ignited a storm of support for smaller cars and pedestrian safety in the comments section.
"There is no reason whatsoever that a personal vehicle should get to that size," one commenter wrote.
"Never understood the appeal of this," another Redditor said.
"There's no way you could see kids driving in this thing," a third worried.
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