I have mentioned this many times before, but I’ll mention it again: clotheslines are not allowed in some places. I would dearly love to have a clothesline, but I can’t. 
(at my old house, I actually had a clothesline. It was hidden, since it was illegal.)
Wow. I can understand not having room to put one (I’m in an apartment, so it’s just not possible for us–which is too bad, as our dryer sucks), but illegal?
I think you’re cherry picking your numbers here. According to this, fleet mileage is closer to 3.5L/100passenger-km. I’ve seen estimates for a 747 of 100 passenger- miles/gallon. (Long flights in very large airplanes would be much more efficient than the fleet average – more passengers and less futzing around at low altitudes.) To get that kind of efficiencies in your Ford Expedition, you’d have to cram 8-10 people in it everyday.
Comparing a trip to Europe against the use of an SUV is a retarded argument anyway, unless you’re arguing that all users of SUVs have made the conscious decision to forego air travel in favor of their SUV ownage. Otherwise, we can assume that they are pissing away gas in * both * air travel and their private car ownership and are even more egregious wasters of resources than the Hybrid owners who take vacations.
Welcome to the wacky world of neighborhood associations, where they can pass laws for the neighborhood ostensibly to protect property values and benefit everyone, which often take the form of banning random things because they aesthetically bother one or two vocal neighborhood residents.
The rest of your post is fair enough, but this, I think, is the crux of it.
An idiot in a motorcycle darting between cars can inconvenience other drivers.
An idiot in an SUV who’s blocking line of sight can inconvenience other drivers.
An idiot in a sports car going 90 when everyone else is going 65 can inconvenience other drivers.
An idiot in a regular car not paying attention to the road or ignoring right of way can inconvenience other drivers.
There’s a pattern here, and it surely isn’t the type of car.
Perhaps I’m mistaken, but I don’t perceive that motorcycles particularly inconvenience or endanger me as a motorist.
They don’t block my view, and are much less likely to kill me if they run into me while I’m driving.
Ontario just passed a law making clothesline bans illegal. 
So what you’re really saying, Sam Stone, is that there are plenty of low-hanging fruit all over our lifestyle that can be plucked in the name of greater efficiency. I’d agree with that (I’m the guy whose friends built a passive-solar house that needs no furnace.)
It’s just that SUVs have acquired the image of ‘arrogant uncaring excess’. All the soccer moms and single-person commuters have ruined the image of the SUV, which is unfortunate for that small sector who actually need them.
FYI, you can use other compact clothes-hanging technology. When I was in Japan, you could easily obtain this big square thing you could hang from a ceiling hook in the bathroom and hang most of your clothes upon. We use a similar thing, and just toss the clothes in the dryer with a wet rag for 5 minutes to relax the crunchiness that comes with air-drying.
I know Europe and the U.S. don’t compare, but I filled my small European sedan (1.6 litre engine) and it cost almost $100. Gas around here is now close to $9 per U.S. gallon.
Median income in the U.S. is aprox. $48k and in Sweden somewhat below $30k.
yeah, yeah, longer distances, poorer public transportation, different tax and welfare system… whatever. When I go the gas station it hurts me more than it hurts (generic) you.
The difference is that you can operate the other automobiles without any of these inconveniences. You can drive a motorcycle safely, you can drive a sports car the speed limit, and you can pay attention in a car. However, there’s no way to drive an SUV and not block sight lines, take up more parking space, and be more deadly in an accident.
I feel that it does inconvenience me to get behind a huge group of motorcycles on the road. And I feel that it does endanger me to try to pass that large group (not that I would try, because I feel that it is dangerous; therefore, it is an inconvenience to me.)
Also according to one airline employee I spoke with the reason that the 777 has replaced the 747 in trans-Atlantic service is that the 777 carries more cargo, and that is where the money is. IOW the plane be headed across the pond, passengers or no.
As far as this be a retarded argument, I agree Show me the road map where I can drive a Prius to London, and I will do so.
You’ve been wooshed. He was just trying to make a point. Should motorcycle riders be able to bitch about cars?
How long will it be until ‘Smart Car’ owners bitch about Honda Civics. After all, they don’t need a four person car, why does every one else?
Lol. But I neeeeeed a sedan.
My point was sure–go ahead and bitch about the gas-guzzling aspect of SUVs all you want. You’ll hear no argument from me there (even though we do own one … winter in a rural area and all that). It’s when people start whining about how things “inconvenience” them that I have to roll my eyes. It’s a very popular thing to do on this board. Wah, other people drive a vehicle I don’t like and it’s an inconvenience to me. Lots of things inconvenience us. It’s called life on a planet where other people exist besides us. So don’t go talking like the roads would be perfectly safe if it weren’t for all those damned SUV drivers. An asshole driving a vehicle is a danger to others no matter what type of vehicle it is. I personally don’t have a problem seeing while driving behind SUVs. If you stay a safe distance behind them (or any other vehicle, for that matter) you can see just fine.
