Tuesday, May 19, 2009

"Who are you to tell me what I can drive?"

The above is often heard from drivers of SUVs, as a response to people asking them if they really need their SUV. This, then, is an answer.

I am the driver who has to deal with the consequences of your decision. I am the driver who is now forced to hold up traffic, because I cannot see if it's safe to pull out past your oversized vehicle. I am the driver who is blinded at night because your vehicle's lights are at my eye level, so your dipped beams are worse for glare than my highbeams, and so cannot drive safely any more. I am the driver who will be crushed like a bug if your unstable vehicle should get into an incident with me. I am the driver who is cut off because your sense of invulnerability causes you to drive less safely. I am the driver who can no longer find a parking space because you are now taking up two. I am the person whose freedom you are disregarding in your exercise of your freedom. I've heard "If you don't like them, don't buy them!" so many times that I am sick of it, and sick of attempting to explain that even if I don't buy one, I am still forced to deal with the inevitable consequences of your decision to buy one.

"I'm not putting my wife and kids in an itty-bitty car!"
Well, sir, I ask you: what about MY wife? What about MY (putative) children? What, exactly, makes them worth so much less than your family? And allow me to remind you that the only reason cars are "less safe" than SUVs is because there are SUVs on the roads. In a car-versus-SUV situation, a car will be significantly less safe, yes - but car-versus-car is FAR safer for all concerned than SUV-versus-SUV. If safety matters so much to you, then drive a car and encourage others to drive cars. Everyone winds up safer, and less impoverished as they no longer need to pay for the ridiculous gas consumption of SUVs. Safety, as an argument, doesn't hold water.

"I want to, I can afford it, and you don't have the right to tell me I can't!"
I strongly suggest you find a therapist and work through your penis size issues.

This has been a rant by me. Now, if it were light outside, I'd go put a bumper sticker on my midsize sedan that in Europe would be one of the larger vehicles on the road, but over here feels like a beer can next to the SUVs that regularly cut me up. I'll do it tomorrow, I guess.

2 comments:

  1. Just FYI - SUVs are classified as "Light Trucks" so they don't have to conform to all the safety and emission standards that passenger vehicles do. I believe they are, in fact, less safe than a regular sedan. They certainly roll more easily.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That was what I was getting at when I pointed out that SUV vs SUV crashes are worse than comparable car vs car crashes.

    With a heavy load of books, I'd rather be in my Volvo than in an SUV.

    ReplyDelete

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