Rlyss

We have freedom of choice in our purchases, nobody's going to hassle me in the supermarket for buying a 3 litre jug of milk instead of the 1 litre carton, nobody's going to cry murder when I decide to go for a stereo with 2-foot high speakers instead of a little compact mini-stereo.

However...

What if I choose to drive a bus to the supermarket, or what if I want to drive a semi-trailer when I take my kids to school in the morning? I need a special licence for these things, I need to apply and justify my need for a bus or a semi-trailer in my driveway.

And I feel the same way about SUVs. You people who live on farms and in the snow, you're fine, you've got reason to do so. If you're truly a soccer-mum or a modern/liberated 'power woman' driving an SUV to the office then no way, no SUV licence for you. Nobody cries about a lack of freedom of choice when they're denied a semi-trailer licence, do they?

My concern with SUVs isn't about fuel use or emissions, it's about size and safety of everyone around. I can't see around an SUV, I can't see them make eye contact with me so I know they've seen me so they won't pull out in front of me, I am terrified they won't stop in time, and worst of all they can't see my car (once a Mistubishi Magna wagon) and reverse into it because their rear view mirrors just look right over the top of the car. You can say it's not the car's fault, and that's the result of bad driving, and I totally agree with it. That's exactly why I think there should be a special licence to drive an SUV, a licence that acknowledges that you have a need for it (just like a semi-trailer or a moving van), AND that you know how to drive it. If you've got an SUV licence then that's fine, I see you've justified to the road authorities that you need it and I'll keep my mouth shut. Mack truck drivers need special licences, manual transmission drivers need special licences (where I live), and motorcyclists need special licences, so I don't see anything far-fetched about requiring an SUV licence. Obviously this would be phased in over a period of time so people now who needlessly drive SUVs are ok, since they shouldn't be punished for breaking a law that doesn't yet exist, or didn't exist when they bought the car.

If a smaller car is at fault with an accident with an SUV then it's still that person's fault. Accidents happen no matter how hard we try to prevent them, but still there's fault involved. But still, there is courtesy and compassion. I wouldn't rig my car body up to electrify any car that hits me, or add spikes to my car just so that anyone who hits me gets all the damage. That's a terrible idea, and I think so is the mindset that 'If it's someone else's fault then I don't care what happens to them.'

Edit: I just wanted to add that I think the worst is yet to come with SUVs. At the moment, for the past ten years or so since SUVs have really taken off and gone from a tiny share to a huge share of the market, most drivers of SUVs are older and more experienced. There are a lot of college kids driving them but I think the majority are older.

And as these cars get older, they're more likely to become the hand-me-downs, or the ones that the parents give their kids as a first car when they graduate. Unskilled, young drivers in a little ricer car is one thing, but having unskilled, young drivers (I'm no exception here) driving these tanks in the next ten years or so is where I think we'll really see the dangers of SUVs on the roads. More SUVs now mean more SUVs in the future, driven by younger kids as hand-me-downs and the inexperience combined with the weight and size of these things will mean lotsa danger. If you think there won't be younger kids in the near future driving the current-model SUVs then just look at the cars they (non-trust fund kids) drive today - they're the previous decades' standard.