Attack of the Big, Bad SUVs

A grad school friend from the East Coast once commented on So Cal's relatively large population of SUV owners despite the exceedingly high price of gasoline. Having grown up and lived in So Cal all my life, I didn't know what he was talking about...until I came back for a visit from NY after six months.

They were everywhere, mean and huge! During my weeklong stay in PV, I drove the same, compact Saturn Ion that I owned before I moved out to NY. In the land of the 405 where size matters, my car was no match against the big, bad SUVs when changing lanes or letting cars in. I made the mistake of signalling to get into a relatively empty left lane a few days ago, and out of nowhere an SUV three times my size came charging full speed ahead from a mile away. I debated for a split second whether I should go in even though the monsterous thing was ignoring my signals. There was enough room for it to slam on the brakes and stop without hitting me, but I decided against it. I was too small to have any clout on this freeway. The SUV could have easily crushed me. It slowed down for traffic as I merged in behind it. Brilliant! Now the giant was obstructing my view.

This happened repeatedly all week long. I guess I just never noticed it before.