Every big vehicle must look like the strange new USPS truck

ONE duck. ONE modified popemobile. ONE Richard Scarry Render. THE Star created by Pixar of Cars 5? In the past 24 hours, the Internet has exhausted itself by creating memes for the United States Postal Service’s new mail delivery vehicle, which, with its exaggeratedly tall glass cabin and squat extra-low bumper, looks – well, now that you mention it – much like a duck. The truck, which is actually more like a minivan, is the first of many different vehicles expected in a next generation USPS delivery fleet, and looks like an absolute winner on paper: the tailored steering wheel – right model can be equipped as electric or gas powered, and 50,000 to 165,000 of them will be built right here in the USA by Wisconsin-based defense contractor Oshkosh. But the most important benefits will be delivered, if you want, by that silly-looking design.

In the last decade, the number of pedestrian deaths has increased in the USA, even with a slight drop in the total number of traffic deaths. Many safety experts attributed this to the growing proportion of SUVs and trucks, which now represent 60% of the country’s vehicle fleet. They are taller, heavier and more powerful than most sedans and also have a larger “attack zone”, which means that when you’re hit by one, you’re directly hitting your torso and therefore your vital organs. You are also more likely to be thrown in front of or below the vehicle. The lower lip protruding from this USPS truck, strange as it may seem, is a life-saving transforming feature. If you are hit by this vehicle (usually very slow moving), you will probably be hit in the legs, throwing it upwards on the convex hood, where it is much more likely to roll to the side instead of down the wheels. You are almost certainly less likely to be killed.

The high visibility windshield that surrounds the entire cab is another important safety feature. The driver not only sits in what is essentially a glass cockpit, but the seat is located far below the vehicle in general. There are cool sliding side windows as well. That whole glass area eliminates another major failure of taller SUVs and trucks, the “frontal blind spot”. (For evidence of how this problem is out of control, see how many children can line up in front of a Cadillac Escalade before the driver can see them.) To compensate for the loss of vision, automakers load their SUVs and trucks with resources sophisticated technology on board, and the USPS truck is similarly equipped with 360-degree cameras, as well as frontal and rear collision prevention systems. But with this type of cabin design that prioritizes simply making vision easier, drivers are unlikely to have to rely on cameras instead of their own eyes.

While cities face a violent onslaught of online deliveries – even before the pandemic, it has been estimated that one in eight Americans receives an Internet purchase every day – the unpredictable movements of delivery vans congest traffic and block the streets at sometimes with fatal consequences. Traditional mail trucks have always been smaller compared to their peers, but this reform of the USPS has resulted in what could be the ideal delivery vehicle: compact, but with a much larger cargo space, including an extra large hatch for transporting large packages. Companies like Amazon need to learn from this downsizing, also known as vehicle fleet rightsizing. From smaller fire engines to more agile garbage trucks, making vehicles more adapted to urban tasks can make a huge difference, not only to keep other cars moving on narrow streets, but also to ensure that humans on those same streets can access the bike paths and sidewalks, and curb cuts they need to get around.

As the USPS takes its first steps towards preparing its fleet for the future, these weird little trucks mean a real shift towards a federal government that can set new standards for smaller, cleaner and safer vehicles than the city streets. city ​​need. Just look at the evolution of the USPS ‘own vehicles, from the 1950s Jeep DJs to the current aluminum truck based on a Chevy S-10 chassis, to the new ride, which looks suspiciously similar to the body of the Ford Transit minivan. To transform its own truck, it took real attention from the USPS on how it could truly revolutionize the way mail moves safely in our neighborhoods. This result speaks directly to the fact that these problems can no longer be solved by the vehicles we have driven in the past century. Now, how quickly can that same thought permeate the rest of the auto industry?