OMG - Ticketed for not having a Stupid Ugly Vehicle!!!!

[UdoKier]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/07/BAGRFA7H1I1.DTL

Small cars get ticketed in SUV land
Tuesday, December 7, 2004

When he came out of a Contra Costa County Mayors' Conference meeting in Walnut Creek (SF Bay Area 'burb) awhile back, Martinez City Councilman Bill Wainwright was surprised to see a ticket on his windshield.

He was even more surprised when he saw what it was for.

Wainwright had been tagged for having too small a car.

What's wrong with this picture?

[arcane1]

1. FUCK Walnut fucking Creek!!

I live in this hellhole, and damned near all you see are SUV's and Hummers, 99% of which are driven by women who are the only occupants, on their way to the soul-sucking shopping mecca known as 'downtown'

thanks for giving me another reason to be glad I'm moving out of this gods-forsaken place

[pnb]

2. Not quite

The man was ticketed for parking his car in a spot that was set aside for larger vehicles because it was the only place they fit.

The rest of the article explains that there was nothing wrong with the picture.

[UdoKier]

3. The fact that larger SUVs are even legal is a problem.

Ridiculous and a menace to drivers of normal cars.

[flobee1kenobi]

5. HINT HINT!

I, being a human being with a sense of irony, would take that as a hint!

If your vehicle doesnt fit in an average parking spot, ITS TOO DAMN BIG!!!

[bowens43]

6. Don't care much for freedom , huh?

What else do you want to ban?

[UdoKier]

8. Anything that is a menace to public safety.

There are all kinds of things that are not street-legal.

There is no reason for monstrosities like the Hummer to be on the road, blacking visibility for everybody else.

And if you equate SUVs being legal with "freedom", you have a pretty twisted idea of what freedom is.


But thank you for your right-wing talking point.

[pnb]

17. There is no reason for a little car to be on the road

Getting in the way of a big ol Hummer.

It can work both ways you see.

And if you think its a RW talking point to not hate SUVs, that says something about your vision of the Democrats and it doesn't say something pretty.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. Would you accept a higher tax rate for the SUVs

to pay for the new parking areas that have to be set aside for them? Or higher charges in car parks that make you pay?

[Arianrhod]

10. 25-foot RVs driven by 70-year-old nearsighted men.

These vehicles ought to require a truck driver's license.

It's not about freedom. It's about living in a community of human beings, with all the compromise and responsibility that goes along with compassionate existence.

Personally, I'm sick of the in-your-face attitude of Americans that is epitomized by these ersatz genital vehicles. That attitude is why we're hated around the world.

And I don't blame the world one bit.

[Fescue4u]

11. "The hate us for our SUVs"

Thats even cheesier than "They hate us for our freedoms"

[Arianrhod]

34. Actually, the Afghanis drove around in 4-wheel drive Toyotas.

So, I think they like our SUVs just fine. :)

[ProfessorGAC]

18. I Don't Know! Idiocy?

Come on! One can't buy a tank! One can't buy a bulldozer as one's main vehicle for street use. I can't take an Indy racer on the highway. Things that fail the common sense and reasonable use tests are banned from public thoroughfares all the time.

People who buy a vehicle too big to fit in a public parking facility have simply bought way too big a vehicle. They're idiots. I'd like to ban them!
The Professor

[Fescue4u]

31. Whats says you cant buy a tank?

There's a number of tanks in private hands, one in my city as a matter of fact.

[ProfessorGAC]

40. Can't Drive It On The Street

The point was about street legality. I think that was fairly clear. I will not be drawn into a fight when you know darned well what i meant.
The Professor

[Sterling]

35. SUV does not equal Freedom.

If that is what you consider freedom I feel sorry for you as you will never truly experience freedom.

[TX-RAT]

20. You find a normal car

That has 300hp, 500ft-lbs of torque, 4-wheel drive, 12 inch's of ground clearance and will pull my horse trailer loaded at 70 miles per hr. I'll buy it.

[Tansy_Gold]

29. Why would you want to pull a loaded horse trailer at 70 mph?

n/t

[TX-RAT]

41. Why wouldn't I , thats the speed limit?

[Runcible Spoon]

30. where do you live?

in texas? I know a guy in PA who tows a 2 horse Warmblood-size trailer with a lincoln towncar. Granted, you live in a hilly area, you need the extra torque.

[TX-RAT]

42. Texas

My trailers are all 4 horse trailers, one has a sleeper compartment. The shortest is 30 ft.

[sandnsea]

12. Spots for LARGER vehicles????

I remember when there used to be special parking places for COMPACT vehicles. WTF city folk, did they flip this around too????

[arcane1]

13. Walnut Creek is not a city, it's a fucking mall

and sucks the soul out of you

[sandnsea]

14. But still

I need my question answered. When I've been to cities, there were special parking places for compact cars. Did they do away with those and replace them with special parking places for SUV's????

[arcane1]

15. apparently...

