Sometimes you just have to agree with politicians.

[den]

FOUR-wheel drive vehicles (SUVs in the US) have become a "pox" on cities former prime minister Paul Keating said yesterday.

4WDs on farms, or in the bush, are fine with me. But city-based 4WDs whose only off-road experience is driving onto the front lawn to be washed should be BANNED.

Comments

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[http://users.livejournal.com/crossfire_/]

Here in Denver, roughly 25% of the vehicles on the road are SUVs. I would estimate that less than 1% of those are ever used for real off-road excursions. If the rest ever were taken offroad, it would probably cause the built-in DVD players to skip too much.

Yeah, I think they should be banned. They're big, they're obnoxious, and they are a waste of resources. And, they encourage dangerous driving, because the people who drive them think that 4WD means that they can go fast in snowy conditions, which simply isn't true. 4WD will help you start, but it does nothing to help you stop, which is the big issue.

[ngarewyrd.livejournal.com]

I agree with kicking the large 4wds off the road in the city centres... however, what of the mini-4wds that are increasingly popular, they are designed for the urban environment..

and also, how about vans? they are just as evil as 4wds, or even how about people movers/busses.. surely they are just as dangerous to other drivers..

the problem as I see it, is one of moderation and restraint.. where does the thin end of the wedge end??

[charles.livejournal.com]

When someone owns a van, or a people-mover, it's generally because they need to move big things or people. I'm also quite willing to accept that some families in the inner-city have 4WDs because they have more than 2.4 children, and it's the most convenient way to drive them around.

What I don't accept are people who never go off-road never have more than four people in the car. Their only excuse is that they like driving a tank around that keeps them high off the road and makes them feel safer, at the expense of the safety and comfort of everything else on the road.

[henman.livejournal.com]

anti_suv_jihad :)

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Post a link. I know you want to. 8)

[dancinglights.livejournal.com]

Indeed, I must agree wholeheartedly. Also, I think those pickup trucks with an extra set of tyres ought to require some sort of special license to drive, because I can only remember one circumstance where I saw one not hanging over into another lane because the idiot who wants a bigger pickup hasn't a clue how to drive anything wider than a car. Grargh. Plus I can't see around them and they look retarded anyway.

[ly2me.livejournal.com]

Oh yes... these are one of my favourite pet peeves. Grrr!

[weyrdbird.livejournal.com]

I agree, even if I don't drive. In Wisconsin, people with 4 wheel drives usually have chains in the winter. Many who do stay in when the weather gets nasty enough.At -60 wind chill with nasty winds,the great outdoors should stay that way (IMO:)). It reminds me of all the useless RV's breaking down on Rainbow Curve on Trail Ridge Road in the Rockies. People don't understand that engines take wear.Or aren't built to drive at certain angles.Especially up and down hill over rugged terrain. And that shock absorbers are there for a reason. Which is *not * to see what you can leap and still have them work. And I am sure that if Paul Hogan actually owned the vehicles he drives on those smarmy ads and had to maintain them it would be another whole ball of wax:D.

[julesong.livejournal.com]

We have two 4-wheel drive vehicles and we live in the city.

One is a Subaru Legacy, the car I most often drive. It has gotten me out of some sticky situations in the unpredictable weather here in the Pacific NW, including times when the police were not allowing any vehicles to travel a road unless it had 4-wheel drive.

The other is a Chevy Silverado truck. I used the 4-wheel drive on it two days ago when we drove up in the mountains on some forest service roads. We take it off-roading in the summer. We have a trailer that we tow often, as well, and end up using the truck to help people when they're moving.

Please do not assume that all owners of 4-wheel drive vehicles are the same, or that everybody uses them the same, OR that everybody drives them the same. Such broad generalizations are not truly useful, nor fair.

[julesong.livejournal.com]

To note: if I need to drive into downtown Seattle, however, I don't take the truck. That's just plain stupid.

It's the stupid owners of useful 4-wheel drive vehicles that should be banned, not the vehicles themselves.

It's not all 4WDs

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

But the chevy is a ute and Subarus aren't huge, petrol-burning things. Here, the vehicle labled "4WD" are Range Rovers, Nissan Patrols, Holden Jackaroos, Jeep Cherokees, Toyota Land Cruisers and such. Subarus are labled as "all-wheel drive" and are nice. Are Subarus classed as an SUV?

I don't have a problem with people who use their 4WD. They're great for towing heavy things like boats, caravans and trailers. Farmers use them all the time.

I do have a problem with people who use them to go shopping, or to pick up kids, or who buy them "because they're safer."

Yesterday, at the mechanics, a man drove in and asked that better tyres be put on his new Pathfinder. The tyres that came with it were, he said, "Too hard!" and he could feel every bump in the road. I left as the mechanic explained to the man that 4WDs are like that.

Stupid people.

[moderngypsy.livejournal.com]

*blinks innocently* But you mean that I shouldn't use my SUV to carry all my yuppie -crap- from one posh office to another? It's my god-given RIGHT to guzzle resources and create pollution!

*gags*