Friday, March 07, 2008
Do 4WDs belong in cities?
A recent public opinion survey by AAMI found that 60% of the 2380 licensed drivers surveys believed 4WDs did not belong in cities, while 33% thought driving a four wheel drive was socially unacceptable due to the greenhouse emissions. You can read the news article here. What do you think about 4WDs in our cities, and what do you think government policy should be on them?
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2 comments:
I agree and think a carbon tax at registration time should be paid to help reduce the desire for heavy vehicles.
The only objection I have concerning 4WDs is that so many people spend above their means (go into debt) on unnecessary goods. Careless and unnecessary spending in this way harms our collective financial situation as a nation.
4WDs may serve for some people a similar function as a station wagon, ute or van. It is not necessary to have 4WD for most such purposes, but there is little difference in the size of vehicle. For some it may be a work or business vehicle. Some people use them for off-road recreational purposes.
For these people, using 4WDs also for normal travel may be the economical choice, since the alternative is to pay for the purchase, registration and maintenance of two vehicles.
Penalising these people with higher rego fees could just discourage them further from buying an additional, regular car for on-road travel. It would also be unfair to them - particularly if it is for work/business use.
Which is worse "environmentally" anyway - consuming more fuel and producing more emissions, or using more resources to manufacture more vehicles?
Many SUVs are quite small (e.g. RAV-4s) and are the size of an average car anyway. Even some bigger 4WDs (e.g. Toyota Hilux) have only 4-cyinder engines. A Falcon or Commodore has a 6 engine.
Government policy should be to stay out of people's private affairs so we can make the right choices for ourselves.
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