I wasn't aware of it until reading this item, but in a way it makes sense, since SUV's seem to be the only thing people are buying now around here

[pnb]

16. Just read the article

Your answer lays within. There is a parking garage there that the trucks don't fit into so the open level, or at least part of it, was reserved for vehicles that couldn't park in the garage. It has nothing to do with what you are talking about.

[sandnsea]

19. Well thank goodness

I was kind of freaking at the thought of SUV spaces.

[mitchtv]

21. Palo Alto tickets large ones in smaller spots

Here in Coachella Valley , the weight limit on many roads have to be increased, as many vehicles exceed the limit

[LisaM]

27. I have a compact car and I have never seen a bigger car ticketed

for parking in the spaces that say "compact" - and people do this all the time! I thought of getting notices printed up that say, "by what stretch of logic do you think this is a compact car?" and putting them on their windshields. What the drivers of the big cars don't realize is that smaller cars have trouble seeing beyond them to back out of a space.

[Solly Mack]

4. There are quite a few SUVs in Germany...mainly brought over

by Americans...it's fun to watch them attempt to drive/park in and around downtown

[PatriotGames]

7. That can't be real.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

9. "SUV's are the vehicle of choice for Osama"!

[TX-RAT]

22. And your Point?

I have a couple of so called SUVs, couldn't get by without them.

[BronxBoy]

24. Me either....

My wife and I just moved from NY to a red state where we could buy an affordable home spread. Aside from growing our own food and doing the work that comes with trying to live off the grid in BushCo's america, we have very large dogs that wouldn't be very comfortable in a mini.

Just as everyone in the red states isn't a bible touting, racist asshole, everyone who drive an SUV isn't a enviroment hating repug.

edited for grammer

[UdoKier]

38. I guess a station wagon or minivan would be too "uncool".

It's okay to admit you're a conformist.

My Escort wagon gets 30 mpg in the city. When I replace it, I'll get the Ford Focus wagon.

Both of them can haul tons of stuff, and could easily carry 2 big dogs with the back seat down.

[eridani]

26. Suburbs aren't exactly wide-open spaces

Not all that many people have to haul heavy stuff down dirt roads. SUVs suck as single-driver runarounds.

[Ron Green]

33. You might have to do some things differently, but I bet you could get by.

[TX-RAT]

43. Your obviously not a Rancher.

[Ron Green]

45. Most of the ranchers I grew up knowing pulled their trailers with

Chevy pickups powered by a 6-cylinder engine. Gasoline was 35 cents a gallon and we all thought that since it came out of the ground it would last forever. We also thought everyone had to eat beef or some other meat at least twice a day. Lots of things we know now we didn't know back then.

[Sterling]

36. I can't imagine what people did before SUVs.

:eyes: SUV's are for douche dags.

[Oak2004]

37. I'm not sure there was a time without SUV-like vehicles

though I fondly remember when the only people who drove utility vehicles worked on a farm or lived on a mountainside or plowed snow for a living.

[found object]

23. SUV's are driven by chicken shits...

worried about their class status.
"...and the home of the brave." -- my ass.
Blood for oil, princess.

[TX-RAT]

44. So your calling those of us here, that drive SUVs, Chicken shits

Thanks for the flowers.

[Stinky The Clown]

25. They should have more special spaces and even special lanes for them

Put these extra big spaces waaaaaaaaay out there -----> (left field)

Back o'the lot. Pack a lunch to walk to the mall far.

Make the drivers walk. Far

And since the drivers get off being so big, keep 'em in the truck lanes on interstates. Make 'em suck diesel fumes all day. Make 'em feel the wind as a behemoth passes 'em at twice the speed of sound.

But, give 'em reeeeaaal up close spots at porn shops. Liddle winkies need their toys, yanno.

Wanna be a trucker? Truck this, mother trucker.

[allalone]

32. I have a 95 Buick sedan

which always thought is a really big car. (I used to have a Tercel)
But OMG where-ever I park, gigantic things park next to me. I'm trying to back out with zero visibility. It's an adventure. On the ferry last week, a thing pulled in next to me and I swear their mirror was higher than my car. We live on an island, people, 48 miles long. You need a monster car for this?

[Swamp Rat]

39. Support the troops. Don't buy an SUV.

[newportdadde]

46. The question is... do you really need one?

For some the answer is going to be yes and they have legitimate reasons, for others a larger Front Wheel drive car, like the Buick my family uses(huge trunk, roomy) or a mini-van will perform just fine. I would venture to say the majority could use a mini-van and not feel like they 'lost' anything through their normal drives and family functions.

The problem is SUVs became a status a symbol. Big and loud they appealed to people who like to show off they had a big wallet. Women felt 'safer' in them, men felt 'macho'. Yet as I drive down the highway 75% are always driven by that 35-45 year old married chick desperately trying to stay hot with the fake blond hair etc while they yap on the phone.

Of course this SUV use has effects on all of us. Higher gas consumption means higher gas prices. A higher vechile price point that is being paid allows other vechiles to bump up in price. More money spent on gas, takes away from money used to purchase products/services all of us make a living providing leading to less company profit, more layoffs etc etc.