Americans Gain Some Sense, SUV Sales Drop

For the first time in fourteen years, cars are actually making a come back. Overall sales projections of SUV's are down 1.7 percent, while passenger car sales are up 3.1 percent according to Ward's Automotive. This is a great trend. A great number of Americans have, in my opinion, become borderline narcissistic with their SUV's. You know what I'm talking about; that guy in front of you on the phone in his Escalade blocking one and a half lanes, the Ford Explorer traveling at the speed of sound cutting you off while your already doing fifteen over. Men, women, teenagers, it doesn't matter when you're in an SUV. For some reason, you're on top of the world and not just literally. You're better than everyone else on the road and you can do anything you want. That seems to be the mentality of today's sport utility vehicle drivers. It's no wonder then that I see so many of them involved in accidents. Just this year, I've seen at least six very serious accidents. I mean accidents with news helicopters, highways shut down, and twisted metal. In just about every case, an SUV was involved and usually was lying upside-down. Fortunately for these drivers (and my psyche), none of them were killed. However, thousands of SUV drivers aren't so lucky every year. The fact is that when you're driving a large boat such as the Chevrolet Suburban, you feel like you're indestructable. All the while, you're really at a much higher risk of an accident or rollover which just increases (obviously) with speed. Not to mention the fact that SUVs aren't exactly peaches and cream for the atmosphere. Then again, if you have 50 dollars to fill up your tank every couple hundred miles, and you like the odds, go buy an SUV. For most of us, however, we seem to be understanding the whole concept.