Inconsiderate [Justin]
I was at Rite Aid on Rainier the other day, and saw a Hummer 2 parked in a handicapped parking spot, with no rearview-mirror hanger or license plate indicating that the driver of the vehicle was, indeed, handicapped. Jerk, I thought. I recall seeing a similar scene in a photo in a blog post on Metafilter or somewhere a few months ago, with people debating whether it was photoshopped.
I took a phonecam pic, but was in a hurry and didn’t save it properly. However, the next day, when we were in Spokane for a convention, I saw another one (this time, only overlapped rather than fully parked in the handicapped space):
Not only do you have an obnoxiously big car, but you have to park it overlapping a space reserved for people with disabilities?
Other Hummer 2’s parked in handicapped parking spaces:
And then there’s this guy, a physics genius who blew up $5 million worth of Hummers in California and is serving an 8-year sentence.
Oh, Hummers. What have you done to us?
You came to Spokane??? Thanks for visiting!
I get a little miffed when I see posts like this targeting Hummers. I’m no fan of the behemoths, but there’s no reason to single out Hummer owners. There are plenty of inconsiderate people driving Priuses, Corrollas or minivans. There are certainly plenty of drivers in all kinds of cars who can’t park or who ignore the handicap signs.
As I said, driving inconsiderations abound. Now, if (as I suspect) you’re talking about environmental inconsiderations, then there are still plenty of targets. A Hummer is simply a Chevy Tahoe with a raised, boxy body and there are certainly plenty of folks driving a huge SUV that don’t need to. Some do to tow a large trailer or for serious 4WD, but most don’t.
If we want to change behavior, we need to raise the price of fuel. The easiest and fastest way to do that is through taxes (as a guy who’s been historically conservative, that’s tough to admit). Mocking and ridiculing folks who make choices that we don’t like may feel good, but it doesn’t really change anything. Gas at $4-5 a gallon will start moving folks out of these vehicles just because they’re cool.
salguod-
True, Hummers aren’t necessarily any worse. I know they bother some people because of what they symbolize - American overconsumption at any cost, ’cause we can afford it.
For me, I think it’s mostly that I notice Hummers more because of their distinctive appearance and relative novelty. It’s also kind of surprising to see one in a handicapped spot - you’d expect to see a van, but not a Hummer. Of course, a person with a physical disability could just as well have a Hummer as anyone else, but it is visually more striking when you see a Hummer in a handicapped spot.
Yeah, I’ll give you that - they are easy targets. If you want a big SUV, a Tahoe or Expedition will do just as well (maybe better) than a Hummer. Hummers are bought simply because of their image since they don’t do much any better than similar vehicles.
Their blocky profiles, bug square shouldered tires and high ground clearance make them appear bigger than they are. Switch the Hummer and the Corolla on the left in your picture (or even the Caravan on the right) and you have a less shocking, but equally inconsiderate, image.
I think the reason Hummers irritate me more than other gas-guzzlers is that I can’t come up with any kind of theoretical justification for their existance as a commercially available vehicle. When I’m miffed at a SUV hogging the road, I can say to myself, well, maybe that person really does need to drive himself and eight other people through rugged terrain on a regular basis! It’s highly unlikely, sure, but not totally impossible. Whereas no one in the US is going to be driving their personal Humvee through a combat zone.
One other thing to hate about Hummers is that they get a tax break because they’re so heavy. The tax break, which is bigger than that on hybrids, was designed to cover farm equipment and commercial trucks, not personal land yachts, but is still in place and is even increasing.