“you can haul around your junk without thinking or planning”
A lack of thinking and planning seems to be the root cause of most of the world’s problems. It’s not active malice - it’s just thoughtlessness in the service of convenience and comfort.
Kid stuff is a lot bulkier in the US, from what I’ve seen.
We fit into a Ford Focus station wagon what my sister-in-law in Texas perceived herself to need a Tahoe for (instead of her “little” Mazda CX-5). Our neighbors with two kids tend to be station wagon owners, too. Another has a Toyota Proace, which is an amazing amount of cargo capacity but still plays nicer with regular cars and non-car traffic because it’s originally a sedan underneath (the Peugeot 306, I believe).
I sometimes have to waste 15 minutes or so organizing the car when some new piece comes into the puzzle, true. We’re also a bit more deliberate about when we actually use the car - keeping another set of kid stuff at Oma and Opa’s makes the train a lot easier, and is far less expensive than owning a larger vehicle.
But this all requires a bit of planning and deprioritizing our immediate convenience.
"I'm happy knowing that my vehicle choice is making the roads more dangerous and making me specifically more likely to kill someone else in an accident because it makes my life easier"
Sure, but actually own that choice. Say your convenience is worth someone else's safety.
My safety is worth more to me than yours. We would all be safer if we didn’t have to race to the bottom but such is life and them are the rules. Change the rules and I’ll change my behavior.
A lack of thinking and planning seems to be the root cause of most of the world’s problems. It’s not active malice - it’s just thoughtlessness in the service of convenience and comfort.