peptidbond

iTrader: (2)

For those of you who did not see the SUV segment on 60 minutes tonight, here is my recap:

1. People buy SUVs because they want to intimidate others
2. People know SUVs are more prone to roll-overs
3. People ignore (2) and buy SUVs anyhow

People never learn. SUVs are proven to be more dangerous to their owners and those that they hit. However, they simply ignore this. If you own a large truck or SUV for a good reason (30 kids, construction worker, contractor, field work, what have you), then great. You chose a good car. However, if you want a monster SUV so "you can sit up high, see everything, and feel powerful", don't tell me. I won't take it easy on you.

My neighbor bought a new H2 and was complaining that the gas was too expensive and that he could not get the H2 in his garage. I looked him dead in the eye and said "You have one child and you work in a high rise. Serves you right". Needless to say, he won't talk to me anymore. Never liked him anyhow.

Rant over, again.

drew703

iTrader: (1)

Im sorry, but I gotta give another "near miss" story with an SUV since we're on the subject. This was a few months ago, before I had my Z. I was on a two-lane road with a posted speed limit of 45. At a point along the road, the road expands to a third lane on the left (turn lane), and there's a traffic light there. For whatever reason, there were a lot of cars backed up at the light, but still ALL OF THE CARS, including mine, were within the turn lane. So I come to a stop, and just casually glance in my rearview, and i see a huge suburban, or something along those lines, flying down the road toward the turn lane. I could see her car merging to the left, but of course no turn signal, and definitely not slowing down. So at this point im completely transfixed in the mirror, trying to see what the hell this lady is gonna do. She gets within about 100 feet of my car, ('99 Jetta) and is still flying! At that point I knew she either wasn't paying attention or didnt understand the laws of physics. Finally she slams on the breaks, literally last min, and in the midst of that I had to turn off the road, into the freaking grass! She finally came to a screeching halt RIGHT where my car was ! And she was about 2 feet from the car in front of ME! I look back at her, not in anger, but rather in disbelief because of what she did. She looked at me, mouthed the word sorry, (didnt even open her window to say anything to me) and then resumed her conversation with her passenger as if nothing had happened. She DIDNT even let me back in on the road! I was so pissed, but hey thats the sH*t that can happen stupid driving...

Anyways, had to share the suv story, and after reading some more of the posts, my dislike for them has grown

-drew

'03 DB Performance

Buub

iTrader: (1)

While in general I agree, just keep in mind that not all "SUVs" are huge gas-sucking death-missles. And they are not impractical for everyone. Someone with a family who lives in a snow-bound winter state, for example, can certainly justify one, especially if they live a little outside the city limits.

Honda CRVs, Toyota RAV-4, Suzuki Sidekicks and Vitaras are just some example of smaller, fuel-efficient SUVs. There are several other examples as well.

Yeah big SUVs suck and most of the people who own them don't need them. But there are many who do, and many more who don't drive the huge ones.

Just a counterpoint.

marhot

Agree..

I have nothing against SUVs in general, hey, it’s a free county –drive what you want. But... as pointed out by other’s stories, it seems SUVs are driven by a higher proportion of MORONS! I guess there must be some psychological term for it. Small BRAINS = compulsion to drive LARGE SUV.

The people driving Honda CRVs, Toyota RAV-4, Suzuki Sidekicks, etc. don’t seem to be afflicted with this condition....

Intrepid175

I think that Marhot and Buub make some good points.

The thing is, by my experience, when I've talked to folks who drive the larger SUV's and ask them "why" they drive such a large vehicle, the overwhelming answer is, "they feel safe in them!"

The problem with that is, they drive like they feel safe. The end result of that is they're not as concerned about changing lanes on someone, pulling out in front of someone, failing to yield right-of-way when they're supposed to. After all, they're not worried about being hurt and the other guy, well, that just his problem. Now, if you dare to point the attitude out to them, they'll get mighty insulted but the simple fact of the matter is, that's how they drive when they're behind the wheel.

For the record, I've seen plenty of drivers of large SUV's that were a courtious as anyone else on the road. The problem is, it only takes a couple of the a-holes to taint the reputation of everyone else. Either way, I always keep an extra eye on them, which keeps be busy because there are so many of them on the road.

