MSNBC Story

While I realize this is a bit of a rant, sadly these are also observations from what I experience on the freeway, often on a daily basis.

Those who know me more than a few days know how I rant about the Trucks and SUVs that race around Dallas and occasionally try to run me off the road. Not everybody driving that kind of vehicle does it, the few that do really stick out. I have nothing against anyone that legitimately needs a large vehicle to carry stuff. They think nothing of racing to the right on the shoulder, and other such stuff. I honestly think some of these until recent months would brag on how much gas they use. See a lot of Ford F250s, F350s (4-wheel rear axle), other huge trucks.

This year I've finally seen fewer people weaving recklessly on Dallas freeways at 85mph. Still see a lot of it, but a significant reduction. I recently was on a vacation in Oregon/Northern California and the drivers were so much nicer than what I'm accustomed to.

I'm glad to read even in Texas people are migrating from huge vehicles to hybrids, but the article still promotes the misconception that a rollover-prone giant is safer than a car.

I don't buy the "bigger is safer" arguement:

• Recent articles state pickup drivers use seat belts less
• Higher rate of rollovers - again
• So many of these drivers assume a posture like they are in a reclining chair holding a remote - serious. The seat is set back with only their right wrist resting on the steering wheel. Some even have just a part of their arm past the wrist resting on the wheel. Sorry, this is nowhere close to control and should be a ticketable offense as they are a hazard.

I'm glad that more Texans are thinking their vehicle choices twenty years ago were not all that bad....

 

Yes, Texas (my home state, I visit there at least twice a year) is INDEED the "home of SUV abuse" for sure. Suburbans and diesel trucks are ubiquitous there.

A lot of it REALLY IS the "keeping up with the Joneses" thing - people REALLY DO talk about getting a better (bigger) vehicle than the neighbors. It's not an urban legend - people TALK ABOUT THAT over dinner and beers. "Heck, if ole' Billy Bob can afford a F250 I can go ahead and git me a F350 and tow his truck AND my boat !!"" Yuk Yuk Yuk. It does become a status thing with some people.

And there are a lot of small towns with ranchers and farmers who NEED those trucks too, no doubt about that. But if you take the bigger cities (Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio) you will find a HUGE percent of people buy big SUVs who could reasonably get away with a smaller SUV or a CUV, no doubt about it.

I can only hope the trend of ditching larger SUVs continues - I thought it was stupid all these years and now as a Hybrid advocate I know FOR SURE how stupid it is.

 

Yep, my cousin is exactly like that. Not just with cars, but with everything. You get a new car, he has to one-up you. You get a PC that is marginally faster than his, he has to upgrade. Actually it is comical the amount of money he spends needlessly.

He recently bought a 4 door full size truck. Gets all of 17mpg on the highway. My uncle at 6'4" tall has found it hard to fit into any car for an extended amount of time. You shoudl have seen him when they had a 91 Caddy, quite a funny scene.

Ah, to each their own. I would rather save my money for a rainy day than have a big truck / SUV now.

 

Yep, that's Texas. 2-3 years ago, my neighbor down the street, who had a legit reason to own an F350 for work (had to carry oil rig parts) "upgraded" their Ford Explorer to a Suburban. Probably 80-90% of the time this thing was driven by his wife with the only passenger being an infant. I just could not figure out the basis for this "upgrade." They certainly didn't need it for hauling stuff, as the F350 could haul away most of the houses on our block. It certainly wasn't because they were carrying around lots of passengers when family visited, since their family was local, and everyone in their family drove big SUVs anyway. (You could always tell when they had a family get-together because our street would be clogged with behemoths, each one carrying one or two people only.) I can't imagine it was safety--how much different could the Explorer and Suburban be on that score? Just pure conspicuous consumption. Consume just to consume, yay!

I wasn't real sorry to see them move away...

 

Yeah, that is me and soft drinks...consume just to consume. (at least their diet).

But I may see some of their mind set. Yes, I know it is bad for me and will probably shorten my life, but I do it anyway. Almost a force of habit and not need.