It seems something ugly just happened almost in front of my flat.
I left home to go the garage to get the winter tires installed. When I left, I saw the trash truck. There was the driver I’ve seen before and an young apprentice, long hair, beanie and mandatory acne. They were practicing with the crane that lifts the huge trash bags from the underground containers.
I drive back home an hour later and the trash truck is a block away from where I saw them earlier. The truck is in the middle of the street , in a pedestrian area in front of the local train station. It was in the middle of a right turn. Just in that spot that looks empty when a big truck turns , there’s a white tent. Orange cones, firefighters deviating traffic, ambulance, orange cones…
It makes no sense. It’s a 20kmh zone, the truck was probably slower than that. Why?
TBH, I’m just back from BMW the dealership. The new M2 is 2,155 kg and the new M5 is 2’500+ kg. I simply don’t understand how my car from the previous generation is 464 kg lighter than the new M2. German Panzer is sadly a proper description of the new M cars. What happened?
No - a large estate car, for example, would not cause the same injuries.
Bonnet height The risk of fatal injuries to vulnerable road users increases as the bonnet height of the vehicle hitting them increases. For example, a pedestrian or cyclist hit by a car with a bonnet 90 cm high runs a 30% greater risk of fatal injury than if hit by a vehicle with a bonnet 10 cm lower.
Pick up trucks are bad too:
For a pedestrian or cyclist hit by a pick-up, the risk of serious injury increases by 90% and the risk of fatal injury by almost 200%.
Not sure who drives Pick up trucks here. Normally they are sparklingly clean. Farmers tend to drive Subaru cars.
Then you guess wrong. It’s not due to the size of the car - unless you are in it.
Although it is true that SUV occupants are less likely to suffer serious or fatal injuries than car occupants. Occupants of a car involved in an accident with an SUV have a higher risk of serious injury. The risk of serious injury decreases by 25% for SUV occupants but increases by 20% for occupants of a car involved in an accident with an SUV.
Yes, Wankpanzer is the proper term. Originally used for heavy 4x4s in urban areas, now applies to M cars. The gains of better tire rubber compounds, better brakes, etc might be lost.
But you have a point. An M2 should not weight 1800 kg either. We used to have an Audi A5 convertible that was so heavy that despite a 250 hp engine it felt terribly sluggish. Traded it for something small, light and agile.
