My Car Isn't Big Enough

I used to wonder why people drive SUVs. At one point I thought it was to be macho—but a lot of women drive them. (I think the macho factor might hold true for guys who opt for big pickups, muscle cars, etc.) With women, at least, I think the answer is that they feel safer in very large vehicles that put a lot of steel around them.

Admittedly it's true that, in a collision between a small vehicle and a larger one, the small one is likely to get the worst of it. That's simple physics. So the people who are driving monster vehicles are likely to inflict more harm—harm to the vehicle and maybe bodily harm to the driver—when they hit a smaller vehicle.

But they would say, I'm sure, Well, let them drive a big vehicle, like I do. I'd call that a kind of arms race. I'm glad not everyone thinks that way, or we'd all be in vehicles the size of a stretch limo or a tank—or one of those huge Hummers—that would hardly be able to make it around the corner in urban driving.

Well, the price of gas is rising again. It must cost $70—maybe even a lot more (I don't know how big their tanks are)--to fill some of those big vehicles. Let no owner of an SUV, large pickup (when it's not needed for business purposes or work), or van complain to me about the price at the pump, 'cause you know I'm the last one to sympathize with them.

Copyright © 2011 by Richard Stein