Dear Editor,
‘Carspreading’. A made-up word, certainly; kind of like ‘mansplaining’ or ‘looksmaxxing’. The phenomenon it describes is very real, however. Cars are getting bigger – and fast. A recent Guardian article has pegged the yearly rate of car size increase at about half an inch in length, and nearly a quarter inch in height and width.
This becomes a staggeringly large increase in size when added up, and means your average vehicle is rapidly becoming a behemoth. This matters in multiple ways. Larger cars cost more to operate, with worse fuel economy; larger cars cost more to your tax bill as well, with heavier cars destroying roadways at an increased rate. Larger and heavier cars require more fuel, spewing more lung-harming particulate matter and accelerating our warming planet.
Lastly, bigger cars are simply less safe for anyone that isn’t in them. Getting hit by an SUV carries a 44% higher risk of death compared to getting hit by a smaller car. If you were driving the average sedan and were hit by an SUV, you have a 70% higher risk of fatality, thanks to the much larger SUV size.
Carspreading is bad for all of us. Massive trucks and SUVs are unsightly, dangerous to our people and planet, and hog the road. The vehicle size arms race needs to stop.
Sincerely,
Nathan Dombeck, Janesville, WI