Suburbanites and SUVs

This is perhaps two essentially separate subjects, but the connection is "the suburbs."

I saw a statistic, several years ago, that showed that half of all Americans live in suburban communities. Many of these children grow up unfamiliar with the downtowns of their cities: frequently, maybe not atypically, they get to see the city only on rare school field trips. I think that's unfortunate because the city, especially the city's downtown, tends to be where the cultural resources--museums, orchestras, etc.--are. You're likely to have more exposure to these things if it doesn't take an expedition to get to them.

They grow up with the perception that the city is dangerous and crime-ridden. Because of their limited, suburban childhoods and this (hopefully erroneous) stereotype, when they grow up they replicate the pattern and often would not even consider living "downtown" but only in suburbs. So the suburban adults may go downtown for their jobs, but hurry to get home via their commuter trains once the work day is over. Outside of working hours they are never to be found downtown. On the weekends, here in Chicago, the people that you see downtown are probably tourists.

If the culture is downtown, the suburbs may tend to have an insular mentality. I live in a suburb (I'm tempted to say "unfortunately") and at one  point was attending a weekly group that views and then discusses a film each week. I have tried to circulate among this group the calendars of some theaters and other film venues that are downtown or on the North side; but like good suburbanites, they pretty much will not seriously consider traveling out of their area, or perhaps it's out of their comfort zone.

The suburban kids' families probably own an SUV. So as children they rode around in an SUV (or, if not, then probably a minivan). They might even have taken their driving lessons in a small SUV. So, in a manner analogous to the address of their residence in their early and formative years, their idea of what is normal and what they should emulate when it comes to their own vehicle purchases once they're adults is such that they may not consider anything other than an SUV.

I think that's unfortunate, and I hate to see an SUV culture perpetuated from generation to generation. Readers of this blog may know that I hate SUVs and can give numerous reasons for that, but one that I feel strongest about has to do with ecological concerns. Americans with their large SUVs are harming the environment. It's not simply a matter of depleting the store of fossil fuels. More fuel consumed means more greenhouse gases out the tailpipe, so that large SUVs make a larger contribution to global warming.

We are beginning to hear from safety experts that driving while talking on a cell phone is dangerous, yet one sees that an awful lot. It makes me nervous when, in my rear-view mirror, I can see the driver behind me talking on a phone. It makes me fear getting rear-ended if driving is not the primary focus of that person's attention.

Many large SUVs weigh three tons (6000 lb, 2700 kg). I don't think that many people driving them consider that they have a deadly weapon in their hands—or hand! Hand, singular, because they have one hand on the wheel while their other hand is holding a phone. When you're taught to drive you're taught to use two hands on the wheel, and that's because it takes two hands to properly control a car or truck.

You know what I would do, if I could? I see so many drivers making a left turn, steering with one hand while the other hand is otherwise occupied. I'd take away their power steering. If it were appropriately difficult to turn a big vehicle like that—that is, if the effort of steering had some relationship to the vehicle's size—then they'd need two hands to drive. And then, guess what? No more holding that phone.

Update, July 11, 2013
I don't want to be perceived as anti-suburbs. (There are numerous reasons why people might want to live in a suburb, many of which are certainly valid: less expensive housing, avoiding noise and congestion, better schools. I personally moved where I am to be closer to a job I was starting at the time; and I remain here probably for the lower cost of housing. I also appreciate being able to deal with smaller, less bureaucratic and perhaps more responsive government agencies.) I meant to simply lament the fact that suburbanites all too often are cut off from the advantages of the cities that they live near.

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