I can remember 23 or so years ago when I first started driving pretty much was driving big old American made cars that weight in the vicinity of 3500-4500 pounds depending on whether you were driving midsize or full size. I got up to 18 miles per gallon on a good day in my 75 Chevelle with a 2 barrell 350ci. Then came the mid 80's when the gas prices went up and the car sizes shrunk - Japanese cars, Chevettes, Ford Escorts, etc. were pretty popular. Pickup trucks, vans, Suburbans and like were driven by contractors, delivery companies and people with large families. And everybody who was driving small cars got along just fine - I don't remember the whole world coming to a halt because your only car was a Ford Escort and you weren't driving a Ford Excursion as your commuting vehicle. My significant other grew up in a family with 8 kids - they had one car and it wasn't an Excursion - it was some sort of station wagon. And they got along just fine.
I have been driving small cars for going on 20 years now - started with a Datsun GX310, bought a Honda CRX, and now am driving a Honda Civic. The Datsun had 120,000 plus miles on it when I got rid of it - the CRX had 165,000+ and the Civic now is up in the 167,000 range and still going. I also ride a motorcycle on occasion. I mention this because driving a small car my life on the road has gotten harder because of the preponderance of large pickups and SUV's on the road now. I can't see in traffic any more - in my opinion people in SUV's do not pay as much attention as they should, they suck up parking spaces and block entrances, etc. And going back to my mention of the 80's - I believe in many cases they are unneccessary. People drive them because they think bigger is safer (even though they roll over more easily than a car) and because gas is cheap. What I particulary love is the people who buy the Chevy Avalanches and the Ford Explorer Sport Traks and then pull a trailer behind them when they need to carry stuff because the abbreviated bed is too small to carry anything. In short I believe that for probably about 75% of the people who drive them,pickups and SUV's are a waste and just about status and showing off on the road. If you want people to move out of your way on the road buy a 1972 Chevy Nova with dents in every body panel and watch the intersections magically open up for you.
I think this country has finally come to truth time - we have spent something like $500 billion dollars on the Iraq war (if the news I read is correct) we consume the lions share of energy on the planet, and our economy and future are way too tied up in petroleum. We can't afford to bulk up the levees in New Orleans but we can spend billions to wage a war that is arguable at best as to whether it is benefitting our future or not. This country used to be about innovation, advancement, and protecting it's citizens. Now it is about who has the most influence in goverment and who can throw the most money around. And we the citizens sit around and stamp our feet because filling up the 3 ton truck we drive down the highway to work every day is getting too expensive.
In my opinion the entirety of our political process and the civic culture that used to help us advance our technology and push for logical solutions to problems has just become another roadblock in the way of real solutions. I remember Al Gore a few years back saying he wanted everybody driving electric cars by the year 2000. That is just an insane comment. There are the people who live in the middle of the city and can't understand why everybody can't just use public transportation and think SUV's are just insane (RE: aforementioned hippies). I think there are few ex New Orleans residents who might have some comments to make about the efficiency of public transportation. Legislating the type of vehicle a person can drive will never work. We need alternative energy sources and we need some sort of economic incentive to go with more efficient vehicles. Cars by and large have become an appliance - you get in - turn the key, fill it up at the gas station occasionally and it just works. Individual vehicles actually make for a pretty efficient transportation system. For anybody who knows computer networking the layout of the internet is a good analogy to our highway system - any one packet (vehicle) has multiple ways to get to it's destination. Any transportation solution that does not take these factors into account will fail. There is ethanol from corn, or sugar, biodiesel, solar power, wind power, nuclear, wave power, geothermal, etc. All of these are viable solutions to our energy problems yet we continue to push oil. I truly believe this issue needs to be forced one way or the other - or the very future of our country may be in jeopardy. We are dependent on outsiders for our energy, we send our jobs overseas, we are spending our tax dollars on foreign war(s) of dubious value and acting as the worlds policeman. And yet American farmers are going under and middle class living standard (allegedly) continue to decline. This all has to end somewhere and fear the outcome won't be pretty.
Oh yeah - just for record, I am not "anti-SUV" , I hope next spring to buy a Chevy Suburban or GMC Yukon XL. Which will be used for hauling the tractor, runs to the building supply store, and loading up people when we have a large group. Other than that I will drive the Civic commuting to work or ride the motorcycle. I am anti "illogical vehicle choice" which is what I believe a large portion of our driving public is doing when they buy large vehicles for driving back and forth to work every day.
<end of rant>
