[delayed]

> but a car is crap in places with poor roads and snow.

That's a false dichotomy. 4x4 cars often do better on poor roads and snow, lower center of gravity is better if you don't need ground clearance, and weight distribution of a pickup is poor unloaded.

The whole 4x4 truck things is even more complicated - good off-road performance and good freeway performance are in many ways at cross purposes.

The only real intrinsic value of a pickup is open air bed space (easier access than a van, but less protected). The way the market developed they have also turned into the vehicle of choice for towing, but that's not intrinsic.

The % of light pickups is more a marketing phenomena than real utility.

In the usa we live in a largely lawless society I don't know who is gonna enforce something like that when we barely go after armed teen carjackers.

This won't work because the people with the greatest need also have the least ability to pay. It would only make sense if you include a measure of how urban the area is.

California already treats every vehicle with a bed as commercial (& thus weight fee), very rare exceptions. Although there are subgroups within that rightfully based on vehicle weight.

> car is crap in places with poor roads and snow

My FWD Volvo Station wagon would like a word with you

There are (or were) plenty of small cars that did great off road that are no longer sold in the US, if I was looking for a new car and could buy one in the US I'd consider something like the Sizuki IGNIS where it's got 4WD and can hold people comfortably.

Old Fiat Panda 4x4 is amazing cheap car.

> A large 4x4 truck is a menace in a dense city, but a car is crap in places with poor roads and snow. Both are common.

As someone who grew up in Colorado and now lives in Canada, a large 4x4 truck is a menace on poor roads and snow as well.

Trucks are heavy, with poorly distributed weight, and are harder to control in snow if they have a true (locked center diff) 4x4 system. A Subaru with snow tires is the stereotypical mountain car for a reason. If I have to drive an hour through a blizzard I'll take the car if given the choice

If you need a truck, you need a truck, but there should be much stronger limits on what is CAFE exempt, and what you can use a CAFE exempt vehicle for. Perhaps since the exemption is intended to avoid hurting commercial interests, CAFE exempt vehicles should require a commercial license and insurance.

You just need to make them look like Iveco Daily, VW Transporter or other similar european dropside trucks, which make more sense for businesses and no one will buy them for their attractiveness.

Why should any vehicles be treated differently? Surely all should be expected to be safe.

> A large 4x4 truck is a menace in a dense city, but a car is crap in places with poor roads and snow. Both are common.

Then forbid trucks where the roads are good and where there is no snow.

No need to close it: just demand a commercial license to drive one of those. Yearly check-up, learn to look at your blind sides. If you mess up, lose your job.

If those are getting tax benefits for being used by specialized industries, they should be treated as such. I want emission standards, but if you tell me that we don’t get a snowplow without exception, I’m amenable. Snow on the road is bad. Where we should all draw the line is having soccer moms do the school run in a snowplow.