An American-style pickup truck has been spotted straddling lanes on a main road, with many saying this proves they are too big for Australian conditions and a potential danger to other drivers.
Anger over the colossal vehicles is increasing, as heavyweight SUVs and utes surge in popularity.
Last week, a GMC Sierra was snapped overlapping lanes, and the reaction from Aussies was blistering.
‘Dude can’t even stay within one lane and blows soot into any car behind him when taking off at the lights,’ one said.
‘Imagine also trying to park at a shopping centre car park,’ another said.
‘The way they mark out the parking spaces is challenging enough in the majority of centres, even with a family vehicle, without someone accidentally denting your car by opening their doors.’
‘I can’t understand why they let vehicles in that don’t fit our infrastructure,’ a third said.
‘I can’t stand these vehicles, but this one cannot be driven on a normal car licence,’ another observed.
An outsized American-style pick up truck has been spotted struggling to stay within an Aussie road lane
Anger over the colossal vehicles is raging across Australia, as heavyweight SUVs and utes surge in popularity
‘The plate is for a National Heavy Vehicle, which means GVM is over 4.5t, which requires at least a LR class licence.
‘Likely this person is really inexperienced in driving heavy vehicles and should absolutely not be on the road if they can’t keep in a lane.
‘Should lose their licence for such behaviour, gives those who actually drive heavy vehicles for a living a bad name.’
‘Time for a congestion tax based off fuel consumption,’ another said.
Samantha Ratnam, the Greens candidate for the Victorian federal seat of Wills, said Australian roads are not designed to accommodate the American-style pickup trucks – and she argues that owners should be forced to pay increased registration and parking fees on them.
‘It’s an undeniable fact that super-sized vehicles are dangerous. They have blind spots up to four metres in front of the vehicle,’ Ms Ratnam said last year.
‘And it is no coincidence that a child is eight times more likely to die being hit by a larger utility vehicle when compared to a lighter car.
‘Not to mention the astonishing amount of pollution caused by these beasts.
It comes amid a trend of people posting photos of the vehicles crowding out car parks in Australia, mounting the curb or taking up multiple parking bays
Some have argued that the government should stop offering a tax incentive for buyers of pick up trucks in Australia
‘Large utes have a role in regional areas, but these luxury vehicles – that often cost upwards of $100,000 – have significantly higher emissions, and are more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists than regular passenger cars.’
Australasian New Car Assessment Program head Carla Hoorweg said the organisation had received ‘a lot of community concerns’ over the mega-utes.
‘We’re looking at vehicles that are being designed for the US market, they’re not necessarily going to have a focus on pedestrian protection or vulnerable road user protection, that’s not a focus in those regulations,’ she told carsguide.com.au.
‘So we know there’s going to be a gap there.’
Russell White, CEO of the Australian Road Safety Foundation warned American-style utes have increased blind spots.
‘The bigger these sorts of vehicles are, there is a bigger risk of blind spots being large enough to hide vulnerable road users, so having things like front facing cameras should definitely be part of the overall safety envelope,’ Mr White said.
‘Just as we’ve seen with reversing cameras, its another tool that a driver can have so that they can have the information they need to operate the vehicle.
‘As they become more popular and there are more of them, unless something is done to look at the safety rating of them to evolve them with the time, we might potentially see more incidents on the roads.’
