I’m not one of those militantly anti-SUV sorts. I don’t need or choose to own one personally; I think a fair percentage of them are bought as status symbols rather than out of any need (says the guy who drives a Mustang) and there’s a subset of SUV drivers who need to realize their vehicles are not race cars, but in general I’m not going to think much of someone’s choice to drive an Explorer instead of a Camry. (Because it’s those damned Wonder-bread-mobile Camries that are truly evil!)
There are times, though, when it’s tough not to embrace the “SUV as the embodiment of selfishness” school of thought.
Last night was Halloween. I live in a suburban neighborhood populated by lots of families with young children and the weather was unseasonably warm yesterday, so the streets were full of trick-or-treaters. One woman in a full-sized SUV (bearing no handicapped tags or other indication that the driver had some physical impairment) felt it was necessary to drive, rather than walk, to accompany her children on their rounds. The kids would walk to a house, she’d pull up in front of it and idle until they were done. Pull up, idle, pull up, idle, pull up idle, all through the neighborhood. I leave open the possibility that she may have some legitimate, genuine reason for this behavior, but I think it more likely that her motivation was just sheer laziness. Laziness which, in this case, put a large, moving vehicle in the midst of swarms of excited, sugar-laden children.
I hope her kids didn’t wipe their chocolate-laden fingers on the leather upholstry on the way home.