It’s a crumple zone, and it’s transparent so the driver can see obstacles (kids) in front of the van. It does seem very long, but I think that’s just because the whole van is smaller than it looks.

Not that I’ll be able to help, but there are no pictures in your post.

The question does not make sense. Maestro is a switch design, RA2 is an interconnection system (and is being replaced with RA3). All RA2 switches use the Maestro design, but you can get Maestro switches that are just dumb switches. Are you confusing Maestro with Caseta? Caseta is Lutron’s consumer brand, RA2/RA3 is their entry-level pro brand (they have higher end options).

The benefit of RA2/3 over Caseta is that there are more device types available, and the system can support more switches.