# How is it legal for so many ridiculously tall vehicles to be on the road? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 19, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973 "2005-10-19T20:24:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/1 "2005-10-19T20:24:31Z")
One of the major components of traffic safety is the ability of drives to “scan ahead” - to keep an on what’s going on not just in the 10 foot bubble in front of them, but down the road. I’ve found that, over the past five years, my ability to do this has all but vanished when driving in regular traffic, because there are so many SUV’s on the road. These oversized vehicles simply block my ability to scan ahead. What’s worse is that the proliferation of SUV’s has started a sort of “arms race” among vehicle height, with even compact cars like the Toyota Matrix and Ford Echo bragging that they’re x% taller than comparable vehicles. What’s going on? How is this legal? I feel that these vehicles are directly impeding the ability of other, more sensible cars to scan the road ahead for trouble. Is there any hard data on increasing vehicle height leading to more collisions? Aren’t there some sort of visibility requirements in the manufacture of these vehicles? What can I do about it? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/2 "2005-10-19T20:41:52Z")
So what happens when you’re behind a semi-trailer? Do you plot to do away with them so you can see? A driver in a higher position has a better view. Rather than ask **others** to get shorter vehicles and compromise **their** view so that **you** can see better, get **yourself** a taller vehicle so that you can see better. Prior to the wave of SUV popularity, the average driving view height had been lowering for decades. Many passing zones desgined with 50’s era cars in mind aren’t laid out properly for the reduced road-ahead view offered by 80’s and 90’s cars. There really is a bigger problem with vehicles being too low than with vehicles being to tall. You’re attacking the wrong end of the situation. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/3 "2005-10-19T21:08:06Z")
Oh boy, a GD is abrewin’. And when it comes I’ll be in the anti-SUV camp. My gripe is how these too-tall vehicles block my view of overhead signage until it is near too late. Here in the metro NYC area, a birdseye view of our roads would often resemble a bowl of spilled noodles. The signs for exiting and merging come fast, furious and without mercy for unaware or unreactive drivers. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/4 "2005-10-19T23:35:48Z")
I believe the proper answer to both of you is: Don’t follow so damn close that you can’t see around SUVs and other tall vehicles! Just common sense… ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/5 "2005-10-19T23:46:52Z")
While I can understand the overall point of the OP, the “why isn’t it illegal” part is not welll thought out. To the OP, which of these did you have in mind: 1. Outlaw all vehicles taller than an average sedan including busses and 18 wheelers. 2. Outlaw personal ownership of vehicles taller than a sedan. 3. Require a demonstration of “need” before a judge or other official before getting permission to buy an SUV or other tall vehicle. 4. Have a lottery for potential tall vehiclle owners to select the 10% that get to buy them.\ What say you OP? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/6 "2005-10-19T23:52:29Z")
> [@Gary T](#): > > So what happens when you’re behind a semi-trailer? Do you plot to do away with them so you can see? Semi trailers are necessary. SUVs are not. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/7 "2005-10-20T00:17:13Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I believe the proper answer to both of you is: > > Don’t follow so damn close that you can’t see around SUVs and other tall vehicles! > > Just common sense… Ha. If you stay far enough back that you have a clear view ahead, another vehicle – probably another SUV – will cut into the gap and you are back where you started. I never tailgate, and I hate it when others do so, but sometimes it is impossible to get a long enough view. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/8 "2005-10-20T00:40:10Z")
I have a short sports cars and all you bastards in the sedans should get off the road. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/9 "2005-10-20T00:49:50Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > Semi trailers are necessary. SUVs are not. :rolleyes: That’s pretty absurd. Just because _you_ don’t need an SUV doesn’t mean that no one does. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/10 "2005-10-20T00:51:20Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > While I can understand the overall point of the OP, the “why isn’t it illegal” part is not welll thought out. > > To the OP, which of these did you have in mind: > > 1. Outlaw all vehicles taller than an average sedan including busses and 18 wheelers. > 2. Outlaw personal ownership of vehicles taller than a sedan. > 3. Require a demonstration of “need” before a judge or other official before getting permission to buy an SUV or other tall vehicle. > 4. Have a lottery for potential tall vehiclle owners to select the 10% that get to buy them.\ > > What say you OP? Many aspects of commercial vehicles are regulated. And safety issues have always justified regulation of personal vehicles. So your objections hold no water; such issues would be spelled out in any regulations that might spring (own can only hope) from the proliferation of SUVs. It’s nothing new, in other words, to have different rules for commercial vehicles and personal vehicles. Many SUV makers take advantage of this: commercial vehicles don’t have the same safety requirements, so some SUVs are classed as “trucks” in order to skate around such regulation. When I’m picking somebody up at the airport, the SUVs make it impossible for me to make visual contact with my party when I take my lap around the waiting queue. I have to pay for parking and go into the terminal because I can’t “compete” with the SUVs in the queue. ---
