Are there Republicans in Australia?

[Angela Harlem]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national...ust-the-drivers/2005/09/26/1127586800241.html

I dont know whether to laugh or take this seriously. I've seen the US debate this for a long while now, and slowly but surely, it's coming over here now too, that 4WD owners are a curse to society.

 

[deep]

awanderer

 

[deep]

site is password restricted

 

[Angela Harlem]

password restricted? bollocks. I signed up a few weeks ago, not realising that it would recognise my IP and let me read. I'll post it for youse all.


They're big, aggressive beasts - and that's just the drivers
By Damien Murphy
September 27, 2005

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No contest … Mosman mother of three Chris Rooney with son Jack, 4, in their BMW X5. Ms Rooney says she chooses to drive a 4WD because she believes it's the safest option for her family.
Photo: Steven Siewert

The apparent victory of the giant four-wheel-drive in the urban jungle has prompted much road outrage, but now a profile of city off-roader owners confirms many prejudices, revealing them as aggressive, obese people who dislike gays and Aborigines.

And that's just the men.

The Australia Institute study found women who own luxury 4WDs were markedly different from the 40-to-50-year-old blokes: They're younger, wealthier and, while they worry about weight (their own), they couldn't care less about conspicuous consumption.

"People say, what about the environment?" declared Mosman mother of three, Chris Rooney, who drove a Range Rover for years but has swapped to a BMW X5. "For me, my children's safety is more important." The study investigated demographic and attitudinal characteristics of 4WD owners using data Roy Morgan Research collected from more than 24,000 people between October 2003 and September 2004.

It found 66 per cent of men who owned large 4WDs were obese, compared with 57 per cent of the population overall. On homosexuality, 51 per cent of 4WD owners thought it immoral, while only 43 per cent of Australian men overall agreed.

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AdvertisementAmong luxury 4WD owners, 89 per cent of women wanted to lose weight and 64 per cent (men and women) thought the Howard Government was doing a good job (47 per cent).

The institute's executive director Clive Hamilton, who wrote about the 4WD phenomenon in Affluenza, said the public's disdain towards 4WD owners, coupled with rising petrol prices, would curb sales to fat men.

"Some North Shore mums don't seem as community-minded as the rest of us and they'll continue to happily focus on themselves, their friends and worry about what schools they get their children into," he said.

"For them the price of petrol is not a problem. In fact, higher petrol prices for these women bestows … a certain cachet that only money can buy."

 

[deep]

btw

you live in a godless country

 

[deep]

I heard a report today

that it will take HIGH gasoline prices for FIVE years before the public will completely reject gas guzzelers

 

[Angela Harlem]

btw

you live in a godless country

cool, huh!


we dont need god here btw, you ever taken a squizz at our beaches? that, is heaven.

on a serious note, before anyone sticks up for that limpdick Howard, keep in mind that his comments on petrol prices in this country were to the tune that we are in the same boat as the rest of the world and are limited by world oil prices. explain then, how the US pays the equivilent to us of 85 cents per litre and the UK/Europe is paying around $1.60? we're paying on average $1.30-1.40 per litre.

 

[deep]

could it be












taxes?
and the welfare state?

 

[DrTeeth]

I hate SUVs with a passion. Not only are they more expensive, more dangerous and bad for the environment, they also look absolutely hideous. However, I think I've heard somewhere that SUV sales are down, possibly due to the gasoline prices and/or hurricanes. That would almost sound like common sense.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Stop questoining your leaders! Everything is great! Um, yeah!

 

[timothius]

It's a free country, apparently.

 

[Irvine511]

we dont need god here btw, you ever taken a squizz at our beaches? that, is heaven.

*sigh*

that does sound heavenly.

SUVs are the embodiment of all that is wrong with the US; i am terribly sorry they are infecting your nation as well.

fight them with all your might.

 

[karls77]

"People say, what about the environment?" declared Mosman mother of three, Chris Rooney, who drove a Range Rover for years but has swapped to a BMW X5. "For me, my children's safety is more important."

But damn the safety of those in other cars, as they're more likely to be killed in a collision with an SUV than a regular passenger car. And if her children's safety is so important, she really ought to think about the type of environment they'll wind up living in as a result of her actions.

 

[Irvine511]

But damn the safety of those in other cars, as they're more likely to be killed in a collision with an SUV than a regular passenger car. And if her children's safety is so important, she really ought to think about the type of environment they'll wind up living in as a result of her actions.

you see what we have to deal with here in the States?

