While we’re on the subject of happy motoring, let me mention… gas guzzler gas guzzler gas guzzler… that’s all I hear about SUVs. Believe me, they’ll eventually find a way to make SUVs a lot more fuel efficient. And when they do… SUVs will still be a terrible idea.
Let’s remember that all of our roads, parking spaces, no parking zones, signs, lights, intersections and lane lines, are all based on the idea of a society predominantly filled with sedans, wagons, or coupes, their widths fairly standardized, their drivers relatively close to the ground.
All these years, when the surveyors came out with their little tripods and markings, they’ve based their measurements on the standard lines-of-sight in a sedan-dominated world.
Our roads are a national, state and city “common.” They’re an area we all share. It’s like a neighborhood grazing ground. If your cows eat more, it’s less for everyone else. If your vehicle is taller and wider, you take away visibility, maybe safety, and certainly peace of mind, from everyone else on the road.
If you’re in front of me in an SUV, I can’t see where I’m going. If you’re parked next to my car, in an SUV, I can’t see oncoming cars when I back out.
In traffic, the driver behind you has no idea what’s going on—what other traffic is in the area, why there’s a delay, or what obstacles might be coming up.
My first objection to the whole giant car craze is, you’ve just built walls around the rest of us.
Sure, then there’s that whole thing of consuming the same amount of gas that I use when I drive my sedan, if I’m towing a flaming gas tank behind me.
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