Wanna Drive My Car?
Obviously in this society, if you have money a lot of time there tends to be special treatment behind it. Not always, but you see it with famous people getting free junk all the time with swag bags or free meals for eating at resturants. It annoys me, but eh, i will never be famous and while i think it's not fair it's their business.
What annoys me is special preference for those who drive Hybrids. Maybe it's sour grapes on my part because as much as I wanted one, i could not afford a Hybrid vehicle when it was buying time. I fell in love with the Escape Hybrid. My neighbour drove one because she worked for the city and got the perk of driving a city car (although she shouldn't have been but that's another story for another day). An Escape Hybrid would have offered me the space i needed to haul my massage table and chair about without asking for help from my dad, sister or brother who drove Explorers. I would be able to hit up the garden centers not worrying about the load i was putting in with bags and bags of humus and flats of plants. (I'm a gardner who has issues with growing from seeds.) Deals i would find at Home Depot on opened bags that couldn't be sold retail...yet my little blue Sundance shouldn't have taken the weight. I would have bags in the trunk, in the back seat and in the passenger seat and on the floor.
I needed a good car. i wanted a Hybrid. I desired the Escape Hybrid...i couldn't afford it. Bottom line. I couldn't afford anything with the label Hybrid in it to be honest. I'm not a fantatical eco person...but i do my part (recycle,composting, support my local farms, gardening,drive the speed limit or five miles above -- AB can vouch for the last one!). I do believe that Hybrids should be more affordable and the oil companies need to use those tax credits they were given to look for alternative energy or allow the stations to put in alternative fuel pumps (but that is a whole other post). Unfortunately that isn't the case.
So what's this special treatment that annoys me. It started with Danny Seo's post on his blog Simply Green. I adore this guy and what he brings to the table in terms of eco living. What bugged me wasn't Danny, but in learning that during a trip to San Francisco he found that hotels were giving Hybrid cars free valet parking. That just opened the door to learn that in certain states Hybrid owners get free passes to drive in the car pool lane, or here in New Haven and various cities Hybrids get free parking on the streets. I have no problem with giving the tax credit the feds gave for those who purchased....but to add in all these perks just annoys me. What about those who can't afford a Hybrid. Why punish them with rules and fees because their pockets weren't deep enough to afford such car.
I have nothing against Hybrids. I think they are awesome. But special treatment, shouldn't be given beyond the original tax credits.
Speaking of Hybrids, i have to say as much as i do adore them...Prius drivers in CT on the parkway are insane. If my research is correct and speaking with a few owners (including a Ford Escape Hybrid owner at the gas station one day -- yup i love that car so much i will strike up a conversation with owners of said car), they get the better mileage from city driving. So a Prius, while still getting higher mileage than lets say a Yukon non Hybrid but my non Hybrid Escape gets better mileage than a Yukon, is really not doing much for it's MPG when flying by at 80 plus on the parkway. And i see it every day during my travels on the road. Drivers of Hybrids flying by, non hybrids too, but for some reason i find the hybrid speeders more interesting especially when they hit the gas going downhill. I have seen more cars out there trying to get the most of the gas by staying at the speed limit or close to it - hypermileing. That is a good thing, but there needs to be more work on that.