Rise of the 4X4 – Loss of My Sleeping Pattern By Pete J Ridgard At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

I am often prone to making terrible mistakes; often putting myself or others lives at risk. This has been a recurring theme throughout my life and I’m sure it will persist until the day I die...probably in some horrific incident of my own creation. One of the myriad of choices that has come back to bite me rather fervently on the bottom, was my insistence on moving into a flat on a school road. I moved in on the Sunday afternoon and regretted my decision at roughly 8 AM on the Monday. I was rudely awoken by streams of traffic roaring and whirring outside my (sadly single-glazed) window. I noticed that virtually every vehicle of the seemingly never-ending metallic pilgrimage bizarrely seemed to be a 4X4, in which sat one driver and one child. I marvelled at the sheer ridiculousness of the vision before me; hundreds of vehicles designed to hold many passengers, actually transporting a bare minimum. “The world has gone insane”, I mused to myself...there was no one round to hear me so my utterance went unnoticed.

It would appear that the country has gone slightly over-enthusiastic for the 4X4. It seems to have evolved into some kind of badge of honour, displaying privilege and wealth, despite the gas-guzzling engines draining money a lot faster than most of us would be able to accrue it. In conversation with others I speculated on the appeal of these vehicles.

“Why does a vehicle that is designed to spend a lot of time on dirt tracks represent classy living?”

“Why does a vehicle that is designed to spend a lot of time on farms spend its entire working life in towns and cities?”

“Why does a vehicle that has been designed to spend a lot of time struggling through mud and water spend the majority of its working life stood still in traffic jams?”

The answers to my curiosity, like a regular sleeping-pattern, were not forthcoming.

Further investigation revealed the majority culprits behind this unquestionable folly were mainly Range Rovers, Land Cruisers, Explorers and other large pollution machines with equally aspirational titles. By far the strangest title amongst the proverbial pigeons was the Volkswagen Touareg.

The Touareg has the distinct advantage over its competition of not looking too macho or imposing. Its rounded, sporty-looking body was the closest I had seen a 4X4 come to being described as ‘eye-candy’. Nevertheless, sit a parent with a disgruntled expression on their face along with a snotty-brat-child and any illusion of style is lost.

I, like the majority of British people, have apathy running through our D.N.A. We are all very much aware of climate change and genuinely want to slow down the effects that industrialisation has had on our planet, but with so much apathy in our bodies it is often hard to motivate ourselves to act in a positive manner. You can’t help but feel that those who drive 4X4s on a school run for just one child, might be taking one liberty slightly too many with our fragile environment.

My conclusion is thus; if you live in a town and want to buy a 4X4 for the daily school run, then please at least fill it to the brim with brats before setting off. It’s more environmentally conscious that way and I might be able to get some sleep in the mornings.

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