On the way to work this morning a big white pickup truck pulled out in front of me without even looking. I'm so used to trucks and SUVs driving like wankers that I wasn't even creative with my expletives. My blood pressure did not spike one bit.
Sitting behind this leviathan pickup, drowning in road spray and unable to see anything ahead of me but his bumper, I noticed he had an odd license plate. At first I thought it was some sort of official plate which would explain the boneheaded driving, but all it had was red numbers on a yellow background under the word "OHIO".
"Hmmmmm...I wonder if this is one of those new DUI plates", said I.
And sure enough, it was! Turns out I was behind an infamous Ohio driver; he has been convicted of a DUI offense and is now required by law to sport a scarlet brand telling others what a moron he is. And this guy is very unique. Out of roughly eight million licensed drivers, he is one of around 400 who have been issued this plate since January 2004. I had a 1 in 20,000 shot to have an official drunkard pull in front of me and I hit the jackpot. Today's my lucky day.
Why single out trucks and SUV drivers as wankers? Granted they are easy targets, but I see just as many Toyota Corollas running red lights and acting like idiots. The SUV stereotype is way overblown. We all just need to pay a little better attention on the road.
I think the stereotype is deserved and it seems to be based on the misconception that vehicle size somehow imparts a magical combination of driving skill, right of way and the ability to ignore the laws of physics. I just smile and wave as I motor by a pickup stuck on an icy hill or an SUV that's blown through a stop on slick roads. I was less nonchalant a few weeks ago when a Type A in the SUV to my right made a swerving lane change in the rain, got tail happy and smashed into the dividing wall right behind me. And no I didn't stop to help since he nearly killed me and my family by pulling a bonehead move in the rain. If the SUV/Pickup drivers of the world ever understand that they are driving (aiming) top-heavy, overweight, poor handling vehicles, we will be a lot better off.
LMAO, Mitch! :-)
I find it interesting that large SUVs do not require any special license to drive. At least truckers have to have a specialized license to handle their vehicles and most truckers I've met are excellent drivers (when they are not sleepy).
SUV drivers contrast with small vehicle drivers because many of the former drive with a sense of security. They will literally drive over small cars. I don't know how many times I've heard someone state they bought their SUV because of "safety" issues. Everyone else is buying one so I need one to be just as "safe." Never mind making changes to your own driving habits would prevent much more accidents.
Will: Interesting comments...I've heard the same sort of arguments being made for owning handguns ("everyone else has one...so I need one too, for my own safety"). So sad.
I find it fascinating that the contributors of this technology oriented web site continue to write about about non-technical social issues. But what the hey, this is your site. When you do decide to write on technical issues it is quite good and relevant. I do agree that pick-up trucks have a certain type of driver that seems very aggressive and reckless excluding rural farmers. However, I have not seen that behavior with SUV's at least in the Southeast Michigan.area.
Odd. Each time I look at the Gearbits home page I see the words "Tech. Culture. Ideas." I never knew I was writing for a narrowly-focused tech blog. Am I wrong here Craig?
We have a similar label in Houston, it's a "102.9" bumper sticker. For a while, it was the American flag.
(102.9 is the local mexican radio station)
If you see this bumper sticker in the houston area put both hands on the wheel and BE READY FOR ANYTHING
MrB
Mitch, hey, man write about whatever floats your boat. I invited you, like Sam and Ken, to contribute because I know you spend a lot of your spare cycles thinking about technology but you also find other interesting topics that are worth discussing as well.
For better or worse, GearBits is a reflection of our (the authors') interests. While the majority of our posts are indeed related to technology, I see no reason to be apologetic for those that aren't. After all, technology is often significantly influenced by society, economics, culture, art, politics, and the environment, and those things are often influenced by technology. At some level, it's all related.
Mitch, her's a statistic for you from the NHTSA...
Less that .1% of SUVs get into accidents. Fact is, the VAST majority of SUV drivers are safe and courteous. Just like the vast majority of Honda Civic drivers. Just because a few people use them in ways they weren't designed for, like driving SUVs too fast in poor conditions, or weaving Civics in and out of traffic and street racing, doesn't mean you should paint entire driving populations with that brush.
There are 200 million registered drivers in the US. Annually there are 6 million crashes of all types, from mere fender benders to fatalities. What percentage of 200 million is 6 million? HALF of those crashes are injury accidents, from a sprained finger to still in intensive care but not yet dead. What percentage of 200 million is 3 million? There are 38,000 fatalities. What percentage of 200 million is that?
Considering the number of SUVs sold and registered, even if you could somehow convince yourself and others that ALL of them were because of SUVs, it's STILL not the majority of the ones on the road.
You want to talk rollovers? If you look at the NHTSA and FARS data, twice as many cars in total roll over as SUVs annually. And even then, only .001% of each kind roll over.
I've been driving for 30 years in all sorts of vehicles, from tiny British sports cars to musclecars, to luxury cars, to pickups and SUVs, to large Class A RVs. I've owned dozens of different cars from every genre. I currently have a fast luxury car, an SUV to go camping with, a small British sports car, and a custom American classic. I've been racing for decades and a race driving instuctor. In 30 years, I've never crashed a car on the street OR track. I'm just giving you a bit of background on how I can to hold the opinion I have.
As for your OHIO DUI plate, it's public branding, and it's also a scarlet letter. What if Dad is an alcoholic asshole and gets a DUI. you put the plate on his car, but his wife and driving age daughter are branded every time they have to use the family car to go get groceries. That sort of branding went out with the middle ages. They didn't commit the crime, but yet they are getting punished and harassed for knowing/being related to the person who did. Not cool.