Pickup trucks are so ubiquitous on roads across the United States that they’re as American as apple pie or baseball. Car-buying trends are vastly different in the rest of the developed world. Aside from Canada, full-size pickups are far less popular in foreign markets. However, recent analysis has found that the number of pickup trucks on British roads has nearly doubled over the past decade. Advocates are pushing elected officials in the United Kingdom to curb this growth.
Clean Cities, a European urban environmental advocacy group, analyzed Department of Transport vehicle licensing data and found that the number of pickups increased by 92% between 2014 and 2024. The exact figures are more striking because it’s clear the increase isn’t just a few enthusiasts. There were 308,103 pickup truck registrations in 2014. That number swelled to 590,587 trucks in 2024. Oliver Lord, the UK head of Clean Cities, told the Guardian:
“This boom in US-style pickup trucks is lifestyle over practicality in exchange for parking mayhem and dangerous roads. City leaders must act to discourage these menacing vehicles from our streets. How is it acceptable to have a vehicle so tall that children cannot be seen?”
Huge pickups are statistically unsafe, but they getting exported anyway
Data has shown that massive pickup trucks are unsafe for pedestrians and other drivers. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that heavier vehicles are more likely to kill people in the other vehicle and pedestrians in crashes. The organization estimated that being hit by a large pickup truck in any circumstance raises your odds of dying by 200%. At the end of the day, it’s just physics. Not to mention, the poor driver visibility over the tall hood is more dangerous on Britain’s narrower streets compared to the United States.
While Clean Cities wants stricter safety standards and higher parking fees for pickups, President Donald Trump has a different agenda in mind. The failed Atlantic City casino mogul wants to spread the gospel of American pickup trucks across the globe. He secured carve-outs in recent European trade deals to reduce or eliminate safety testing for imported American vehicles. Instead of building trucks to meet foreign standards, American automakers could simply shovel their behemoths overseas.
