Replies

Exonerated? Long sideways slides don't always flip vehicles.

I am not anti SUV, but you cannot argue that they have an equivalent or lower rollover risk than other vehicles. They do, its physics. It takes less to roll them over, and that's a simple matter of physics.

I drive a full size conversion van, So I know about vehicles with high centers of gravity. I also know that even though I have a very high center of gravity relative to most cars... that my statitical odds of truly rolling over is far less than MOST SUVS, and that if it does go onto its side, the likely hood of continuing to roll is less and the likelihood of head injury should it roll is less.

You put a lot of wieght on a body, have it higher off the ground that comparable vehicles because you know.. you need that whatever inches of ground clearance, even though it will never be off road, nor really designed to be offroad (most of the time) yet it looks "cooler" then have a body style on top of it that lends itself more easily to a rolling flip should it go over.. .and wow, you wind up with lots of peoples skulls being crushed from accidents that in other vehicles would likely have lived.

Now, with all that said, I could frankly care less about SUV's... people want to buy em fine.. I just wish they would learn how to drive them properly!! You don't take a ford expedition, get it up to 75 or 80 miles an hour or more and weave it in and out of traffic like you are in a honda civic.... and then low and behold pretend that the vehicle when combined with that sort of driving combined to cause a rollover. Yes it was the drivers responsibility to drive the vehicle in a safe manner... but you cannot ignore the fact that had that driver been in another type of vehicle the resulting accident would have likely been less catastrophic.

So, SUV's aren't inately bad or evil.. .but folks do need to learn how to drive them safely if they are going to own one and operate it on the roadways.

"but you cannot ignore the fact that had that driver been in another type of vehicle the resulting accident would have likely been less catastrophic".

I was agreeing with you on everything until that. I don't think you can make that assertion when dealing with a vehicle going 90MPh, recklessly on the berm of the road, and clipping another vehicle. This had the strong potential of being 100% fatal regardless of the auto involved. At those kinds of speeds and surfaces, once a vehicle gets out of control at that speed all bets are off. This is especially true if the reckless vehicle was on an uneven surface when it clipped the other car. If it were a smaller, lighter vehicle it could have easily gone airborne and flown like a missle until stopped by contact with a large fixed object, like a tree, telephone pole, etc. About 30 years ago I adjusted insurance claims and investigated lots of fatal accidents in small cars that went down like this. Speed kills, make no doubt about it.

So, SUV's aren't inately bad or evil.. .but folks do need to learn how to drive them safely if they are going to own one and operate it on the roadways.

True, and I agree, but I'd add that I don't want to hear them whining about how much gas, or home heating oil, or air travel, or anything else which uses petroleum costs, because of the SUV's fuel inefficiency. Nor do I want to hear them whining about the U.S. sucking up to OPEC.