Why do people drive unnecessarily large cars?

I have a right to not like what you drive if it is huge for no reason...

Our roads are OK to be used used for tractors, with trailers, Articulated lorries, large vans, etc but not for SUV types?

I did drive a very small Kia Picanto, a tiny tiny car.

But back in 2000 I bought a year old (191) Ssangyong XLV ,, a much bigger car,, and now would never go back.

Not for any money..

Count the number of SUV's blocking this Bus which carry's 90 people, Vs. the numbers of emergency vehicles and camper vans blocking it?

(let's ignore all the parked cars for now)

I often see this scenario at St Mary's school Rathmines in the morning rush hour, with a big Volvo or Beamer jeep plonked across the bus lane when exiting the school, blocking what must be hundreds of people on buses and a bunch of cyclists too. Ignorant as hell.

And all to drive little Fiadh and Faolán 1km around the corner because it's "too dangerous" for them to walk or cycle (due to the numbers of oversized SUV cars on the roads)

Who decides what is "unnecessarily" large?

If someone has four kids, they may need an SUV or a seven seater.

Or they may just feel unsafe in a small car. I drove a fiat seicento for years, and I loved it, but I was regularly bullied on the road, sometimes dangerously, and most definitely on motorways.

I moved up to a punto, then a citroen C3, and now drive a micra, and I still get bullied sometimes (most recently was nearly ran of the M50 by a very aggressive truck driver) but not as much as when I drove the seicento.

I would love an VW UP or VW Fox, but I will never go back to "the smallest possible" car for my needs, ever again.

Just my two cents worth.

You had them at “a load of sh1te”

The reality is that these types who want to dictate how people live just want to impose their own tastes and hobbies on others. It’s nothing to do with safety or the environment. In Galway the former chair of one of the cycling lobbying groups is a particularly odious individual who criticises all and sundry who dare to drive SUVs or pretty much anything, but drives a big VW van himself, bigger than any SUV. That’s the type of hypocrisy that’s behind all these “concerns”

Hatred of so called SUVs is imported from loony cycling and ecowarriors in the US. SUVs there are literally trucks. What we have in Ireland are much smaller and a complete non issue

Another one missing the point.

In my case at least, the argument wasn't that too much space was being taken over, but that the roads weren't capable of handling vehicles that big.

This is, objectively, a giant pile of horseh1t and demonstrably false.

In your first example the bus would have been similarly blocked by the same number of large saloon cars badly parked.

In the second one the driver deserved to be fined for parking in a disability spot.

Your surely not suggesting that only pickups park badly or in disability spots.

People who drive large cars they don't need are greedy and selfish. You could drive a smaller car, and save some destruction of the planet, and even use the money you save to give to the poor and starving on the planet. The truth hurts.

Why ?

Two benefits ...

(1) Reduce destruction of the planet. That's free.

(2) Money saved ... you can optionally keep it or give to the poor..

What's not to like ?

What you class as "need" differs. To use a car analogy, your mileage may vary.

And to say that they could even give some extra money to the poor and the starving? Well you don't NEED to use the internet or a laptop. There are libraries that offer that service for public and cafés that offer free wifi.

Why don't you cancel something you don't need and give that money to the homeless? Or would you agree you are being greedy and selfish? Do you need a television?

Also, bike users should be called greedy and selfish too if they buy a top of the range bike. They should buy second hand and give to Bernardos.

The truth does indeed hurt.

Pity he hadn't a relative or acquaintance with a blue badge and all would have been well in the world.

As I said before it's the Govts fault that these Rangers and the like are so popular. Easily solved if they had the appetite.

Having said that the all encompassing hatred to all things SuV is tiresome at this stage IMO