January 11, 2003
"CHARON ON WHEELS" Gregg Easterbrook
"CHARON ON WHEELS"
Gregg Easterbrook demolishes anyone's reason for owning, or tolerating the widespread ownership of, SUVs. Now there's something the Canadian government could be spending that $1 billion of ours in wasted gun registry money on and actually save some lives by doing so... by extrapolation from Easterbrook's 2,000 preventable SUV deaths in the U.S., 200 Canadians are in a funeral plot today when they didn't have to be thanks to lax SUV ownership standards.
The fact that a significant portion of Damian Penny's "What do bloggers drive" list are driving around in death-wagons only shows bloggers are collectively no smarter or stupider than the average of the population.
UPDATE: To be clear, I don't have a problem with SUV ownership per se. As Damian points out, there are times they come in handy. But they should be held to the same mileage and safety standards as other vehicles their size, and automakers should not be allowed to include threat-enhancing cosmetic modifications like front gazelle bars or high-mounted lights, just because they look "cool." Bring about a level regulatory playing field with vans and large cars (where are the station wagons of yesteryear?) and then let the consumer decide what's best for him or her.
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