Another Reason SUVs Suck.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/19/au...les/19suv.html
"Yah duh, I really like my SUV OK? It makes driving safuh for my family! This is America: I can own a huge vehicle that poses an unnecessarily large danger to other drivers if I want to, so nyahhh! So what if I don't need the cargo or towing capacity...."
D-o-u-c.... well you know the rest.
"Yah duh, I really like my SUV OK? It makes driving safuh for my family! This is America: I can own a huge vehicle that poses an unnecessarily large danger to other drivers if I want to, so nyahhh! So what if I don't need the cargo or towing capacity...."
D-o-u-c.... well you know the rest.
Comments
If someone wants to trade 40/mpg for the added risk of being killed in a wreck, that is their choice. Don't blame the SUV, train, light pole, dump truck, or meteor that hit them.
I am willing to pay the extra money in purchase price and gas for that security. As long as I have to share the road with big rigs and dump trucks and the like, I'm not putting my family in a deathtrap. SUVs fill a need for most people- every try to move three kids, their sports gear, a spouse, and our stuff in a Toyoyta Echo or Ford Festiva? It does not work.
Should they be more fuel efficient? Sure. Should they be engineered to be more "crash friendly"? Of course. But I see more and more people demonizing these inanimate objects in the hopes that they will be banned eventually or taxed to punish people for wanting what works for them.
The SUV thing reveals a lot about the mentality of some people. We still have freedom in this country- in some areas. The SUV assault fits right in with the smoking assault- people do not like how some of us choose to live and the choices we make, so they want to tax and ban until we think like "we ought to."
Don't like SUVs? Don't buy one.
It is not unreasonable for the country to require car manufacturers to install head protection in the event of an suv collision (but this is avoiding the inherent nature of the problem which are the vehicles with center of masses at or above the heads of people in smaller vehicles). People aren't trained to drive Suvs, but they are trained to drive big rigs, and dump trucks. If we required training for suv drivers since they are overwhelmingly both self-dangerous (flipping and all that) and other dangerous, I think we could solve the real issue...
It's not like your only options are Yugo or Ford Expedition. There is a LOT of middle-ground there, most of which are just fine thank you very much, for carting kids around (unless you have 4 or more you're carting at once, in which case I understand the need for a larger vehicle).
And good point about training billybob... driving a Hummer or Sequoia is NOT the same thing as driving a S-10 or Subaru Forrester. Most people driving SUVs have no clue how to handle them properly.
Originally posted by billybobsky
A few weeks ago a guy who lived on my ex-gf's hall last year was hit by an suv while sitting in the back seat of a reasonably sized vehicle -- nothing good came of it...
I am sorry to hear about your friend, but the problem is not the suv's it is the dumb-ass soccer-moms and dads who drive it like a car - the fact is it is not a car, it is a truck and thus requiers a differant driveing style
the fact is a 2500 lb low-to-the-gound civic is a different driveing experiance than a 7000lb higher up excersion.
if SUV OWNERS dont start driveing them like the trucks they are, then these Senseless accedents and deaths will continue.
The SUV thing reveals a lot about the mentality of some people. We still have freedom in this country- in some areas. The SUV assault fits right in with the smoking assault- people do not like how some of us choose to live and the choices we make, so they want to tax and ban until we think like "we ought to."
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Both of those choices that you make might kill me, that is why they concern me.
SUVs are dangerous.
Originally posted by billybobsky
(an aside: the free market doesn't work in a timely fashion ever).
Dr Marx. Calling Dr. Marx!
You are correct about driving instruction for SUV and truck drivers. There ARE too many soccer moms and dads that do not understand the physics of a larger vehicle. But the answer is educating the driver, not banning/taxing/assaulting the vehicle.
Originally posted by Jubelum
If someone wants to trade 40/mpg for the added risk of being killed in a wreck, that is their choice. Don't blame the SUV, train, light pole, dump truck, or meteor that hit them.
so, what, it's MY fault that i drive a compact if i am struck and killed by an SUV?
wow, that's some impressively circumlocutous logic right there.
Originally posted by groverat
Both of those choices that you make might kill me, that is why they concern me.
SUVs are dangerous.
Well, if you see a white, 4x4 GMC Yukon XL (with an Apple sticker on the back window) driving around Austin, avoid it. That is the 'lethal' weapon I have chosen. Just thought you should know.
Originally posted by rok
so, what, it's MY fault that i drive a compact if i am struck and killed by an SUV?
wow, that's some impressively circumlocutous logic right there.
So what, it's MY fault that i drive an SUV if i am struck and killed by a dump truck or 18-wheeler?
SUVS SUCK.
So what, it's MY fault that i drive an SUV if i am struck and killed by a dump truck or 18
That's not what he was saying at all, he was pointing out the flaw in your logic.
Dump trucks and 18-wheelers actually have a purpose.
Originally posted by groverat
Dump trucks and 18-wheelers actually have a purpose.
My SUV has a purpose, which I have outlined already.
Originally posted by Jubelum
I am willing to pay the extra money in purchase price and gas for that security.
And there's the flaw in your logic. They simply aren't safe.
You're putting others at risk for the *illusion* of safety. Still worth it?
Not in my book.
SUVs are dangerous to the driver and everyone else on the road:
link
But examine only the fatal crashes and a different picture emerges. In 2001, 19.5 per cent of all fatal road crashes involved rollovers, and 35.2 per cent of SUV-related fatal crashes involved rollovers. And in terms of fatalities from all types of crash, SUVs are slightly more unsafe than passenger cars. In 1999, for every 100,000 registered vehicles in the US, there were 16.4 fatalities in passenger cars, and 17.8 in SUVs. What's more, the aggressive design of SUVs ensures passenger cars come off worst in collisions with them. Last month, researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo, found that in crashes between small cars and large SUVs, the risk of death was 24 times greater in the car.
So you are actually less safe and you make those around you a hell of a lot less safe.
That's logic!
Originally posted by Jubelum
So what, it's MY fault that i drive an SUV if i am struck and killed by a dump truck or 18-wheeler?
well, by this same logic, if i go into a known dangerous part of town and get killed, when i was taking REASONABLE measures to protect myself, it's still my fault if i get shot and killed because, darn it, i should have known better than to go into that part of town without a bulletproof vest.
it's not like i'm taking a stroll across an eight-lane highway... that's UNreasonably dangerous and i get what i deserve.
There are three kinds of lies in this world: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics. You can find numbers to support whatever you want to say. I would like to know how much LESS likely my family is to be hurt when hit by a sedan BECAUSE they were in my eeeeevil SUV.
We love 'em. They fit our needs. And we're going to keep buying them. Period. Physics trumps logic.
Originally posted by Jubelum
Physics trumps logic.
Except in this case, you're letting emotion (bigger == safer) trump physics.
Your loss. And if that's all it was, I'd say go for it. But it's not... it's the rest of our asses on the line as well, because you have bad information and are letting your ego get tied to a chunk of metal.
You and your family would be safer in my little Saturn than they are in your GMC - and so would any family you collided with in the worst case. And you'd get 30MPG in the bargain. Safety is a matter of engineering, not emotion. Mass and height do not substitute for engineering. In fact, they complicate the problem.
SUVs are utterly, absolutely, aggressively pointless.
For the record, I drive a '95 Jeep Cherokee that I bought in Utah, where I utterly needed 4WD most of the year. I got an incredible deal on it - because it was a chop shop rebuild (half of it's a '94), and subsequently, I can't sell it easily. So I hang onto it, *despite* the crappy gas mileage and the lack of safety. My next car will likely be a hybrid Outback, assuming they make such a beast by the time Gwanjeep dies.