Daily Kos

View Story | 150 comments

  •  Sad (4.00 / 2)

    It's sad that people with the least confidence driving drive the most destructive vehicles in accidents. I remember reading somewhere (newspaper, Harpers? I forgot where) where some plebian with a SUV mentioned that they drove it because if they got in an accident, they wouldn't get hurt. Too bad about that poor schmuck who's now a greasy stain on the pavement though...

    And yes, the worst drivers I see on my short commute to work usually drive SUVs. Second worse: them damn "sports car" drivers.

    War is young men killing other young men they do not know on the orders of old men who know one another too well.
    - Erwin Kowalke

    by jrm78 on Thu Sep 29, 2005 at 06:44:59 AM PDT

    [ Parent ]

    •  Drive an SUV, go to jail. (none / 0)

      I wonder if this could be used in a push against the damn things - after all, IIRC you're 4 times as likely to kill another driver in an accident if you're in an SUV and something like 12 times as likely to kill a pedestrian. Sure, you'll survive, but shouldn't this be resulting in more prosecutions for dangerous driving fatalities?

      SUVs seem to be amongst the hardest vehicles on the road to drive because of their size, lack of visibility (sure, you can see well out the front), etc. It's absolutely criminal that people who can barely drive a compact are allowed to get in one of them.

    •  National Geographic last year (none / 1)

      They had an article about the end of cheap oil. In it, a two-page photo of a couple of kids playing around the family Hummer in suburban Atlanta. The mother's comment, which I'm typing here from memory, so I'm paraphrasing at best, was, 'whatever I bump into, I win'.

      Let's parse this out, shall we? Actually, I did this once before many months ago, but its a fun exercise in rhetoric and logic.

      'Whatever I bump into, I win.'

      'Whatever I bump into', excuses this woman of any responsibility for her lack of driving skills. Hey, bitch, how about not bumping into things? I-285 isn't your personal fucking bumper car rink.

      'Whatever I bump into', as if a 10,000 pound vehicle with bumpers higher off the ground than any other stock production vehicle simply bumps into objects. Of course, that's all you'll feel, so maybe that's what you meant.

      'Whatever I bump into, I win'; win what? certainly not in small-claims court, or traffic court. Notice use of the word 'win'; winning implies someone loses. She wins, what does she care if someone loses? Why should she give a shit that someone lost a limb, a child, a spouse? She won. Its all about her. She and her spawn are protected from any inconvenience at the expense of whatever she bumps into. Nevermind whether or not she's at fault; she ensures her own survival at all costs.

      It boils down to the ugliest example of an arrogant lack of personal responsibility for one's own driving habits, and a lack of any consideration for anybody else. Apparently, killing someone's son or daughter, husband or wife, doesn't weigh too heavily on her mind. And in a large SUV, in an offset-frontal crash, you are 4 times as likely to kill the other person than if you are in a mid-size car. In a side-impact crash, that number jumps to 27 times as likely.

      If this woman's horribly flawed logic holds water, then we all need to go out and buy bigger SUVs to rpotect ourselves from her, all in a futile game of endless escalation.

      only fools are enslaved by time and space

      by PanzerMensch on Thu Sep 29, 2005 at 10:30:54 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    •  It is Ironic (none / 0)

      You can drive like shit and still but a 2 ton vehicle. Meanwhile everyone I know drives little civics and such and we weave and bob like a lil Mack vs Mike Tyson cause it's our ass if they hit us. But if they hit us, we're dead and they're fine. Sounds fair.

      Meanwhile, my wallet's fatter cause I get better gas mileage and gues what... you have 300 HP, so what? You weight 5 times as much as me.
      Weave and bob.

View Story | 150 comments