This moronic letter was published this morning in the Washington Post:
I enjoyed the local governments’ plea for SUV drivers to ferry doctors to hospitals during the snowstorm. Driving around the D.C. area, I felt a bond with my fellow SUV drivers.
We happy few were the only ones rolling on the snow-packed roads on Presidents’ Day. When the weather blows foul and you absolutely have to be somewhere, forget about those snowbound Volvos and puny hybrid electric cars.
It’s time to call on the big American gas-guzzling SUVs, riding high and proud above the snowdrifts. The SUVs deliver.
My “puny” hybrid was the only car in my parking lot (with plenty of SUVs) that was able to quickly and easily move in and out without slipping or skidding. It’s not the vehicle that’s important, it’s how you drive it.
Vehicles should not be rolling on the snow-packed roads at all, as local governments requested – or even required. Those with SUVs who believe that their truck is impervious to road conditions are also the ones that you hear about on the news having rolled over and caused massive pileups. Those drivers who volunteer their time and 4-wheel drive vehicle to ferry needy people and supplies are wonderful! But they are a rare breed. The vast majority of SUV drivers – at least, in DC – are people who neither go off-road with their vehicle nor know how to drive it properly. “Absolutely need to be somewhere” for these people generally means to the local fast food joint or to the video store. 362 days of waste and pollution for 3 days of real use smacks of the end justifying the means. Using a snow storm such as this one to validate self-important guzzling of resources and massive pollution output is simply putting others at risk and adding an exclamation point to their selfishness.
