why people drive large vehicles., page 2

i just love to hear about one person driveing a truck everyday

. i was one of those. most days it was only myself in it. but seeing as i can only afford one vehicle of any description at a time IT DOES make sence to have the van.

why? well if i needed to take my sister and nephews somewhere, thats 5 people a car would be too small especialy since 2 need booster seats. i cary an armer bag quite often, that is a hocky bag filled with over 100lb's of metal armer for fighting, again woldn't fit in quite a few cars. once a year i was carrying about $3000 worth of alcohal (actualy overloading it). i go camping with friends (guess who pulls a trailer because most of their cars are too small). i sometimes carry stuff for work like a couple of 90lb cans of rust protection or several tires. all perfectly good reasons for haveing it. but when you see me most days you only SEE me, you don't see what cargo i might have. and yes i have had people whine at me for driveing such a vehicle when they see i am alone, but like i have said even if it happens to be empty at that time other times it is full.

then we have the safety isue. as some one put it in a rather pointed way (veiled threat), about when i hit them in a car. well it is not the driver of the big vehicle (or mini tank i believe was said)that you should have the problem with. you should fault the manufacturer of the "beer can" that you drive. it is not an unknown that these vehicles will colide. it is a calous decision on the manufacturer's side to reduce safety by reduceing the weight to make it more efficiant. tank vs beer can is a rather good comparison these days. i can dent a currant car just buy putting pressure on it with my finger. that will do a wonderfull job of protection in an accident don't you think? i have been rather amused at watching new cars get badly dented just by shopping carts blown by the wind. you should hear some of the swearing about this. one person i know suffered about $4000 damage one windy day, to make it worse the car was only two weeks old at the time.

meanwile i once hit a deer at over 130 kph and only had minimal damage to the van. the cop who looked at the damage told me i was lucky i wasn't in a car, or i might not have been arround afterwards. in fact except for the feces, hair and blood involved in the damage,he wouldn't have thought that i had hit a deer at all. i was rather thankfull that i was in the truck for that.

now some might have noticed that i have used some past tens when talking about my van. that is because i had a bad accident six months ago.
now remember that i was driveing a van and not a car. i took two heavy impacts on the highway. i was rear ended by a smaller van that was in turn rearended by a cherokee. i am still suffering injury from it. but at least i am alive to bitch about it.my rear bumper (which was reinforced by the trailer hitch assembly) was bent to the ground. it looked at first like it had actualy been ripped off, but it actualy bent the frame. some much so that when i emptied out the back, there were two huge mounds in the floor from the frame buckleing up,(both mounds actualy spaned the entire width of the van over 2' diamater) also the rear floor was bent down as well. i was lucky that i was driveing a van. i shudder to think about what i would have been like had i been driveing this so called "smart car" for eample. can you say D.O.A. or especialy bad would have been a smart between my van and the cherokee. can you say pancake?

there definatly are tradeoffs in the vehicle that you choose. large, better built, gas gusslers. or small fuel efficiant death traps. it's your life, and your choice. cheeper fuel costs are nce but is it realy worth the risk. i have known too many people who died because they chose efficancy over safety. just so you know only a couple actualy hit bigger vehicles.

someone mentioned roll bars. a roll bar is essentualy a frame that is put in or on a truck to stop the roof from caveing in when the vehicle flips over. a very good idea not only for trucks but they should be in ALL vehicles. but then again the added weight would impact the efficancy of said vehicle (again safety vs efficancy). i would go so far as to recomend a full passenger compartment cage. made from the same tube metal for streingth as a good roll gar. that could keep cars from being compacted so badly in an accident. but it would add a lot of weight, so........and just to let you know i have seen far more cars on their roofs than trucks. so it seems that a "high center of gravety" is not the only problem, though that problem does exist. but hey i could do tighter faster corners in the van with less "tippiness" than my parrent's old small car could. interesting that.

all in all i will keep my truck thanks. (when i can afford to get a new one anyway, that or a car from the 70's). i like my life more than money thanks.