Does anyone have an issue with vehicles that waste fuel?

Question

I have some issues with people who drive large vehicles to commute, especially with 1 person! I do my best to be kind to mother earth, recycle, don't drive very much, purchase recycled materials and use green companies. I can't stand to see people driving around in vehicles with only 1 person in them. What are other peoples views on this? Don't we realize that our resources are going to run out?

Answer 1

Though I agree that humans, especially Americans (statistically), are incredibly wasteful, this isn't really a debate place. But I won't be a killjoy, I agree that people who drive Hummers sicken me. They cost $40,000 and have like 3-5mpg. They're ugly too. When I see those people I wonder, "WHY?!" but the truth is, people generally don't care about anything but their own lives. They may care a little about other things, but many people only care about what is going on in their lives. Some people are just uninformed. It's sad really..

Answer 2

Every vehicle I see with "Hemi" on it gets a nice keyed thank you on the side.

Answer 3

I don't really care if they waste fuel, it's their money. But I get quite annoyed by the amount of space these people take up and the way they drive. My wife and I call these giant SUVs "baby killers" because they did a news report and found you could fit an entire kindergarten class in the blind spot of a Suburban (or similarly sized vehicle).

People in their SUVs also seem to drive recklessly and ignore their surroundings because they feel "safe" in their giant SUV. I can guarantee you that they are not safe, and have likely cause more deaths than they've saved, people just do not care because the person in the Hyundai they ran over was the one that died, not them.

The bad gas mileage is just icing on the cake of these dumb people. They can fit their entire family in a sedan, but just have to have that "cool" giant SUV because it's got so much room, then they complain that gas is $3 a gallon and it costs them $60 to fill up. I think the government should apply the gas guzzler tax to all non-commercial trucks and SUVs, and apply a similar tax every time you register the car. I doubt Mrs Soccer Mom would be so anxious to get that Expedition if she knew she had to pay an extra $5,000 to buy the car, and an extra $500 every year to register it.

And don't give me c**p about needing a SUV to get around in the snow. A Subaru or other AWD car is much easier and safer to drive in bad weather than an SUV.

Answer 4

Oil will be the source of fuel for hundreds of years. there's pleanty of it; and the world relies on it.  Don't worry

Answer 5

It winds me up too, I mean it's not always possible to have a full car, say if you are going to work and no-one lives anywhere near where you live. I feel however that if you have to commute alone you should have a smaller car, as these require less fuel, so therefore less fuel is wasted. The only people that need these big veichels are farmers,companies and people in trade.

Answer 6

I am a person that commutes alone. For the past few years (and easy winters), I had a VW Beetle, which offered good gas mileage. However, this year, I got stuck in the snow 6 times in one week. The last time was late at night in the city in a parking lot - and I was alone.

I should also tell you that in the summer I ride my bike to work (as does my husband), we recycle EVERYTHING (we're lucky to live in one of the 8 wards that has the blue receptacles), we buy organic/local as often as we can, we don't use paper towels (we use regular towels and wash them), we buy biodegradable cleaning products and trash bags, etc. Trust me - we are very committed to the environment.

But the car issue just became too much. I went out and bought an SUV. I know it's not great, but I just couldn't stand feeling unsafe anymore - getting stuck in the snow, sliding around, etc. We did purchase an offset from TerraPass to counteract it as much as we could, but I know it's still not great.

My point in all of this is that not everyone that drives an SUV is altogether unkind to Mother Earth. We all have to make choices in life. Some others will agree with...some they will not.

Answer 7

Why does it matter how big a car someone drives around in? Or how much gas it uses? For that matter GM has just come out this year with a whole line of big SUV hybrids.

There's enough oil and other resources in and on this earth to last many more life times past ours. What do I care if in 200-300 years there's no more oil.

Do you all think that as humans we are not smart enough to come up with other ways to make fuel or more bio-degradable packaging. I would like to think that humans are pretty smart. We have been on this earth for 1000's of years and we have went from eating dirt to $1000 hamburgers, from riding mule's to $200,000 cars. Not to mention more electronic devices then i can even think of. People now days would go crazy with out there I-pod, MP3 player, cell phone or Blackberry for even one day.

I'm not saying that i don't do things to help the "Mother Earth" but it does not consume my life.

We don't even know if any of this stuff works (as far as helping earth) no one does. Not even Al Gore. Who by the way says that we are killing the earth but he still flies everywhere in his private jet.

If you can do something to help out great. But, if you want to buy that big SUV that uses 20 gallons of gas a day, go for it. Don't live your life by someone else telling you what to do. Live your life for you and your family. Thanks

Answer 8

I don't have issues with the vehicle. I have issues with the person who decided to buy it that didn't need it.

As a commodity, the more gasoline that is used against the supply, the more expensive it gets. Gas-guzzlers are more responsible for the rise in fuel prices than those who drive efficient vehicles, because they use much more energy to do the same task. If you are more responsible for price rise, you are making it more expensive for others to drive. Therefore affecting the lives of others. This is one area where I have an issue with those who waste fuel.

Answer 9

Define "waste". People can buy what they want.  Just think of it this way: The government taxes gas at a high rate say about 47cents/gal is about the average OK. My van gets roughly 17 mpg so I fill up all the time about 12x a week (work a lot with it) so I pay almost 8 grand a year in gas tax so this is good for the govt and the oil company makes a lot of money so they can get more oil.  Everybody wins. Big cars are bought by people who need to move their family small cars are for people who are single but we each have the freedom of choice when we buy our vehicles.  I have a problem with Hollywood elites riding around in limos then tell me to buy a Prius.  If you want a smaller car buy one if I want a Corvette I can buy one. No one pays my gas bill for me so if I want to I can.  

As for running out of oil that argument has been going on for 120 years and yet we keep finding more.  We have reserves here in America they we can exploit but the environmentalist will not let us then complain we are sending money to Saudi to get oil so what is the solution? Everyone stop driving? Not likely.

Answer 10

I like you try my best to be a good steward of the environment and I wish others would be more considerate and less wasteful.  However just because you see someone driving a large vehicle does not mean that they don't care about the environment.  Some people might have a need for a large vehicle and not be able to afford another smaller(more fuel efficient) car for there daily commute.  Keep doing your part and educate people how will listen and we can make a difference.

Answer 11

I know what you mean,even preachers have to have a big Yukon to haul their big behinds.