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I don't know about other country, but this truck rider in my country (Indonesia) are relatively safe.
People usually using this for everything, like portable shop, human transportion on the back (only legal on small village or remote area), etc.
I still remember riding one on the back for scout activities :)
Yeah we have them, and similar vehicles, on the roads here in the UK. They are fine for carrying medium loads, they're great in busy cities, economical, easy to park.
I live in Japan and drive a kei-car that's kinda like a van. 660cc engine (my motorbike is 400cc). I plan on probably eventually getting one of the trucks like in the thumbnail for my farm business. Ask me anything, I guess, if you have questions about them.
How common are the EVs versions over there?
I didn't know about this so I did some searching. Per https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20250507/k10014798141000.html
昨年度、国内で最も売れたEVは日産と三菱自動車が共同開発した軽自動車で、会社はそれと同じ水準の260万円程度の販売価格を目指すとしています。
Last year, the most domestically-sold EV was a kei vehicle which I didn't know.
@dwazou
I live in Japan and I have driven trucks like this a lot. They are common work trucks. I also rented one a few years ago when I moved. They are much safer than American vehicles. First thing is they are lighter and smaller. Getting hit by a pebble going 60mph or a bowling ball going 60mph is much different. The driver is all the way to the front which means if someone or something is in front of the truck, they can see it. They have big vehicles here too. Kei cars are fine. #FuckCars
They banned fucking tuktuks?!
How the hell am I supposed to be Cruisin' USA without my Sardine Supreme?
How do they do in crash tests? Are there blind spots?
Cars a death machines. We need to regulate them.
Low speeds isnt a risk. But if it's a danger to its occupants or pedestrians/cyclists, it shouldn't be on the road
They do fine in crashes... Against normal sized cars. They get absolutely obliterated by trucks and SUVs.
Most of them don't go over 55, and aren't highway legal because of that.
I am definitely going to die if I get hit by an SUV on my motorbike, but I'm free to drive that to work all the time. I fail to see how a mini-car is materially different while we allow other dangerous vehicles on the road by the same definition.
Right, but your motor bike isn't a threat to the companies that line lawmakers pockets to provide us with only large expensive and mostly useless trucks.
We citizens need to change the laws to highly tax those oversized vehicles. And we should make them commercial use only. Average people don't need huge trucks. K-cars are quite cool.
Japan basically takes those cars off circulation by taxing the ownership to the point that its better to get rid of them as they age. Its great for us who want them in their sub-par age. But we might also want to think about doing the same.
I feel like the gas and the monthly cost of the loan they took out against their mortgage is probably tax enough.
I genuinely believe most of these super-truck owners already have one foot in the financial grave and are just in denial about it.
Hence the need for a higher level of licensure in order to operate one.
Clearly not, because these dickheads are out there driving vehicles that are way over-specced for their use cases, all because they have tiny penises and need to compensate! Some of these things are that tall that you can't see an average height adult standing in front of the grill from the drivers seat.
You're not allowed to drive those? Why not?
Edit: article touches on it. Low top speed and missing safety features. They aren't fit for highways but not all roads are highways, so outright bans are stupid.
The other thing to keep in mind is that a lot of US vehicles are missing the same safety features. Where's the seatbelt and airbag on a motorcycle, for example? A lot of semis also don't have airbags at all.
Even at 55mph they're actually not that unsafe in a sane country with sane cars- the driver is so high up that they're 'above' the crash (t's the same reason semis don't have air bags- they're not as needed)
... unless you're in the US and driving around a dick-measuring contest pavement princess that puts you eye level with a semi truck so you can murder small children easier, that weighs 8000lb.
Yes, they can't go 70mph, but that basically just limits them to not being able to go on highways and interstates, which is perfectly fine- frankly, we need to have less things being hauled that way, the highways will last longer and our microplastic issue will be largely solved if we stop shipping things in the single dumbest, least efficient manner.
Finally... modern kei trucks DO have a lot of those improvements. They have airbags, seatbelts, all the modern safety features, and can go 60mph. Keep in mind, in most cases semis have to go 5-10 under the speed limit anyway, which means they can basically hit the same speed limits as semis. We just aren't even currently allowed to import the modern kei trucks.
My electric golf cart goes up to 33 mph max. I had to put lights on it but I got it titled, insured, and plated. I have to keep it on 35 and under roads but I take it all over the place instead of driving my car. Seems silly these trucks couldn’t be approved for at minimum 45 and under roadways.
Can you go from coast to coast without getting on a highway?
How often is the average driver going coast to coast?
This is the part I always chuckle about when someone talks smack about EVs as well. What does the average driver commute these days? Doesn't seem like much - I'm figuring roughly 30 minutes could be anywhere from 5 to 30 miles depending on where you live.
Sounds like a perfect solution for most people.
Regardless of your daily commute, charging can still be a pain if you are unable to charge at home. Though with non-Teslas being able to use superchargers, that does help close some of the gap.
I think they make an excellent 2nd vehicle for households that have 2 (or more) cars though.
Yes.
Those are real trucks
These are all over the place in Victoria. It's still idiots in big pickups that are smoking all the pedestrians. Weird huh?
This is what is so dumb. Safety is only ever considered for the people INSIDE the vehicle. It's insane.
Pedestrian fatalities have been increasing in the last few years, even as vehicle (i.e. inside the vehicle) fatalities have been trending down.
That's America for you. It's also the reason American cars can't be sold in Japan without modifications.
I mean, also because American cars have the steering wheel on the wrong side.
A lot of today's safety standards are based on pedestrian protection, that's why pop up headlights aren't a thing anymore for example.
Pop-up headlights = bad
Vehicle that sits up high enough to strike you in the fucking head = OK
Dude. You can't look at modern American vehicles and tell me they are designed with pedestrian protection in mind.
I mean... It's regulations that are in place, I don't make the rules, all I know is that the shape of cars need to respect certain criterias to help pedestrian safety in case they get hit, including making sure they're deflected on the hood and not under the car for example. Crash avoidance systems, obstacle warnings will be mandatory in 2029 and that's a US regulation...
It really feels like people on here only think about trucks that are exempted from certain regulations when talking about cars, well I look at the roads around me and not all vehicles are trucks.
The US has no ped safety rules for the front end of cars/trucks. Europe on the other hand…