[RogSF]

Re: Burns:: Friday Fanaticism

If you lived on your own private island nation, you'd be mostly correct (apart from the air/greenhouse thing, which I'm not too hung up on). Do whatever the hell you want.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, we're all in this together. It is, unavoidably, also our business how much oil you and all our compatriots consume.

Driving hugely inefficent SUVs on a daily basis (like to work and back) is needless waste of resources. Resources are finite, the more you use now the less there is later.

In the end, we will all have to pay. Considering our domestic supplies will dwindle, some of that payment will be (and already is) in the form of needless loss of American lives defending our interests in oil-rich regions of the world. We would not have to take the middle east seriously at all if it wasn't for the fact that they have something we have become hopelessly dependent on and can't provide for ourelves.

With the increasing popularity of SUVs etc., this dependence is growing and we are already starting to pay. It is up to us. We are oil junkies and it's time to start kicking the habit so we can tell our dealers (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran etc.) where to go.

 

[RogSF]

Re: You drive an SUV, You're an idiot.

There's the problem. I see SUVs turned over on California freeways on an almost weekly basis. People think they can drive SUVs like sports cars and too often they end up on their backs blocking 2 lanes of traffic. SUVs have a high center of gravity and should be driven like the trucks from which they are derived. Carefully and more slowly than a typical family sedan.

 

[RogSF]

Re: You drive an SUV, You're an idiot.

I'm saying that people get behind the wheel of an SUV and drive like they are in a car, which has a lower center of gravity, corners better, stops faster and is generally more responsive to driver input.

This is partly the fault of the marketers, who paint an unrealistic picuture of the SUVs capability (ie. drives like a car, not a truck). I notice that some of the latest SUVs are carry yellow warning stickers which state they should be driven more carefully due to the high risk of rollovers etc. The same could be said about stopping distance etc.

I'm not saying all SUV drivers brain dead or 'bad drivers', just that Ms. Soccer Mom or anyone else needs to be aware she's not in the camry any more and to learn to drive accordingly or she'll end up on her roof or up the back of some motorcyclist at the stop light.

Of course motorcycles can be at fault, but the stats show most multiple vehicle accidents are the fault of the car/truck/SUV. I always pay attention to SUVs because I know it's very hard for them to see me.