The Vehicular Cold War

Above is a picture of the car I am currently driving. There are many people out there who call it a "death wagon" because I could "be crushed by some idiot in an SUV." Yep, I am aware of this. I am also aware that the car has two airbags for driver and passenger and it is designed to absorb most, if not all of the kinetic energy of a collision. In other words, if I get in a wreck in that car all that will be left is me sitting on my driver's seat with an airbag in my face wondering what the heck happened. The car will be totaled and I won't be. Some people don't believe that, and it's this attitude that has cause the current Vehicular Cold War we have now.

Remember the Cold War? The Russians had nukes, we had nukes. The Russians built bigger nukes, we built bigger nukes. They added 10 more to their arsenal, we added 100 more to ours. It got so bad that both sides had enough nuclear (or nucaler if you're W) weapons to destroy the planet 10 times over.

This same attitude has run through our society when it comes to vehicles. People will buy an SUV as a deterent to the other "idiots" driving SUV's who will "kill them with their gargantuan vehicles." Huh??? So let me understand this? You bought a car you didn't want so you can survive an accident with other people in cars they bought that they didn't want?????? There are those that want the ginormous vehicle. They like them. Then there's the epitomy of ridiculousness that I saw one day; the stereotypical "Soccer Mom" in one of the original Humvee's (you know the one's that are as big as an aircraft carrier?). She was 5 foot nothing, could barely see over the wheel, and had two kids in the extreme backseat (they were in another zip code from their Mom). WTF!?!?!?! Why didn't this woman get a Minivan????? The kids would be just as safe, the seats are higher and the visibility is better and it gets better mileage than the military transport vehicle she's driving. Or the other idiot that almost backed into my Sister's car at a mall parking lot. The only reason she knew we were behind her is that I was banging on her back door!!!!! Her excuse "Sorry I can't really see out of this thing...." Huh?!?!?!? Why the Hell did you buy it then???? Better yet, why did you let your idiot husband talk you into buying it????? This happens to older couples alot. Hubby wants the macho car and wifey let's him talk her into it. She gets stuck with a behemoth of a vehicle that she can barely handle and his excuse is "I want her to survive an accident when those other idiots hit her". Hello????? She will be the "idiot" causing the accident because she can't handle the vehicle. I don't own one because I have no need for one. I also don't like ginormous vehicles. For a short dude like me, they are hard to see out of, judge distances in (try being 5-5 and backing an Escalade out of a parking space without hitting anything....pretty freaking hard) cost as much as a decent down payment on a house out here and the insurance....fuggedaboutit.... I'm not comfortable driving large vehicles. I remember my Dad had a 68 Plymouth Fury III....basically a large tank-like rectangle with an 8-cylinder engine that was like driving a cruise ship down the narrow ass street we lived on in SB. I hated driving that car.

Now it looks like the Cold War is ending. Gas is so expensive (and again with no real good reason other than "they can") that folks are ditching their SUV's. We've heard the term "crossover" alot lately. Basically these car companies aren't giving up entirely on their SUV's just making them smaller and calling them "crossover" vehicles. How pathetic are we that we as a people need to be "weened" off of our ginormous vehicles????? That is pathetic. Have we become that easily manipulated that we can't just say "no, I don't need that gas guzzling, unsafe vehicle. I am going to buy a Prius or a Honda Hybrid that gets 50 mpg." I bought the car I did because it is made by Toyota and it gets 35 mpg. It was also cheap to insure and has a sporty look. I didn't buy it with the thought "oh God!! If someone hits me in this I'm a dead man". A good driver avoids accidents. In my car I can swerve around danger in the road without fear of flipping it over!!! When everyone slams on the brakes all of a sudden, my car will stop long before Mr. SUV. I can also swerve to the side of the road and avoid a rear end collision faster and easier than Mr. SUV. When will we learn.....