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Our wonderfully cool buddies over at NBC4 report this morning that "according to new census figures, California leads the nation in registration of sport utility vehicles, with nearly 2.8 million of the gas guzzlers in 2002."
LAist's good friend and regular all-around nice guy, Louis Kincannon (who just happens to be the Census Bureau Director) says that these figures add up to about 24.2 million SUV's, or one for every eight licensed drivers.
To put it all into perspective, one in every eight women will get breast cancer, one in every eight people will get cancer from smoking cigarettes, one in about every eight children will end up being overweight, and most startlingly, people who purchase the upcoming Farscape: Through the Wormhole trading card packs will find that one in every eight packs will include an 18-card bonus chase set focused on the miniseries Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars.
It's obvious to LAist, that this whole one-in-eight thing is not good for California.
What, exactly is appealing to all those people about SUV's is anyone's guess. Is it feeling the sensation of being higher up than all the other cars on the road? Is it a power trip? Is it knowing that by owning an SUV, one can personally help the country-wide gas prices shoot through the roof? Are SUV owners loaded and simply love pouring their money into their 32 gallon tank?
There's something to be said about the Pinto. It was small, got great gas mileage, and had a great name. As for SUV's and this most recent piece of census information -- LAist thinks it's about time that SUVs and their owners be forced to trade it in for something a little more environmentally-considerate. Something a little less garish.
Something that gets more than 7 miles to the gallon.
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As someone who has owned both cars and SUVs, I am always surprised by the idiocy vented by those who feel that SUV drivers are somehow evil, hateful people with size issues who want nothing more than to mow over children and the elderly and damage the environment. The more simple answers of: I have pets, I have children, I am remodeling my house, I like them, etc. just don't work for those people who only assume the worst things about those of us who don't want to drive regular cars. Prove to me that driving an SUV is more environmentally damaging that the pollutants China (and Mt. St. Helens) spew out on a daily basis. Don't bother, because you can't. Nope, it's just easier for you to assign faults and make assinine judgements against people who don't like what you like.
Driver -- just so you know:
"Driving an SUV has a much greater impact on the environment than driving other passenger cars. In large part, this is due to double standards set by law and government regulations. For example, current federal regulations allow SUVs to have far worse fuel economy than other vehicles. The federal corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards set the fuel economy goals for new passenger cars at 27.5 miles per gallon (mpg). But under the law, SUVs are not considered cars - they are characterized as light trucks. Light trucks only have to achieve 20.7 mpg. It should be noted that this is an average for all light trucks, which is why it is possible to have SUVs on the road that only achieve 12 mpg. In fact, some SUV, like the massive Ford Excursion, are so large that they no longer qualify as "light trucks," and are not subject to any kind of fuel economy standards."
And if that wasn't bad enough:
A working paper released this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research highlights a different but related issue. Economist Michelle White of University of California at San Diego calculated the effect of SUVs and light trucks on traffic safety.
Many people purchase SUVs to make their families safer, but the cost is extremely high, Dr. White said in an interview. "My calculations suggested that for every accident involving a fatality that you avoided by buying a bigger vehicle, you cause 2 1/2 accidents involving fatalities for vehicles that you hit.
To those skeptical about what can be achieved by the campaign, coalition members have ready answers. "Millions of people were buying cigarettes, just as millions are buying SUVs," Rabbi Saperstein points out. "After education, people understood about the health problems - they will respond in this instance, too."
"My calculations suggest..." Frankly Dr. Wright is full of crap and is only making "suggestions" rather than factual statements.
And Rabbi Saperstein is a fool if he is comparing the alleged dangers of SUVs to the proven dangers of cigarette smoking and you are a bigger fool to quote him.
The previous poster asked for facts. You've provided "suggestions" and suppositions. Game over.
At least California also has the largest number of MINI owners in the U.S. (incl. yours truly)...trying to save the world, one tiny car at a time.
Sure, if you're a contractor carrying steel girders to the office every day, drive a large vehicle. But you have kids? Boo hoo. Drive a Jetta station wagon, you environment hogging vulgarian. You have no right to pollute the air of the rest of us and endanger everybody else on the road. Perhaps you haven't been reading the news lately, but there's a war on in Iraq. Oh, are we really there for "humanitarian" reasons, not the oil? Strange how we aren't in Sudan, where there's a much more dire need for humanitarian intervention.
I hope your SUV is one of the ones I put my new anti-SUV campaign card on -- since you drive it "because you like it." Oh, we're so thrilled you're happy about what you drive. Just a little something to think about (per my cards, you selfish creep):
"How many dead Marines did it take to gas up your SUV?
Stylish, aren't you!"
PS I drive a 66mpg Honda Insight, the highest mileage car on the road, save biodiesel, and I'm not technically savvy enough to retrofit myself one of those.
Aren't you just fucking SPECIAL, Alkon.
I find the tone of the 'pro' SUV comments to be rather harsh.
SUVs are for the most part more dangerous and destructive then smaller new cars.
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