More insight on human behavior...
Last night it took me 2.5 hours to get home. Reno roads were covered with a half inch of ice, and a significant portion of Reno's drivers don't own trucks and SUVs (or tiny cars equipped with studded tires or chains) and shouldn't be driving under these conditions.
I got to thinking that last year this time the media was full of stories about how gas prices drove down the sales of trucks and SUVs. All the major car manufacturers had huge gas card incentives just to move these vehicles off the lot.
You think that this year, considering a huge portion of the country is under snow, that people are regretting they bought those tiny cars?
It's fine and dandy to accuse Americans of being gas hogs and loving their trucks and SUVs when you live in LA or Phoenix or Florida. But shoot, what's fine for someone that lives in Los Angeles isn't fine for someone that lives a hundred miles away. (Some people don't realize this, but California is home to some of the worse winter driving conditions in the nation. Even Californians need four-wheel drive, gas guzzling vehicles to safely navigate the road ahead.)
And to the fifteen idiots I saw driving that nearly hurt someone while I watched...
At least buy chains.
Last night it took me 2.5 hours to get home. Reno roads were covered with a half inch of ice, and a significant portion of Reno's drivers don't own trucks and SUVs (or tiny cars equipped with studded tires or chains) and shouldn't be driving under these conditions.
I got to thinking that last year this time the media was full of stories about how gas prices drove down the sales of trucks and SUVs. All the major car manufacturers had huge gas card incentives just to move these vehicles off the lot.
You think that this year, considering a huge portion of the country is under snow, that people are regretting they bought those tiny cars?
It's fine and dandy to accuse Americans of being gas hogs and loving their trucks and SUVs when you live in LA or Phoenix or Florida. But shoot, what's fine for someone that lives in Los Angeles isn't fine for someone that lives a hundred miles away. (Some people don't realize this, but California is home to some of the worse winter driving conditions in the nation. Even Californians need four-wheel drive, gas guzzling vehicles to safely navigate the road ahead.)
And to the fifteen idiots I saw driving that nearly hurt someone while I watched...
At least buy chains.
Annalee- I see your point, but rather than buying an SUV I bought a 4WD car that drives very nicely in the snow. Of course the gas mileage is better on the 2WD model, but hey, this is New England :-) -Gregg
ReplyDeleteYikes that's crazy. Yeah, the SUV sales have definitely dropped and yeah there's a lot of rugged terrain in CA (I happen to live on a dirt road that is total slop right now cos of yesterday's rainfall).
ReplyDeletePeople drive like complete IDIOTS in bad weather.
Subaru... I have family and friends love them, but I don't find them comfortable. Comfort is important to me. I spend over an hour each and every day driving. I see no reason to spend an hour a day in pain, and truly, my brother's little Subaru makes me ache. It is awful. This lady at work bought a brand new one. She has butt warmers. I know the car works for her, but for me, the butt warmers massage out the ache. (I really need a cushioned seat, and Subaru has those hard seats that poke me.) Okay, so I use an extra 100 gallons of gas each year (on average), but it is worth it.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there is the usefullness issue. I bought the truck because it can haul stuff. Boats mainly. Talk about wasting gas. My father always said that boats are a hole in the water designed to sink money.
Here are two of the idiots I saw the other night when I waited for a jacknifed semi to be towed off an icy hill. Hundreds of cars were sitting there for an hour. Only about 15 did really stupid things like...
ReplyDeleteIdiot #1: When the emergency vehicles were trying to make their way through the line to get to the jacknifed semi, one idiot passed the fire truck.
Idiot #2: I waited just over an hour. A tiny front-wheel drive car in front of me waited longer. A whole hour that could have been spent doing things like... putting on chains. But, oh, no, that would be too smart, wouldn't it? Idiot # 2 waited until he/she got stuck in the middle of the road and on the hill before chaining up.