I was car-free for nearly 3 years.
I was able to do this because all the stars aligned just
right and it was easy for me. I worked at home. My kids went to school just a
few blocks away. I live in the center of a busy, large city where I was just a
few blocks from groceries, a pharmacy, a couple of Targets, and four hospitals.
And I had access to the services of ZipCar and Relay Rides when I ever really
needed a car or just felt like getting out of town. Despite what many people thought, it was
quite easy and a significant reduction of stress on my resources and myself.
Then I got married and started a job in the real world. And
suddenly my house had four kids and two adults going off to school and jobs
each day.
That’s not to say we couldn’t still be car-free. Yes, we
could. However, for us, the logistics of two working adults and four school
aged kids made the trade off of convenience versus money leaned more and more
towards convenience every day.
So we bought a Suburban.
Yes, the giant, gas guzzling SUV that is probably the
biggest SUV out there, aside from a Hummer.
We looked at smaller SUVs but realized that 1)they get about
the same gas milage and 2)the whole point of “going big” was so that we could
do things like all go places together, go camping and have room for family AND
stuff, and so when we were in a car for longer than 10 minutes, it wasn’t
uncomfortable a cramped. Again, all things that we of course could live through
if we had to…but we didn’t.
We had a finite number of dollars, and it wasn’t practical
or realistic for us to finance a new car. So with our finite dollars we had to
find something that fit the criteria we wanted that was also within our budget.
Hence, the older model Suburban that now sits in my driveway.
Why am I explaining myself so much?
Well, I’ve found that I get treated a lot differently
driving a giant SUV than I did driving a tiny economy car. Other drivers and
pedestrians seem to automatically assume I’m going to drive like an asshole or
be an asshole and the only difference I can see is my car. I get honked at A
LOT more. Maybe it’s because I drive worse in my SUV, but honestly, it’s not
that hard to drive. And I’m a pretty conservative driver.
I am actually still primarily a bike rider. So I like to
think I’m pretty aware of pedestrians and bikes when I’m out and out. I don’t
speed. I park way out in the boonies of the parking lot. Generally, as I always
have, I try to be a safe driver.
But I get dirty looks and honks and people yelling “watch
it!” at a much higher rate. Does my SUV really look that scary?
Recently, I woman I know and like very much, who also
happens to be a very vocal advocate for bike riders in my city, twittered that
her new neighbor owns a Hummer and she “doesn’t think she’s going to like him”.
Because of what he drives.
Now, I admit that, I too judge Hummer drivers because it
seems like a huge excess of money to spend to have one. I just could never justify
that, but then again I’ve never had that kind of disposable income.
But I don’t know that I could ever tell you for sure that I
would most certainly dislike someone PURELY based on what they drive.
And maybe I’m a little defensive because I now drive one of
those hulking behemoths. I’d like to
think I’m a nice person, concerned with my community, and just trying to do my
best with what I have. You can’t tell
any of that about me when I’m behind the wheel of my car, though. Why would you
think you could anyways?
If I had a gajillion dollars, I’d buy a brand new Tahoe with
the FlexFuel option, but I’d keep an electric car of some kind for most of my
driving. I’d own a fancy-pants Madsen cargo bike and all my kids would have
expensive bikes too.
But I don’t have that money so I don’t have those options. I
needed a car that fit my whole giant family of 6 for a really tiny dollar
amount. It is what it is, man. Why does
that make you a better human than me?
As I’ve been mulling this over the past week or so, I had a
scary thing happen to me yesterday. I was riding home through the city center
and noticed a smallish pup running down the street I was biking down. He was
running straight towards a very busy through street that feeds onto a highway…..so
traffic is usually going along at a nice healthy 50mph clip. I tried to coax
him to me but he was skittish and ran. He turned the corner, and a pedestrian
was approaching so he did the scariest thing and ran dead into speeding traffic
as I watched in helpless horror.
Two small cars barely missed him, but only by the grace of
God, as both drivers were not paying attention and one was texting. And then
the pup barreled into the path of a giant black Tahoe. And the driver screeched
to a stop. And the pup tried to divert his path but ended up running himself
into the screeching rear tire. He bowled over, yelped, and then got up and
hauled ass down the side street. The Tahoe driver pulled over, obviously
shaken. But no one else did. No one else even slowed down.
A man on a bike came tearing around the corner behind me,
screaming for his dog and the Tahoe lady and I both yelled at him and pointed
out where he could follow his dog, and he took off. And the Tahoe lady looked at me and looked
pretty sad, and got back in her car and got back on her way home.
The only obviously nice person there yesterday was the SUV
lady.
Maybe most people who drive SUVs are jerks. I don’t know.
But I like to think I’m not a total jerk. And I just saw a stranger who very
obviously wasn’t one.
So, really…..judging a human being as worthwhile or not
based on what you happened to see them get behind the wheel of? I just don’t
know about that.
