As someone who wants a Miata when it's finally time to get rid of my current car, images like this make me shake my head in annoyance and fear. This isn't my car or even the right brand or model, but it's about the right size, and it's dwarfed by most pickups on the road these days. And Miatas are even smaller!
What is the tiny Civic supposed to do against that behemoth should they have an unfortunate meeting in the middle of the road? Nothing, I suppose; the truck will continue on its way like nothing happened while the Civic and its occupants will become pancakes. Here's what it looks like when a modern Miata is parked between two of these so-called "normal" trucks:
It seems crazy to me that the three vehicles in this photo are held to the same basic safety regulations and licensing laws. The F-250 on the left averages about 6,500 pounds ⸺ three times the average weight of a Miata! Do you need to take extra classes or pay for extra licensing in order to drive it? Nope.
And what's even the point? Trucks from the 80s and 90s were much smaller their beds were the same length or perhaps even longer. Today's trucks have sacrificed usable bed length for creature comforts inside the cab. Trucks have basically gone from utility-focused vehicles to minivans for dudes.
Does anyone care that these behemoths can Monster Truck their way over small cars and smash the people inside? Nope. And this situation certainly isn't made any better by trucks often getting lifted versus small sporty cars often getting lowered to improve their handling. At least it's still safer to be in a Miata than it is to be on a motorcycle because I did briefly consider going that route.
I periodically drop the following image from Consumer Reports into reddit comment threads whenever the topic of trucks comes up:
The scariest part of about this image is that most trucks sold today are bigger than shown here. I swear some of their squared-off grills are five feet to the top! The black truck shown next to the Civic at the top of this post is notably taller than the white one in this illustration. Look at the difference in clearance under the front bumper. It has notably less ability to see anything in front of it!
I have no real closer for this post, so I'll just say that if one day I'm pancaked inside a Miata by one of these too-big trucks, please sue some regulators and get these trucks off the road. Barring that, at least aim for gating the ability to drive these monstrous things behind extra testing and yearly licensing fees.