Harry! I admire your contrary spirit, especially when your contrariness lines up with my suspicions.
I will see if I can get a check on your stats. What were your sources? Meanwhile, have a look at this review ---> "Bumper Mentality," The Washington Monthly (December 2002) by Stephanie Mencimer http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0212.mencimer.html which cites the following stats (presumably from the book, *High and Mighty* by Keith Bradsher): "The occupant death rate in SUVs is 6 percent higher than it is for cars - 8 percent higher in the largest SUVs. The main reason is that SUVs carry a high risk of rollover; 62 percent of SUV deaths in 2000 occurred in rollover accidents... "SUVs have also made the roads more dangerous for others... For every one life saved by driving an SUV, five others will be taken. Government researchers have found that a behemoth like the four-ton Chevy Tahoe kills 122 people for every 1 million models on the road; by comparison, the Honda Accord only kills 21. "... [H]ighway fatalities were actually in decline before SUVs came into vogue, even though Americans were driving farther. This is true largely for one simple reason: the seatbelt. Seatbelt usage rose from 14 percent in 1984 to 73 percent in 2001... [L]ast year, for the first time in a decade, the number of highway deaths actually rose. "As Bradsher details, because of their weight, shoddy brakes, and off-road tires, SUVs handle poorly in bad weather and have trouble stopping on slick roads. What's more, they're generally so poorly designed as not to be capable of carrying much cargo, despite the space. A contributing factor in the Ford Explorer-Firestone tire debacle was that drivers weren't told that their Explorers shouldn't carry any more weight than a Ford Taurus. The extra weight routinely piled in these big cars stressed the tires in a way that made them fall apart faster and contributed to the spate of rollover deaths." +++++++++++++++++++++++ A scan of the material I've got suggests to me that in general, SUV drivers are worse drivers (relative to their vehicles) than other drivers. Whether they are worse - inattentive, ignorant, agressive not defensive driving - *because* they are in an SUV with a false sense of security or are just worse drivers (attracted to SUVs) may be impossible to tease apart. > Can't get to that New Republic article - not a subscriber - if you can send > it. it would be appreciated. I will send *you* a copy of the NR piece (as attached file). I thought it was available to all. ... Anybody else want it sent? (70KB) >"Axle of Evil," The New Republic (20 January 2003) >by Gregg Easterbrook >http://www.thenewrepublic.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20030120&s=easterbrook012003 >a review of: >*High and Mighty: SUVs - The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles >and How They Got That Way* >by Keith Bradsher (PublicAffairs) best wishes, Stephen Straker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Vancouver, B.C. _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
