Foxy,

If you are coming to see the funny side to some cranky old girl and her shopping centre carpark rage, that is good. There are a lot of frustrations in getting old if you let them get to you. Particularly if you are carer.

Most women are going to be old for a very long time. So, becoming philosophical about life is a good thing and an option. It can be worthy work for life's Third and Final Trimester. New glasses are an option. You can invent a new you.

Gail Sheehy might appeal to you. Not my cup of tea but some women find her helpful if a little long in explanation.

Here you go to brighten you day,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGEe_zpddNI

Or this one if you are determined to grouch,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCfEgQ93r6M

Went to the shopping center today, the car park was chockers. The only 'parking spot' I could find was between the Hindenburg and The Spruce Goose. You wouldn't want to know it, when I returned some inconsiderate A hole, had parked the Queen Mary in front of me, and another equally inconsiderate AH has parked a bloody Super Tanker behind me. Do you know how long it took me to extricate my 400 tonne mining truck from that tight park! Next time the 'Cheese and Kisses' wants a pint of milk, I think I'll walk, after all its only, 100 yards from home! Then again maybe I'll catch the bus or a train, maybe a ferry, a bit far to WALK!

Yes Luddy, I think they are safer. You only have to see what happens to small cars, when a larger car runs up the back of them, to know you wouldn't put your kids in one.

4WDs are not all that top heavy either. They have lots of weight down low, with all those heavy transmission components down there.

My son has gone a bit crazy with his 3.0 Liter turbo diesel Ford Ranger. Originally he used it to get to out of the way places, but now he is going off road 4WD driving for it's own sake.

With lift kits raising the body, big diameter wheel, huge tyres, & heavy duty suspension, his thing now has a higher center of gravity, & must be compromised to some extent for normal road use. Still I'd rather he was testing himself at 2 miles per hour on a rough bush track, than hooning around the place at a hundred MPH in a V8 Holden.

I do wish someone would pinch his off road motorbike though, those things are really dangerous.

Classify them as trucks and make people have a truck licence and log books, This would be no problem for someone with a legitimate excuse to have one but would be a pain for the average motorist, Get the damned things off the streets and into the hands of people who use them properly.

Part of the problem is government driven cost of ownership. If you need or want a 4WD for some usage (towing, camping etc) and keep a smaller vehicle for around town usage you pay full rego on each vehicle. You can get insurance based on km's travelled (I don't) but no allowance for usage on vehicles. Its an all or nothing scenario.

R0bert

its well known/how heavey vehicle=more road wear
plus the environmental damage the hoons do in paddocks national parks and the out back[tyou see them on tv being idiots/they should pay the cost/lets fasce it..their tyres cost twice as much[ANS ARE TWIUCe the size twice the width/but also over size/WAStefull..its like yank tanks dont mean safe tank..[if your careless or fearfull/thats a lot of danger right there/it can run over marathons of people/and imagining frail granny wanting her safty

if ya cany beat em join em..you will look great in your brandnew jeep
not that i like to think of you as a granny/but sometimes..just to help me sleep.

but do the numbers..the extra weight=extra damages to produce and for its designed use/diesal fuel should be 4 dollars the litre..AND TYRES TWO GRAND A PIECE...AND IF SPEEDING OR ANY ROAD OFFENCE IS DOUBLE FOR 4 WHEELS SIZE[ALMOST WROTE DRIVE BUT GUIDS WENT NUTS]apparently lawyers could run a 6 lane freeway through the difference/two wheel drive the size of a fourwqheel drive=its about the size not the drive[i think thats called unexpected consequence.]