Ban those SUVs
This article about California's SUV Ban, and which has been featured in MeFi and all places nice, has got me thinking.
Andy Bowers, the author, asked Janice Hahn, LA councilmember, about the repercussions and enforcement of that law, and she had no immediate answers. And it is highly unlikely that any state would try to enforce such a law, as there is clearly no political interest in doing so, and the benefits seem small, anyway.
BUT! What about insurance premiums and potential lawsuits? If someone is in an accident involving an SUV, one of the possible defenses could be that the SUV driver was on a street where these are prohibited, thus shifting responsibility to the SUV driver. If there is a collision, the people on the other car can always cite the dangerous and reckless behavior of the SUV driver, who willingly violated the limit on driving a 6000 lbs GVWR, and, presumably, put everyone in danger with their actions.
I do not expect the laws to change but to accommodate the SUV owners: They are the only reason Ford hasn't bought it yet, and the auto lobby is powerful. However, until that happens, it would be interesting to see how a ingenuous lawyer with some free time reacts to this. What about a revision of all SUV suits in the last years? What about increasing premiums, compensations and payments?
The dinosaurs were killed not by a meteorite, but by their insurance payments.