Monday, May 10, 2004
Some facts about SUVs
I'm no fan of the ever-so-popular SUV. Here's some of the reasons
1. SUVs and "light" trucks (including these extend-a-cab things that pass for pickup trucks) are not bound by the same fuel economy and pollution standards as regular cars, and aren't likely to in the near future so long as Republican conventional wisdom militates against boosting air quality standards and Democrats are in hock to the United Auto Worker's union. Several bills to change this status have failed over the past 15 years.
2. Partly due to item 1, SUVs and light trucks spew 4 times the smog-generating chemicals as cars.
3. SUVs average 40% lower fuel efficiency than cars, making claims that America is trying to reduce dependence on Middle Eastern sources of oil almost laughable. Then again, McCain couldn't even manage to push through a moderate increase in the gasoline tax a few weeks after September 11th, a time when the need to reduce reliance on so volatile a part of the world should have been blatantly apparent to everyone.
4. SUVs are NOT as safe as people think they are. Though they are safer in front-to-front and front-to-side collisions, the mortality rate is much higher in rollover situations, which constitute a third of all traffic-related deaths. Their poor showing in rollovers make their overall safety rating LOWER.
5. The fact that SUVs are not as safe as people think they are, however, only affects the driver. Unfortunately, the truly anti-social side to SUVs is their effect on OTHER PEOPLE in accidents. In front-to-side collisions between cars, the driver of the side-hit automobile is 6.6 as likely to die as the driver of the striking automobile. If the striking car is an SUV, the death rate ratio is 30 to 1.
I'm no fan of the ever-so-popular SUV. Here's some of the reasons
1. SUVs and "light" trucks (including these extend-a-cab things that pass for pickup trucks) are not bound by the same fuel economy and pollution standards as regular cars, and aren't likely to in the near future so long as Republican conventional wisdom militates against boosting air quality standards and Democrats are in hock to the United Auto Worker's union. Several bills to change this status have failed over the past 15 years.
2. Partly due to item 1, SUVs and light trucks spew 4 times the smog-generating chemicals as cars.
3. SUVs average 40% lower fuel efficiency than cars, making claims that America is trying to reduce dependence on Middle Eastern sources of oil almost laughable. Then again, McCain couldn't even manage to push through a moderate increase in the gasoline tax a few weeks after September 11th, a time when the need to reduce reliance on so volatile a part of the world should have been blatantly apparent to everyone.
4. SUVs are NOT as safe as people think they are. Though they are safer in front-to-front and front-to-side collisions, the mortality rate is much higher in rollover situations, which constitute a third of all traffic-related deaths. Their poor showing in rollovers make their overall safety rating LOWER.
5. The fact that SUVs are not as safe as people think they are, however, only affects the driver. Unfortunately, the truly anti-social side to SUVs is their effect on OTHER PEOPLE in accidents. In front-to-side collisions between cars, the driver of the side-hit automobile is 6.6 as likely to die as the driver of the striking automobile. If the striking car is an SUV, the death rate ratio is 30 to 1.
