to think that 4x4 drivers are the most selfish w@*&(*&s ever???

[redrobin]

It makes my blood boil! They drive their big childcrushers whilst on the phone, they tailgate other smaller cars, they use enormous amounts of petrol, they block up roads, they look threatening...how can people choose to drive something like that? Do they have ha a selfish gene, do they think they are just better than other people so rules don't apply to them, or are they just thick?

(NOTE this is only about town drivers, i appreciate that they are useful in the countryside).

Sometimes, I think Jeremy Clarkson is winning.

Aitch, your point is that it is a shit DRIVER. I am more likely to be killed by someone hitting me whilst crossing the road at 70 mph whatever car they are driving, than by a 4x4 at 10mph. Robin, so conversely a good driver in a large car is then better than a good driver in a small car?

I know that accidents happen, but careful and sensible driving can go some way to avoiding them. My magnificent and caring (I'm a lucky lady) husband had a lucky escape when he was stationary on the M5 when the whole thing had ground to a halt. He looked in the rear view mirror and saw a car approaching at approx 80 mph, with the driver chatting away on his phone. My DH began to move the car towards the central reservation so that it would absorb some of the acceleration from the other car, and the result was that the car hit DH had its' front end crumpled back up to its' windscreen. Our Saab did what it said on the tin and crumpled beautifully (write off) and DH walked away with whiplash and not much else. Point is, it wasn't the car not paying attention it was the driver. DH slightly touched the car in front of him, an Almeira, and the lady driving it rang him and said she was glad it wasn't her car that had been hit by the idiot driver as she would have been killed.

I would rather drive a larger well built car (a Saab in my case) to protect myself and DS, than a small flimsy one.

and there we have it. you're alright jack. best not to dress it up as anything else.

Don't want a smaller car Aitch, so we'll be keeping it, and enjoying it, but ensuring that it is carefully and sensibly driven. Come to Belgium and look at the way that people drive here and you might take my point that it is the driver that is the issue for much of the time and not the car.

Right, am off to brave the mad drivers to get DS from school as it is a non bus day today.

scary - eh? Can't you see a large car would cause more damage to the human body than a small one? I'd suggest that's incontrovertible. (once again i refer you to Quod's posts).

glad your husband is infallible tho....

Does ANY other car incur as much wrath/bile/debate as a 4x4? And isnt this because environmental and safety issues aside, we get a delicious excuse to attack a certain section of society who drive them ie thick, selfish, wealth-flaunters who want to take their world with them in as big a cocoon as they can, and sod everyone else?

Much as I'm tempted to weigh in and say "I hate them" too, it would just say more about me than them.

I have been hit by a cyclist as a pedestrian AND been in a car crash which was the other drivers fault. He was just a bad driver who didnt look where he was going. Neither did the cyclist, who was going the wrong way. My point is wasnt a 4x4 in sight so I have to conclude, IME it's not the car, its the driver.

oh GOD.
just as well it wasn't a 4x4, you doofus, or you might not have survived.

Well in the case of the car crash we were driving a Honda Stream which saved our lives (was a write off tho!) And the cyclist was a courier type in Shoreditch who was stoned (according to the people who helped us off the road)
But why am I a doofus Aitch???

Aitch, Redrobin, NMC, - you must all feel like you are going round in circles. I can't believe how many posters are being defensive over their reasons for owning a 4x4 when the op expressly made it clear she wasn't referring to them and I can't believe how so many are missing the point regarding how a 4x4 does more damage in an accident to a pedestrian. Quatro said it all really.There are just so many entrenched views re car choice and people only look at what is best for themselves rather than what would be better for society as a whole.
A slight aside, but did any of you watch 'The Woman Who Wants to Stop Traffic' on C4 last night? Many of the views expressed by drivers refusing to consider a 1mile walk for just one day had to be seen to be believed.

talking to brick wall whilst you beat ,aitch

you're a doofus because you are missing the point that if your Honda or your bike had been crashed into by a Penis Avenger or whatever these things are called, you'd have been less likely to step away unharmed. that's why. as has been ENDLESSLY discussed on this very thread. LOL.

well said Idling. Yes, I watched the thing last night. Personally I would be ashamed to say I drove a mile and would be expected to be called a big wuss and rather pathetic.
And the whining about how to get somewhere without a car ffs. People really are jessies nowadays.
But I am thinking that car use lowers IQ. At the bottom of our road is a large sign saying 'road closed' cos at the top where it joins the high St, where we live, there's a big fence put across and yes, the road is completely closed. But the amount of poeple driving up, past the large sign, getting to level with my house and having to 3 point turn is astounding. DS wants to sit out there with a piece of cardboard saying 'SEE, IT REALLY IS CLOSED YOU MORON'
Do they think the sign doesn't mean them? Are they completely daft?

Idling...I do feel as if I am going round in circles and actually it makes me want to cry. The only light relief is that the justifications I've read reinforce my belief that i anbu!

Did see that programme...the attitudes make me despair, but they are so prevelant, as this thread illustrates.

aooooooflph feel like a balloon deflating...

our poor car gets used about once a fortnight, if that, i cannot be bothered taking it out, driving is such a pita. i can get to pretty much everything except my mother's house on foot.

hoho at your son and his sign coffee. and loving your theory about car use and IQ. altho i think that happens with me and the internet as well. my brain just gets sucked out into the ether.

That's how I felt when I watched it too. That woman who said her back hurt didn't seem to grasp that perhaps a modicum of exercise would be good for her! Mind you, she wasn't driving a 4x4.

If i turned up at the school gates with this do you think everyone would hate me?

this

hahahha x - i might commandeer it to let the 4x4s feel unsafe for once!

lol, it's a Penis Avenger!

If anyone dare say anything to me then i will squash them like a bug in my tank!

MrsXX, if you turned up at my school in that you'd make lots of small boys very happy.

The local residents however, would remove you with a Hellfire Missile from their convenient stockpile.

Lol at the sign, NMC. Where we live in Scotland the road is often shut in winter due to snow. But 4x4 drivers gaily ignore the signs, thinking 'I'm in my 4x4, me, I can go anywhere!' and off they go, only to get stuck somewhere in the wilds. In one particularly bad blizzard a Range Rover was grounded for five days, hehehe!!

I would happily cycle if things were mroe bike-friendly. I am currently cheesed off with the vast amount of money being spent on the Edinburgh trams - surely better cycle lanes would be money more wisely spent??

Life would be lovely if cities had decent cycle lanes and the only cars allowed were little electric ones .

yes laith, my sister lived in Amsterdam for a while and it was amazing cycling around everywhere. everyone does it, you see whole families on big funky bikes with boxes for the kids at the front. DS lost about 3 dress sizes cos she was so much more active!

Red Robin - DH is not infallible as he is male and therefore cannot be so. He is however, a careful driver, especially as we live in the land where a safe braking distance from the car in front is viewed as an opportunity to overtake / cut you up by the local populace, and those who have diplomatic plates.

I would be killed if hit at 70 mph by any car at all as a pedestrian. It wouldn't matter if it was a 4x4 or a mini - I wouldn't survive that. I accept that if I was hit by the Range Rover at 10mph it might do me more damage than my mums' fiesta. However, as in the UK I am a bumpkin and live in the country, and we use the 4x4 to go in and out of fields, then I am excused from the discussion.

Am now off to translate the Dutch instructions on the dried yeast to make pizza....