 

[Kieran McConville]

If anyone is actually 'worried' about safety, just fucking drive carefully. It doesn't much matter what you are driving in, you are unlikely to come out of any collision without damage of some kind.

In my quiet little suburban street, drivers routinely exceed the speed limite by 30 km/h or more. That is insane, and it is people like that (some in SUV's, some not) who will inevitably kill themselves and others, someday.

 

[karls77]

you see what we have to deal with here in the States?

I'm well aware. I'm from the southwest where you have to have an SUV or a ginormous truck to be considered a "man"

 

[Irvine511]

I'm well aware. I'm from the southwest where you have to have an SUV or a ginormous truck to be considered a "man"

oh -- sorry, i assumed you were an Aussie!

 

[karls77]

oh -- sorry, i assumed you were an Aussie!

No worries, its "A" for arizona as in "U of A" but anyway.......

There's been quite a big backlash against SUV's here (UK) in the past couple of years too. How people are able to afford to drive them with the petrol prices here I'll never know, but there have been discussions about a "SUV tax" for driving these things in central London on top of the existing congestion charge. The mayor of London went so far as to call their drivers "idiots"

Here's the story and some comments from the public:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3739495.stm

 

[nbcrusader]

If anyone is actually 'worried' about safety, just fucking drive carefully. It doesn't much matter what you are driving in, you are unlikely to come out of any collision without damage of some kind.

Please. You can drive as carefully as you want, you can always get hit by another driver. And while the vehicles will always have some damage, bodily injury is far less likely in a larger vehicle.

If you don't like SUVs, don't buy one.

 

[Irvine511]

If you don't like SUVs, don't buy one.

yes, but i have to deal with the consequences of someone who does purchase an SUV. things like heavier congestion, crowded roads in cities that were built before 1950, increased air pollution, getting hit by an SUV, less available street parking, and our increased dependence upon foreign oil that causes us to support horrific dictatorships in the Middle East that oppress their people to such an extent that they become religous zealots and fly airplanes into towers in New York that then our own religious zealots in the White House use as an excuse to invade an occupy a country that had nothing to do with the original attack and then they turn around and say that the best way to get ourselves free from foreign oil is to rip up the pristine Alaskan wilderness.

 

[nbcrusader]

That's quite a lot of things to face. They also have very little to do with exclusively SUVs.

I've got to hand it to you, getting personal safety, 9/11, Iraq and the Alaska wilderness in the same sentence was quite an accomplishment!

When do you start your own blog or internet news site? I think you could draw some readers.

 

[Irvine511]

That's quite a lot of things to face. They also have very little to do with exclusively SUVs.

I've got to hand it to you, getting personal safety, 9/11, Iraq and the Alaska wilderness in the same sentence was quite an accomplishment!

When do you start your own blog or internet news site? I think you could draw some readers.

well, i do have a blog, but i haven't updated since June or so. it was a busy summer, and i wasn't sure what i wanted the blog to be, but i'm looking into purchasing a laptop soon, so i might get back to the blogging.

i was being somewhat humorous (and thank you for seeing that), but i do think there are two points that can be extracted from my post that stand:

1. we are all affected by the purchases that other people make, and i feel as if the purchasing of an SUV significantly degrades my quality of life as measured in traffic, parking, crowding, and oil consumption.

2. simply because there isn't a direct correlation doesn't mean that it isn't part of the problem; to toss out a global warming example, it's correct that global warming doesn't *cause* hurricanes, but they do make them worse; it's correct that the earth is probably getting warmer on it's own, but human activity is making it significantly worse; likewise, while SUVs aren't directly responsible for the horribleness of the Saudi royal family, our wanton consumption of oil simply makes things worse.

 

[bammo2]

Dangers to pedestrians:

Researchers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rowan University in America discovered that somebody hit by a large 4x4 vehicle would be more than twice as likely to die as someone hit by a normal sized car [2].

What makes 4x4s so dangerous to pedestrians?

· The point of impact on the body is higher if hit by a 4x4, meaning it is more likely to cause head and chest injuries, rather than leg and lower body injuries. This particularly applies to collisions involving children, due to the height of their head and chest.

· Generally a 4x4 is heavier, stiffer and shaped more bluntly than normal cars and is therefore likely to cause more damage on impact. Weight is a major factor in velocity.

· The threat to pedestrians (especially children) is increased due to the bull bars fitted on the front of many 4x4s [3]. From January 2006, it will be illegal to fit bull bars to your vehicle.

