One of the arguments against SUVs is that they are unsafe to other drivers on the road and create a sort of arms race where people that buy more ecologically and economically responsible motor vehicles are put at a disadvantage. I drive one of those more ecologically and economically responsible motor vehicles and will until buying an SUV or something makes more sense (which, if we settle down in the mountains of the west, we just might).

I got into a car accident yesterday. Traffic from the access road of the freeway merged straight in to my lane. A woman about to enter either didn’t know this or didn’t care as she was obviously unconcerned. I looked in my mirrors and changed lanes, missing the giant SUV that was sitting in my blind spot.

We both pulled over to a nearby apartment complex. Since her car had hit my door, my primary concern was to make sure that my door could open, which it could. I jumped out of the car to make sure that she was alright. She was driving an SUV. Of course she was alright. But the accident was my fault and feigning concern might make her less likely to sue for the pain and suffering of having to touch up the paint of her vehicle. Turns out I didn’t even really ding her paint.

My car, on the other hand, is quite bruised. The door opens and closes and locks and unlocks. I haven’t checked the windows to make sure they go up and down, though. Even so, the police were never called, I didn’t get a ticket, and I will take whatever damage my car might have sustained.

Which brings me back to SUVs. Had I run in to a lesser car, mine would almost surely have done some damage and I would face a ticket and possibly an insurance hike. So I am quite grateful about the superior force of SUVs. Regardless of who is at fault, better my car gets damage than theirs cause I don’t care about my car except to the extent that it gets me from Point A to Point B. And I am a relatively (though decreasingly) a young male and my safety isn’t of utmost concern, so better I be injured than I injure someone else.

Right up until kids enter the picture, at which point I will demand all SUVs off the road immediately! Or I’ll just get a Volvo.