SUVs and used cars
I recently learned more about SUVs, or as one author called them, suburban assault vehicles. I knew about the car vs. truck chassis regulation, that wiped out station wagon sales in the U.S. and encouraged minivans and SUVs. I did not know that SUVs are significantly more dangerous both to themselves and to others around them. I have seven children. I've driven small vehicles, but for most of my life I've driven large ones. We had a 15 passenger van for 10 years. The dangers of rolling over and low visibility were always present. Fortunately I never hit a person that I know of; I did hit other things, posts and tree stumps.
I drive a minivan now, and I love it. It has a lower bumper than an SUV has; it has lots of cargo space and seats that fold into the floor for ease of transition. It is, however, larger than I need now that most of my children are driving their own cars. What I'm running into is this: I like sitting more upright, with lots of foot space. I don't like reclining while driving, which is how I often feel in cars. I like having room for more people and stuff when I need it, and my daughters frequently borrow my minivan to haul stuff that won't fit in their cars.
The biggest issue, though, is that I'm not in the market for a new car. I'm looking only at used cars, because new cars are crazy expensive. I don't need the latest bells and whistles; I don't need a fancy brand or electric everything. But the bulk of used vehicles available are getting larger and fancier all the time, because that's what new car buyers are buying. Our government is actively getting rid of used cars they don't like, i.e. older, less fuel efficient, less emissions friendly. Getting rid of used cars limits what we used car drivers can drive.
I have heard predictions of government forcing us away from gasoline driven cars in the very near future, possibly attempting this within five years. One of the unintended effects of this will be to cut out used cars almost completely, except for those who desperately keep their old cars alive. Which means that most of us will have to either buy vehicles on credit and then work our butts off even harder, or go without, carpool, Uber, bus, walk, ride bikes. All of these other options have their own drawbacks. Carpooling and Uber require a measure of societal coordination that I don't see happening except in very small groups. Busses where I live don't run on time and have very limited routes. Walking is fine, if I have an hour or more to get somewhere and another hour to get home. Biking leads to theft. We've had several bikes stolen from our driveway in the past 10 years; we live in a fairly safe neighborhood, but not for portable items that can carry the thieves away quickly. Our city tried electric scooters and bikes. Many people used them and enjoyed them; it led to greater sidewalk traffic and a lot of young people outdoors. It also led to complaints from property owners who had scooters left on their property, and complaints from handicapped people who couldn't maneuver their electric chairs around scooters left lying there.
There's no one solution to this, and we don't even agree on what exactly the problem is we're trying to solve. But SUVs are not the best solution.
