Quote:
Originally posted by dimbulb
Also, I feel that we should not jump to conclusions.
People who drive SUVs are not necessarily idiots who are constantly on the cell phones....
|
However, in the Greater DC metropolitan area, that's the way to bet. If I had a nickel for every solo rider in an SUV, no child seats, dog cages, or trailer hitches visible who cut me off in traffic while yakking on their cell phone, I'd be able to buy a Maxi Mog and monster truck their asses.
This whole conversation misses the point, though: Yes, SUVs and light trucks are safer than cars. Hummers are far safer. An M-1 Abrams tank is safer still.
The point is that, with (according to NPR Morning Edition yesterday - 10/17/2003) 50% of cars sold last year light trucks or SUVs, and fuel efficiencies falling, not because engines are less efficienet but because cars are getting heavier, gas gets more and more expensive.
I have no argument for folks who need an SUV to haul a trailer or 7 children (though why a family needs that many in this day and age is beyond me, and proof of mental softness as far as I can tell as a father of 2), or dog cages or some such similar thing - Heck, I keep a pickup truck , but I only drive it when I need it- but the folks commuting in F-150s and Oversized SUVs are doing nothing but driving up the price of gas and increasing our dependance on oil from places where they'd be just as happy to give each of us a C-4 suppository. And I have yet to find a reason anyone outside the military needs a hummer (chuckle - well, maybe Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell would be improved by a skillful hummer each, but we're talking cars here) though.
So, while it is an environmental thing, that's secondary. It's economic and political. It just makes no sense to drive more weight than you need.
For the record - I drive a Hyundai. I would drive a small, fuel efficient, American car if they made one for sale at a reasonable price. They don't. I would also drive an SUV if it ran on something other than gasoline or with a hybrid engine and I could afford it (and it had been out for a couple of years so that the kinks had been worked out of the model. I think the hybrid Escape is in its second model year now. I'll probably trade the Huyndai and the truck for one in another two years.)