Sure, and any time somebody inconveniences me just so they can project a macho image, it merits a complaint.
I only have about half of a dog in this fight (a '69 Buick Riv and an '83 Blazer diesel, both currently undergoing restoration and not being driven at all. And, at the time the Blazer was new, they weren’t really known as SUVs, just trucks).
At any rate, Even when the truck was running, I took the bus 90% of the time. I plan on doing so even after the restorations are complete on both vehicles. Not necessarily because I am green (I’m only light green, not frenetically arrogantly so like some in this thread), but because even back when diesel was much less per gallon than gas I liked saving money and spending it on more fun girlie stuff, Not to mention parking downtown is a pain in the butt.
That said, (and with the caveat that I GET that there is a certain arrogant class of drivers who, no matter what kind of vehicle they drive, DESERVE contempt and ridicule), I am really annoyed at the “unless someone NEEEEEDS an SUV” stance here. How do you just automatically “know” that all (or most) SUV drivers are some arrogant, selfish clueless morons? (as described by some of you)
And furthermore, who are you to decide what constitutes “need”? Or even if people don’t necessarily “need” something (as allowed by you, the almighty Gods of who needs what), so what? Why does someone have to “NEED” something in order to be allowed, without contempt, to own it?
Why can’t someone (without being painted with the giant “clueless, selfish, MORON” brush), decide “wow, I’ve worked hard for 15 years, and I’ve finally gotten to the point where I can have something nice, I really like X type SUV, it’s comfortable and nice and nice looking and after driving this beater for the last 20 years, it’s time”? (this to me is debatable, I don’t care for the looks of most modern SUVs, but to each his own 
).
I believe Sam Stone has already posted some good ideas on this, but really, several of you are just as arrogant and worthy of contempt as the supposed “needful” SUV owners you’re ridiculing. No one “needs” anything this modern world offers, we can certainly survive in cabins with wood heat and no running water (I’ve done it, AND worked an office job while keeping a household running with no electricity while doing it). There is NO shame in availing ourselves of the marvels that modern life has to offer.
This could go into a whole other realm of what constitutes selfish and so on. For instance, why are we all on the internet posting on this board? We are all selfish morons! We should be spending that $14.95 a year on hapless homeless people, and the time we spend here? For SHAME! That time should be spent at the food pantry! And don’t you DARE drive there either, take the bus you selfish bastards.
For those of us who’ve worked our asses off most of our lives, paid our dues, sacrificed and literally given blood, sweat and tears to finally get the chance to have one or two nice things, so what? Is it your intent to have all of us live in hovels and give up all but barely enough to eat and shelter us from at least the rain so that we can all fit your ideals of being “good” and worthy? Please.
You’re absolutely right.
There is also no way to drive a mini-van, a pick-up truck, a delivery truck, a garbage truck, a semi, a bus or a construction vehicle without blocking sight lines, taking up more parking space and being more deadly in an accident.
You want the SUVs off the road so you can be more safe. SUV drivers want to drive SUVs to be more safe. Who gets to pick which individual’s rights supercede the others?
I didn’t cherry pick any numbers. I used the number I had for fleet fuel consumption, and got 4.2, and used it. Your number of 3.5 isn’t that far off, and doesn’t change the argument one bit.
And I’m aware that an airplane gets good fuel economy if you look at it in terms of miles per gallon. That’s hardly the point. The point is that taking a holiday across the ocean is a luxury, just like an SUV is a luxury, and taking that trip means you’re responsible for burning a lot of fuel. While the airplane actually gets decent mileage, you are going a LONG way. 17,000 km is farther than I drive in a year.
So, the comparison is:
Person A has a luxury which burns 240L of gas in a year.
Person B has a luxury which burns 240L of gas in a year.
Which one is worse? Obviously, they’re the same. But there are a lot of Person A’s running around who drive a Prius or a little Honda Fit or something, but jet around the globe for fun, and a lot of person B’s who own an SUV because they find it makes their life better. the Person A’s tend to do a lot of criticizing of the Person B’s. They should not throw stones.
I knew a person like Person A in college. The son of a professor, he was always lecturing everyone on their wasteful ways. Turn off your lights, ride a bicycle, recycle your stuff. He was a pain. But his family was wealthy and fancied themselves cosmopolitan, so they were constantly leaving on some jet excursion to an exotic location. It never occurred to him that he was being far more wasteful than the friends he kept browbeating.
Sure, and if lots of people were driving construction vehicles in order to project a macho image, I would have the same complaint.