The price of gas

[fluffhead]

there are also hordes of semis, 18 wheelers, moving vans, UPS trucks, RV's (you get the idea) out there that could crush your Ford Focus like a grape but no one wants them off the streets.

Ignoring the environmental factor, and just speaking about safety, I believe that if SUV drivers were trained to drive the large vehicles, I'd have no problem with the safety factor. Drivers of semis and UPS trucks are trained to drive trucks. My neighbor drinking her mochaccino and talking on her cellphone probably grew up driving a mustang.
I've long been an advocate of requiring a separate class of license for these things. It would probably make people think twice, and would provide the necessary training.
I'm not an advocate of banning them, my libertarian friends wouldn't speak to me anymore :P
But I think the owners should pay the true cost of their impact, and be trained in their proper operation.

[Rapunzel]

Having grown up out West (TX) and now living in the East (Boston) I can say that in many circumstances I agree with Jenn's assessment of the situation. I have learned, however, from experience that public transportation is an absolute nightmare with small children (I have four) - even with an extra adult on hand to help! The reason? Public transportation is made for grown-ups and is decidedly dirty, dangerous, and expensive (unless one is commuting to a city with out of control parking rates such as Boston). Additionally, living in a large city is not very conducive to having a large family: Generally speaking rent (or mortgages - but usually rent) within walking distance of work in an Eastern downtown is through the roof. There are no fenced protected yards for children to run and play in (there are parks and Boston has some great ones - but they are full of about a hundred other people - try watching your multiple little ones in a crowd of dozens of other small children with their parents). Crime also tends to go up as one gets closer to commuter rail stations and closer to the "walking distance" of a large downtown. One of the reasons my community has such a low crime rate is that it is a good mile to the nearest T stop (Dedham is known as the notoriously bad public transportation community - but is also considered quite safe and child-friendly - an odd juxtaposition for a city so close to downtown Boston).

My point is that Jenn's points are quite valid within a certain context - those who are single or who have no more than two children could rather easily take her recommendations to heart in my opinion. Those of us with more than two children, on the other hand, find living away from a large city, having lower rent/mortgage, access to larger tracts of land for children to run wild, access to more affordable shopping (re: the large superstores that the inner-city stalwarts detest and that are located largely in suburbs), and lower crime to be much more pleasurable and worth the cost of owning a larger vehicle and making a commute.

Now, I say all of this as the owner of a Toyota Sienna. My husband and I own one vehicle and he gets a ride to the T in the mornings and I pick him up from the T every night. We thought about getting an SUV but did not bite that hook for the following reasons: bigger price tag than many great minivans, less room (only the enormous "suburban" type SUVs have room for more than two people to comfortably fit in the back seat - let alone four small ones with car seats!), horrible gas/mileage (our Sienna gets a bit worse mileage than a small sedan but MUCH better mileage than an SUV).

So, my vote for those with kids is to live in a suburb or in the country on your large tract of land, commute to work, own a minivan and be happy! Everyone without a bunch of kids, take Jenn's advice for how to do things - she's right!

[Auspicious]

For anyone who's interested, there's a feature article in Time magazine this week about "SUV backlash."

http://www.time.com/time/2003/suvs/

[PrincessFiona]

SUVs

Wow...I never imagined that asking about the price of gas would spark such an interesting discussion

Kris

:! We're paying $1.829 & higher in Hawaii !!!