Amazingly enough, many people have lived in the upper midwest for decades
without needing an SUV. How do they do that? 50+ years for me -- often
driving more than 200 to 300 miles per day.
SUV's don't make driving safer. They making crashing safer. The only
advantage they have on slippery roads is for acceleration. Their heavy
weight makes stopping distances longer. Their high center of gravity makes
rollovers MORE likely. Excess weight and high CG also makes holding the
road on slippery curves worse. The incidence of SUV's in weather related
accidents is higher; the survivability is too, but the higher incidence
negates the higher survivability rate.
They are, however, good for keeping our friends in the Middle East happy and
our gas prices high.
----- Original Message -----
From "Rick Fisk" <refisk at chartermi.net>
Mark, you missed the point of Flounder's post. Not all of us live in San
Diego (or want to obviously). We have actual weather here in the upper
midwest as well as changing seasons.
There are times when an SUV makes driving safer, not because of it's mass,
but because they can handle the road conditions much more safely than your
VW GTI. San Diego's yuppies don't need SUV's (and I'm not saying that
you're a yuppie). But there are a lot of people who do actually use SUV's
for what they were intended.
Rick
----- Original Message -----
From "Mark Hineline" <hineline at ocotillofield.net>
To: "Spridget List" <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2006 10:32 AM
Subject: SUVs
>I knew something was up with SUVs when I started hearing people say that
>they "needed" one "for safety" because their husband, or wife, or kid, "had
>been in an accident."
>
> When someone has been in an accident that was not their fault, they say
> "someone hit me." When it is their fault, they say they've "been in an
> accident."
>
> So what I was hearing was that people were equipping the poor drivers in
> their families with excess mass, so that if they hit me in my VW GTI, I'd
> be the one who goes to the hospital.
>
> Imagine my displeasure.
>
> Mark
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