Who really needs an SUV?
On this, the fourth anniversary of 09/11, I feel it is my duty as a patriotic citizen of the United States of America to introduce my grass-roots drive to abolish, outlaw, spurn, and otherwise drive out of the marketplace (pun intended) SUVs.
There are plenty of reasons why SUVs should be removed from the American road. Let's start with the moron factor. The moment most people get behind the wheel of a California God-Mobile, they become complete and utter morons. They have earned the name California God-Mobile because here in Colorado if you see one with a California tag on it get away! Fast!! Nine times out of ten, the person behind the wheel will apparently be under the belief that the laws of space-time physics to not apply to them. The light that we all saw as red, they saw as green. That ice they are approaching (probably to brake upon) gives them no fear. They are certain that the surface we see as slick and without traction will be as easy to navigate for them as one made of the coarsest sandpaper.
Then there is the safety factor. I mean, sure... you've got six tons of steel surrounding you. Goody for you! But that six tons of steel is something like eight feet tall and on a precariously small wheelbase, it is too easy to move the center of gravity of all that steel out of over the wheelbase. Simple physics tells you that makes it unstable and easy to tip. ...and with all that inertia behind you, once it starts to tip there'll be no stopping it.
Oh, and before you tell me how safe they are for you, the driver, skip it! There is more than enough research to debunk that theory. You can check with Consumer Reports if you do not believe me. Why else would the insurance industry charge such a premium on the insurance for them?
Then there is the economy factor. The dependence of oil is driving this country to invade (on trumped-up charges) sovereign nations. Does this not bother you? Alternatively, are you a Fox News Channel watching slope-headed Neanderthal who actually believes that the administration has not actively mislead us so that they could invade Iraq? Even if you do buy into the reason for invading Iraq, even the president says we need to decrease our dependence on foreign oil. Driving a vehicle that gets, what - six miles to the gallon(?) - is no way to decrease our dependency on foreign oil.
Nevertheless, even if we do not use any of these to support the removal of these behemoths from the road, let's look at it from a safety issue of the other drivers on the road. SUVs are a self-propagating blight. Most of the people that I have asked about why they drive an SUV say it is for the safety, or because other people are driving them. A few are actually driving them because they have lots of cargo and crew that they need to haul. Most of the SUVs on the road are being conducted by their driver for their driver alone. Therefore, we have all these huge vehicles surrounding smaller, more environmentally responsible vehicles on the road.
I don't know about you, but my Drivers' Ed classes taught me to keep an eye on the road ahead. It was recommended at that time to look through the car ahead of you to anticipate what was coming. It is pretty hard to look through the car ahead of you when seated behind the wheel of a car when you probably couldn't see through it if you were standing up! So aside from all the other problems SUVs restrict the visibility of the road from everyone else.
You may be wondering what brought about this screed today. Well, I took a drive today and was astounded by the sheer number of these goliath vehicles on the road today. It was easily a four-to-one ratio on the intestate as I went up into the mountains. It was not easy to ignore how many there were.
I hope your day is going well and you have a clear view of the road ahead.
Don Bergquist - 11-September-2005 - Lakewood, Colorado
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