I hate SUVs. Again.

[mckitterick]

There are so many reasons to hate SUVs, and even many who own one feel some guilt or whatever, too, I'm sure.

I Hate SUVs Part One

The only time I was ever in a collision on a motorcycle was in Seattle: approaching intersection, no stop sign for me, Kuwaiti college kid racing to class blows through his stop sign, I veer as hard as I can at about 30mph, whammo! he rams the bike broadside (luckily I lifted my leg out of the way of his bumper), bike goes down, I go over the side.

Long story short: He left the scene to go take his test (really) with a promise that daddy would cover any and all of my expenses, which daddy did (after faxing receipts to him).

I Hate SUVs Part Two

Today, on my way from the Post Office to my office, I'm crossing one of the one-way streets in town. On my little scooter. Sunny day, cold, clear. I got to the stop sign (for the cross street; the main drag has only a few lights over a mile stretch) just after another car, it goes first, then I go. Traffic goes left-to-right from my pov, so the car left-turns in front of me. Fine, normal stuff.

I'm just about to the other side of the street and the ditz-college-girl-blondie-with-cell-phone-jammed-in-her-ear-goddammit kid in a big fuckin' SUV lauches at me, doing a left turn directly at me. Visions of Kuwaiti kid in Seattle. I lay on the horn while veering toward the sidewalk and hammering the brakes - because I'm now just about up to full speed, having gone a good 40 feet before the ditz-college-girl-blondie-with-cell-phone-jammed-in-her-ear-goddammit kid in a big fuckin' SUV took off at me. One foot goes to pavement to help push the scooter off its path - I learned motorcycling on a dirt bike, in the dirt, where you need to put down a foot to turn hard. It's way less comfortable on the ankle, knee, hip, and lower back when you jam your boot onto pavement.

Just as I prepare for low-speed collision, she sees me and hits her brakes. Note that she's now stopped half-way into the main road, I'm just about to the sidewalk, clenching the hand-grips and brakes for dear life while prepping for going airborn. She makes a "sorry!" face and brings her shoulders up around her ears - oh, and the cell phone presumably fell to the floor as both her hands hit the steering wheel. I'm halfway down the block before she starts to move, blocking traffic she's so freaked out. I'm also, um, sorta saying naughty words, too. The rest of the way to my office, I was planning how to submit legislation outlawing students driving SUVs. Heck, let's just outlaw them for in-town use in general.

Those of you on two wheels: Ride safe, they're out to get us.

Best,
Chris

Comments

[saycestsay.livejournal.com]

Glad you're safe (x2). My brother is mad at a friend for showing me basic motorcycling because he thinks it's too damned dangerous. Defensive driving is the only way to go.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Thanks. If we all stop two-wheelering because of stupid people, the stupid people win just as surely as if all non-right-wing-conservatives give away the country to the Bush-ites if we give up.

Chris

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you're safe. I wish there was a way to call in license plates for Stupid Fucking Assholes.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Actually, I should have written it down and called in a citizen complaint. D'oh.

Chris

[roya-spirit.livejournal.com]

Stupid people. Being the partial owner of both a two-wheeler and an SUV, I'm torn. I've had incidents with soccermoms in minivans on the bike.
People just don't SEE us!
I sure hope you're calmed now and stay safe.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I enjoy driving my 4-wheel transportation, too, but then I do look carefully for bicyclists, etc.

Chris

[astein142.livejournal.com]

Scary. Glad you're okay. I'm with you -- I hate SUVs, too. I doubt that even my hard-sided, fully enclosed sedan could save me from an ill-timed encounter with one. Can you add "driving an SUV while ditzy" to the proposed legislation? PS: When driving in KC, NEVER be the first vehicle to enter the intersection. It's just safer that way.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Well, see, there's always a line of cars crossing that street from the stop signs. I went after the guy across the street, but the ditz just took off after him without seeing me. Coming straight at her. With the headlight on. I could've sat there all day, I guess, but a guy's gotta go at some point!

Now, if everyone rode a scooter or a motorcycle, the world would be much safer, we'd safe billions of gallons of gasoline a year, and road congestion would just go away.

Chris

[shawn-scarber.livejournal.com]

I drive a blazer. I make it a point to drive cautiously, but two of my friends are biker types--so I kind of have a better understanding. We have a lot of bikers down here, and man you don't want to get those guys pissed at you. It's not really the SUV that is so much the problem as it is the stupid fuckers who don't realize they are driving an urban assault vehicle. Kind of like guns, they just shouldn't be in the hands of stupid people. However, this is the last SUV I'll ever own. They're just not worth the extra expense.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

True - I've found that it isn't the vehicles per se (though anything bigger than a Blazer is overkill for urban use), but the people who feel the need for a commuting vehicle that's bigger than everything else on the road, taller, etc. - means they don't need to pay close attention to driving. And putting a kid in one of those? Geez.

[geekmom.livejournal.com]

I agree - it's the I'm bigger than you, and I don't need to follow the rules attitude.

The Noller wife of Laird-Noller used to park her ginormous SUV (Which she claimed she needed, because she needed cup holders for all of her kids, I kid you not) - anyway, she'd park the big honkin' SUV illegally in front of the store where I used to work, because she was too good to use the parking lot like all the other customers, I guess. That or she didn't have the driving skills to get that thing between the lines.

I'm very glad that your near miss was still a miss. Ugh. Phones and SUVs.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I hear ya.

Say, from which episode is that icon? Can't recall! Was it one of those evil-redhead episodes?

[geekmom.livejournal.com]

Our Mrs. Reynolds - the first episode where we meet Saffron.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought! Don't know why else he'd be in that getup.

[geekmom.livejournal.com]

I have so many reasons to hate SUVs. So many. Especially when driven by people that will never off-road and seldom haul anything heavy.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. I read a great essay by the editor of "Grassroots Motorsports" (of all places) about the idiocy of driving 7-passenger off-road vehicles across town.

[woadwarrior.livejournal.com]

Neither sporty, nor utilitarian. Mostly just a waste of resources. They do have there uses but none of them are within city limits!

Scott

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Yesterday I saw one of the super-huge ones - Excursion, I think - with a woman driving up front and a single child in one of the back seats. A few days ago, I saw a woman driving her son in a Hummer. Seriously. In town, at a shopping mall. What's wrong with people?

I love this month's editorial by the "Grassroots Motorsports" editor about SUVs and hybrids. Genius.

Chris

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Bad stuff. I try to stay about twice as far behind two-wheels as the law requires. I do *not* want to squash one that wipes out.

I drive a Jeep Cherokee, that counts as an SUV, but it is as small as a Toyota Corolla station wagon. And it is downright tiny compared to the Behemoth Squad. So "SUV" is only partly the problem -- the real problem is the size and profile of a lot of the US offerings. Fortunately, they will drive their owners broke as life proceeds.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

True - I don't think of things like the Cherokee, Blazer, Outback, and so on as "SUVs" as marketed by the auto industry. Those are reasonable things to drive, even around town.

Plus, your Jeep is "Trail Rated" (TM), making it a true SPORT ute.