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April 9, 2001
Just Common SenseOr is it?Big Trucks and SUVs
Just what is this page and why is it here? If you are wondering that, read on. What got me started on this page was a big red 4 wheel drive truck. The driver of this big red 4-wheel drive truck came back to his truck just after a driver of a small truck had gotten out of his truck after parking behind the big red 4-wheel drive truck. There was a 3 foot space in front of and a 2 foot space behind the big red 4-wheel drive truck. But to get out of the parking space he asked the driver who had just parked his small truck behind the big red 4-wheel drive truck if he would mind moving the small truck back so that the driver of the big red 4-wheel drive truck could get out of the parking space without having to worry about hitting the small truck. The driver of the big red truck was very polite and appeared to have a sincere concern about even touching another vehicle in order to get his truck out of the parking space. But the scene made me think. I wondered how much those big trucks that we see all over the United States are affecting other people. The big trucks, yes including SUV's, maneuver slower. You may have noticed that if you have followed one in town, especially in a parking lot. They use more space. That would be noticeable when you see that they have to wait for more room to go somewhere that a smaller vehichle would haveeasily slipped through with room to spare. They use more gas. And of course they cost more than smaller vehicles. And how many of the people that drive them really need them? I'm not saying that they shouldn't have them. In the United States we are allowed all kinds of freedoms, excentricities, and even some insanities, if it is not hurting someone else enough to be against the law. I'm just questioning the wisdom of those who drive a vehicle that's bigger than necessary. Big trucks/SUV's cost more, not only to buy, but to drive. They use more fuel. The owners might say that they have the right to spend their money on whatever they please. I agree, they certainly do have the right to spend as much of their money as the please for whatever they want to spend it on. In doing so, they add to the prosperity of whomever they do business with. But in the case of the fuel for one of those big trucks/SUV's, how else does it effect others? Eight years ago, the news media and talk shows tell us, we provided 60% of our own oil requirements. In the year 2000 we only provided 40% of our oil requirements. Remember in the 70's how many were in favor of acheiving oil independence. We were told that oil dependence put us too much at the mercy of those foreign countries that supplied our oil needs beyond what we could supply for ourselves. Instead of acheiving oil independence, today we depend on other countries for 60% of our oil supply. What happened? Well SUV's and big trucks use roughly between 2.5 to around 3 times the fuel that an average sedan does. We tried to increase the domestic supply of oil didn't we? But we can't seem, for whatever reasons, to get our supply up to our requierements. We have even lost ground. Could the popularity of these big trucks and SUV's have had any impact on the balance? Supposedly patriotic people heard on talk shows have made coments about how it is the American way to have the freedom to buy the best that we can afford. But is it patriotic to drive our country to foreign suppliers for owr fuel needs? Suppose those countries decided that the United States was so much different from them that they no longer would sell fuel to us. Or what if they decided that we were so wastful that they were going to limit how much fuel they would sell to us. Then where would the power be? Some of those citizen's of the United States who consider themselves to be patriotic pride themselves in the fact that they buy American vehicles. But whose gas and oil do they put in that vehicle. It might be better to buy a foreign vehicle and use American fuel in it than to buy an American vehicle and use foreign fuel in it. If the supply of foreign vehicles was suddenly cut off we would have about ten years, (the average lifetime of a vehicle), to recover from the shock. But if foreign fuel was cut off we would be feeling the pain in only a few weeks. These sobering thoughts will make me think differently the next time I see a big truck or SUV that routinely carrys only one or two passengers and no cargo, especially those that carry the flag of the US on the antenna or bumper. This web site is just beginning. More to follow soon.
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