Posts by Josh Addison
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Oh, I remember that one well - I was moved to comment at the time...
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Favourite linguistic bugbear: People (mis)using the phrase "hoist by his/her/their own petard" in such a way that it's clear they have no idea what a petard is, or what it means to be hoist by one.
Favourite t-shirt slogan: Dunno... Frankie Says "Relax"?
Jorts: No firm opinion, but I can't say I've had much exposure to them. Should I count myself lucky?
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From that Population site:
According to United Nations population projections, a world population of seven billion will be reached in 2013, and then stabilise at the 10 billion mark by the 2200s. At this rate of growth, the living will never outnumber the dead.
So the zombies win. Well that's just great.
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Let's amicably agree to disagree.
And get back to work? To hell with that - this just in: SUVs give you AIDS!
I kid, I kid. Agree to disagree works for me.
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although I haven't heard an argument that persuades me
They persuade me - you asked why I feel the way I feel. And from the sounds of things, my experiences on the road are quite different to yours, so what I'm saying doesn't apply to you.
Why must you make this all about you, when it's clearly all about me - me, damn it ME!!!
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Dude, we've been over this.
In the case of buses and trucks, I'd be lucky to drive past two or three a week in the driving I do - they're less of a danger to me, because there's less of them. They tend to drive slower, too (on the urban roads where I drive).
Buses also carry dozens of people - couldn't do that in a smaller, safer-to-me vehicle. Trucks and vans carry big heavy loads - couldn't do that in a smaller, safer-to-me vehicle. The SUVs that I personally see on the roads where I personally drive aren't carrying lots of people or big loads, so could be replaced with a smaller, safer-to-me vehicle. That's the difference.
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Safety wise - it compares to the Vw Passat, which has been named the safest car on the road. According to this site anyway
It gets one star out of five for safety to others.
And that's the thing - I'm less likely to survive being in a crash with someone in an SUV than with someone in a Passat, so all things considered, I'd rather that someone drove a Passat. And in the majority of situations where I personally encounter other drivers (i.e. on urban streets) there's no need for them to be driving an SUV over a Passat.
Do I have any right to tell other people what to drive? Of course not. Are my reasons for wanting other people not to drive SUVs selfish? Sure thing. But they are reasons, not just blind emotional hatred of anyone behind the wheel of an SUV because they're a "rich prick" or a cat-stroking Bond villain or something.
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Andrew, I don't know you and I have no interest in telling you what you can and can't do. All I'm doing is responding to the arugments you've made. I believe I've done so clearly and politely. That is all.
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Doesn't this also apply to trucks & buses?
Only because you ignored the second part of what I said - buses and trucks are necessarily the size and mass that they are, whereas you don't need to be as big and heavy as an SUV to perform the functions they're used for or to get the safety advantages they offer. Furthermore, as people have already pointed out, there are far fewer buses and trucks on the roads than SUVs and they're driven by professional drivers.
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What's wrong with wanting to be safe
Nothing at all - the objection is that SUVs make you safe in a way that endangers others unnecessarily. Endangers others, in the ways that others have already pointed out here: their larger size and greater mass makes collisions more deadly and they reduce others' visibility. Unnecessarily, in that there are safer cars than SUVs - I drive a 98 Volkswagen Passat, the model named the safest on NZ roads in a study last year some time. Safer than any model of SUV (and cheaper than most of them) and doesn't endanger my fellow motorists in the ways mentioned above.