**Author:** ![aamco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@aamco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aamco)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/11 "2005-10-20T01:19:48Z")
Why is it illegal to drive around with your high beams on, but not illegal for SUV’s to mount their headlights 2-4 feet higher than the average car? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/12 "2005-10-20T01:32:09Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I believe the proper answer to both of you is: > > Don’t follow so damn close that you can’t see around SUVs and other tall vehicles! > > Just common sense… Ditto. I don’t particularly like SUVs and I _hate_ the way they handle (my mother has one that I have to drive occassionally), but if you can’t see around a tall vehicle, umm, increase the distance between yourself and the vehicle in front of you. That’s what I do. If you can’t scan ahead, you’re following too damn close. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/13 "2005-10-20T01:40:54Z")
“Too damn close” is anything less than the two second rule. At least that’s the way I was taught. Fine in theory, but in any big city full of heavy traffic and aggressive arseholes, leaving a two second gap will last for about three nanoseconds before some prick cuts in, and then you’ve got even less room than you would have had, had you not tried to do the right thing. Mr SUV up front then brakes suddenly, there’s a three car nose-to-tail accident, and the poor sap at the back in the sedan is technically at fault. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/14 "2005-10-20T02:15:07Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > Semi trailers are necessary. SUVs are not. Speak for youself. My dad drives one and generally has it full of stuff he carting around for his job. If he wasn’t driving his SUV he’d be driving a taller, wider van (which he routinly does when the stuff won’t fit into his SUV). ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/15 "2005-10-20T05:00:12Z")
I think the OP is over-reacting a tad to the SUV height issue. Long before SUVs were evil incarnate I would say that the majority of (full-size) pickup trucks were not bought for hauling by companies, but but private citizens who only sometimes would ever haul things around with them. Mostly they just liked the way they looked. Not to get **too** GD but the idea of defining a _need_ before you can purchase a vehicle is, quite frankly, completely un-American and unthinkable here. [ul] [li]Do sports car owners need to go that fast? Isn’t 65MPH or so the limit anyway?[/li][li]Do luxury car owners need to be so pampered and wasteful on gas?[/li][li]Do single people really need a four door sedan?[/li][li]Does anyone really need a car painted black when it’s so dangerous at night?[/li][/ul] Come comrades! Buy glorious new **People’s Transporta-mobile-ski ™** To be getting 300 hectares per liter of kerosene! Put it in H !!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/16 "2005-10-20T05:08:42Z")
> [@Hail Ants](#): > > Come comrades! Buy glorious new **People’s Transporta-mobile-ski ™** > To be getting 300 hectares per liter of kerosene! > Put it in H !!! 😃 Impressive. That’s the first vehicle I’ve heard of where the mileage is given in terms of an area. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/17 "2005-10-20T05:48:47Z")
> [@Hail Ants](#): > > [ul] > [li]Do sports car owners need to go that fast? Isn’t 65MPH or so the limit anyway?[/li][li]Do luxury car owners need to be so pampered and wasteful on gas?[/li][li]Do single people really need a four door sedan?[/li][li]Does anyone really need a car painted black when it’s so dangerous at night?[/li][/ul] Have any of these things reached a saturation point that is dangerous to other drivers? ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/18 "2005-10-20T06:55:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Have any of these things reached a saturation point that is dangerous to other drivers? Who makes the decision that they have? And how? **Every single vehicle** is potentially dangerous to each other, all the time. Driving is an incredibly dangerous activity from a human physiology POV. And I am thoroughly unconvinced that SUVs have really made things significantly worse. Its just an emotional, gut-reaction. With a little politics thrown in for good measure… ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/19 "2005-10-20T07:05:02Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > “Too damn close” is anything less than the two second rule. At least that’s the way I was taught. > > Fine in theory, but in any big city full of heavy traffic and aggressive arseholes, leaving a two second gap will last for about three nanoseconds before some prick cuts in, and then you’ve got even less room than you would have had, had you not tried to do the right thing. Mr SUV up front then brakes suddenly, there’s a three car nose-to-tail accident, and the poor sap at the back in the sedan is technically at fault. Just tonight I drove from Nyack, NY to my home in Bohunk, PA using 287, 78, 81, and 83. I drive a big evil nasty Ford van (because my tools don’t fit in the side carriers of a Vespa) and along the interstates, the tractor-trailers and I had no problem maintaining decent following distances. I still hie to the ancient 1-carlength per 10 MPH of speed rule which means I want about 175’ between me and the vehicle ahead, at minimum. Who was the problem? Jettas, Echos-little cars who wanted to zip in and out of lanes without concern for the distances between vehicles, let alone using lane change signals. Let those drivers without sin cast the first milestone. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973/20 "2005-10-20T07:05:07Z")
> [@Hail Ants](#): > > Who makes the decision that they have? And how? . . . Who makes any such policy decisions? This is not virgin territory. Legislators deal with such issues every day. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-legal-for-so-many-ridiculously-tall-vehicles-to-be-on-the-road/326973.md?page=2)