Drive Safe,
Steve R.

MadMax76

Drew, I think you should stop for a second and think that someone/something is actually looking out for you. So many near misses and nothing serious - that's one blessed driver . Anyway, good to hear that you're ok.

Mikestro

SUVs "feel safe" and may protect the driver better in low speed, non-roll-over collisions, however, due to the having some of the worst roll-over stats in the automotive industry, the death rate from accidents is almost identical to that of passenger cars. (crazy long run-on sentence) Most people don't know that.

Intrepid175

I think they know it. It's been plastered all over the national news for too many years now. They're just in denial. If my car is bigger, it's "got" to be safer! Speaking from the POV of someone who's worked in emergency services for 20 years, I can testify to the fact that that's simply not the case. Unfortunately, you'll not convince these folks of that.

Drive Safe,
Steve R.

AustinTX_350Z

Amen brotha! Yeah - here in Texas a lot of dumba$s people feel like owning a truck or SUV really means that you can be more careless on the road. It happens to me ALL the time! It seems that it happened more the first week or so I had the car. I was a little paranoid at first because I used to drive an SUV (wasn't a jacka$s driver like most others) and it felt different to be so low to the ground - you feel a little vulnerable at first, especially when you're trying to adjust to the angles of visibility in the car.

Just be wary of SUVs and trucks ... a guy in a truck today decided that instead of breaking b/c the people were turning in front of him, he would try to side-swipe me and get in my lane - he failed ... but, yup!

I realized that it's just better to honk for a few seconds than to even roll the window down to yell at anyone - most of the time they'll know they made a mistake and will be too embarassed to look over at you ...

So - just honk ... don't let it aggravate you - road rage is not a good thing - especially if you're in a Z.

IndySmooth

1) Z's have huge blind spots. Inherant danger.

2) I enjoy a good road rage as much as the next person. HOWEVER, stupid mother ****er's who run red lights tend to be stupid mother ****er's with guns. =/

Be careful bro..

BigBadBuford

I've had a few close calls also. The first one was within minutes of picking up my Z from the dealership. I was driving home and an old lady in her Taurus was backing out of her driveway and wasn't looking at all and pulled right out into the street. I had to give the Brembos a good workout but luckily I was able to stop in time and I laid into the horn and she finally decided to look back and pulled back into her driveway.
A few weeks ago I had another close call. I was heading out to do some cruising and I was coming down this windy two lane road near my house. I see this Explorer coming towards me in the other lane and all of a sudden he swerves toward the side of the road, hits a little patch of grass, over corrects and ends up heading straight into my lane. I swerved as far as I could to the side of the road and luckily he missed me by inches. I looked back thinking I would see it flipping end over end, but somehow he managed to run up a hill, do a 180 and ended up sitting in my lane.
It seems like the Z is a magnet for morons, but luckily I haven't had any contact with any of them yet and hopefully it stays that way...

marhot

Right on, bro! May I use that quote?

Peace

Z-Desperado

In Florida I have more problems with Lincoln Town Cars and Cadillac Deville owners trying to run me over. I see a few SUV’s but a lot more of the land yachts.

Buub

iTrader: (1)

OK, counterpoint to my counterpoint... :-)

Yeah there are too freakin many large SUVs on the road, and yes most people don't need them (see my previous statement pointing out that some actually do).

And it seems whenever traffic gets dense at all there is always a large SUV or a minivan in front of me. Always. Ugh...

AustinTX_350Z

It's the old people dude!

dv/dt

Three years ago, I'm driving home after a long day's work in Houston. I'm in the left hand lane of a divided six-lane highway (288, for those of you from Texas) behind an Accord who is behind a pos Ford truck loaded with furniture. We're doing about 30 mph, when suddenly the Accord in front of me swerves all the way to the retaining wall. The idiot driving the truck dropped a wooden chair on the freeway during rush hour traffic!! I managed to pull over next to the wall, so my right front bumper just kissed the chair. I was lucky--only ended up with a busted blinker, but I sent the chair spinning across all lanes of the freeway. Couldn't really see the results in the rear view, but I'm sure that idiot caused a major accident.
SUV's and trucks suck.