The adage "a good sketch is better than a long speech" is widely attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, and a recent post on the "r/mildlyinfuriating" subreddit illustrated it perfectly.

Arguments in favor of lifted trucks tend to revolve around the driver's experience: Enhanced visibility, aesthetics, and towing capacity are often listed.

However, the original poster effectively undermined those "pros" with a single photograph.

"I HATE how large trucks have become," their title began. "I would 100% DIE if this thing hit my car."

An image attached to the post was taken in a parking garage, and it required no additional commentary to make its point. 

On the left, an almost modest lifted truck was parked, absent the monster-truck-style tires so often seen on American roads. To the right was a standard Honda sedan, and the smaller car's roof was lower than the lifted truck's hood, presumably rendering it invisible.

Google Trends data suggests that modern lifted trucks became popular in March and April 2020, and they quickly became a common sight — and a persistent nuisance.

In June 2021, Consumer Reports investigated the rise of lifted trucks and the real-world harm they'd caused, citing incidents where pedestrians or other drivers were injured or killed by modified vehicles.

Many involved "frontover collisions," accidents caused by the gargantuan blind spot created by abnormally tall vehicles. Lifted trucks are also distracting to other drivers for several reasons, including their size and the impact of certain modifications.

Lifted trucks are often altered to be louder, and while that doesn't necessarily disable a vehicle's factory-installed equipment to limit emissions, such modifications can undermine those controls — sometimes deliberately, known as "deleting" a truck.

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All vehicle tires shed microplastics when their rubber drags on gravel, but the arena-like tires on many lifted trucks exacerbate that pollution, something of a running theme with lifted trucks. 

Standard pickups aren't known for fuel efficiency, but lifting a truck makes it heavier, which means modified vehicles consume more gas and generate more pollution. 

In the comments, Reddit users shared their experiences with lifted trucks.

"Don't forget to add even more hi beams to blind every other driver while you tailgate two inches from the rear bumper," one griped. 

Others relayed horror stories.

"Got into a [head-on] wreck with one of these … and I was only going 30mph and it very much nearly killed me. My sternum was shattered and my spine was fractured," another replied.

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