· The size and design gives drivers a restricted view of the area immediately surrounding the vehicle. This means that young children are particularly vulnerable, as it is less likely that the driver will see them. According to the American independent body Consumer Reports, the blind spot for a driver of average height in a large 4x4 vehicle can be up to 28 feet [4]. This is a particular danger when taking a 4x4 on the school run – a time when there are a high number of children on pavements and crossing roads – and when using a 4x4 for shopping and parking it in busy supermarket car parks where there are lots of families about.

· In safety tests, 4x4s generally perform very poorly in terms of pedestrian safety. Many models have been described as having dire protection to pedestrians. On the EuroNCAP website, EuroNCAP claims that SUV manufacturer Jeep says it did not attempt to incorporate pedestrian protection in the design of its 2003 Cherokee model. [5].

Dangers to other drivers:

4x4s are not only seen as a danger to pedestrians, but also to people travelling in other cars. With the increase in large vehicles and the super-mini in recent years, medium cars have become less popular. A recent study by Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), shows many crashes now involve a collision between a large car and a small one. In such a crash the person in the smaller car is 12 times more likely to be killed than the person in the 4x4 [6].

The study also shows the rise in sales of 4x4s and people carriers is causing more than 20 extra deaths and serious injuries a year among people in small cars when the two are in collision [7].

Research has shown that a car driver is around four times more likely to be killed if hit from the side by a large 4x4 than by a normal sized car [8].

Why are 4x4s dangerous to other drivers?

· The higher centre of gravity has been found in the past to make 4x4s more prone to rollover crashes (especially in emergency manoeuvres) [9].

· People carriers and 4x4s are typically more than double the weight of small cars, and are therefore likely to cause more damage to the other vehicle [10]

· The high bumpers on 4x4s tend to override the side-impact protection on small cars and penetrate the body [11]

from http://www.brake.org.uk/index.php?p=267

 

[nbcrusader]

Sounds like we'd rather be "a little pregnant". Getting hit by a car is generally bad news for anyone. But, if you are going to get into an accident, its best to be in a SUV.

 

[Irvine511]

Sounds like we'd rather be "a little pregnant". Getting hit by a car is generally bad news for anyone. But, if you are going to get into an accident, its best to be in a SUV.

and what if you can't afford an SUV? ... poor people die more quickly since they can't afford SUVs?

thank goodness rich people can afford to drive their children around in armored tanks whilst the unwashed have to drive around in deathtrap sedans.

survival of the fittest/richest?

 

[Ft. Worth Frog]

Hey, how about everyone be forced to drive Coopers at 10 mph...better for the environment, no one will get hurt too badly if run over, sounds like a great idea to me.

The poor not in SUV's? Please, in the poor neighborhood where I grew up , nearly everyone had some kind of SUV...not a Lexus or BMW, but still an SUV. Alsom people need to be more responsible when driving..if people drove safer then we might not have so many wrecks, unless the SUVs are so out of control and hungry for gas they beging causing wrecks on their own.

 

[nbcrusader]

I think it is more a matter of new Escalade vs. used Explorer instead of SUV vs. econo-deathtrap.

 

[Irvine511]

Hey, how about everyone be forced to drive Coopers at 10 mph...better for the environment, no one will get hurt too badly if run over, sounds like a great idea to me.

The poor not in SUV's? Please, in the poor neighborhood where I grew up , nearly everyone had some kind of SUV...not a Lexus or BMW, but still an SUV. Alsom people need to be more responsible when driving..if people drove safer then we might not have so many wrecks, unless the SUVs are so out of control and hungry for gas they beging causing wrecks on their own.

please yourself. in my *very* mixed neighborhood, most poor people don't have cars to begin with, and those that do, tend to be very old, very used, often without hubcaps, and clearly not SUVs.

simply saying that people need to be more responsible when they drive does nothing about the other dangers SUVs pose -- traffic, congestion, guzzling oil -- and it doesn't change the fact that when an SUV crashes into a regular car the people in the regular car are in much more danger than if they had crashed with another regular car.

 

[nbcrusader]

In order to give everyone an equal opportunity of injury/survival in an auto accident, we should take away a choice that gives you a better chance of survival???

 

[Irvine511]

I think it is more a matter of new Escalade vs. used Explorer instead of SUV vs. econo-deathtrap.

the econo is only a deathtrap when it hits an SUV.