Fellow law-abiding citizens, please read on.
I have been watching the great 4wd debate with great interest waiting for the talk back radio groupies to actually make a credible, reasonable argument.
Do you all know what the Wheels Car of The Year was? The Ford Territory. I passed one today on my way
home in my Rodeo and I think it was bigger than me. It's a wagon with poor vision out the back and is fairly big in all directions. AND it's a 4wd (awd). You could apply EVERY argument against the "hulking, gas guzzling behemoths" to the Territory.
Most of the rhetoric spewed by the "no suggestions, only slanderous inacuracies" activists are also true for a large number of cars. Toyota Toragos and Mazda MPV's for example. They've been around forever.
They also miss the big picture in all of their other arguments. I really like the one about "4wd's are twice as likely to kill a pedestrian as a saloon". Some of you already know my distaste for stats, but seriously a commodore is probably twice as likely to kill you as a nissan pulsar, which is twice as likely as a beetle, which is 10 times more likely than a motor bike. It's called physics !!!! In fact, we would ALL be safer if we ALL drove Patrols or Landies than if we ALL drove Pulsars. It's the imbalance either way that creates statistics.
Fuel consumption, another one they wheel out. "It's for the environment". I wonder if they use electricity in their homes, which produces massive greenhouse gasses. The other beauty is "they are gas guzzling behemoths, send them out to the bush". Presumably where they would not create polution ?????? Simple fact is that a tuned 4wd produces less polution than a poorly tuned Commodore. (Petrol for Petrol of course). I bet there isn't a statistic for whom keeps their cars better tuned, but given the love and affection most people have for a 4by I know where my money would be.
Speed limiting, what a joke. Why segregate 4wd's for speed limiting when clearly this argument fits ALL modes of transport.
I could go on, but you won't read that far anyway. (I'd be surprised if you got this far!!)
My point is, don't use minority sections of transport like buses etc as we will lose that one. If you look at the whole picture, and consider each argument on it's merits then there isn't much credibility to most of the points. The ONE thing I agree with and agree with whomever suggested we be proactive, is why doesn't the 4wd community defuse the argument by coming out and DEMANDING a separate class of license or extra training to drive "special" vehicles such as 4wd's, just as they SHOULD have for powerful V8's, WR-X's etc. I know this needs clarification as "4wd" isn't the problem, it's larger vehicles with different handling characteristics to smaller, lower to the ground cars.
By the way, my brother rolled a Toyota minivan because he didn't know how to drive it differently to a car. Braked and turned at the same time and over she went.
I'm thinking at the moment of how to do something about this. Clearly my point of view isn't newsworthy, but I'm thinking of a website, or a letter to someone useful or something like that. Suggestions welcome.
Cheers all and beware the angry, rabid mob of complainers looking for their next topic to just be unhappy about. (That's really what these people are.)
Jason.