(Playing ‘In a Yugo’)
RUSH: But that time has come.
(Song continues)
RUSH: They saved a lot of gas, but they didn’t get far.
(Song continues)
RUSH: Ah, yes and I have here in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers, ladies and gentlemen, just a classic illustration of the tendency of Drive-Bys to really arrive late at obvious conclusions: ‘Americans are buying more small cars to cut fuel costs, and that might kill them.’ That’s how this story opens. The headline: ‘People Buy Small Cars Even Though They Could Be Deadly.’ Small cars are deadly now? I thought it was the SUV that was killing [people]. Well, it is, but not for the reason you might think now. ‘As a group, occupants of small cars are more likely to die in crashes than those in bigger, heavier vehicles are, according to data from the government, the insurance industry, and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The newest small vehicles, of course, meet today’s strict safety standards and can be laden with the latest safety hardware, such as stability control and side airbags. They are safer than ever. And differing designs mean some small cars are safer than average. But even the safest are governed by the laws of physics, which rule in favor of bigger, heavier vehicles, even in single-vehicle crashes.’ Well, especially in single-vehicle crashes. I mean, if you’re driving one of these little bubble cars, and you think you’re going to have a crash, go get a second or third bubble car to crash with you and you might overpower the SUV that’s going to hit you. ‘If the switch to smaller, lighter vehicles continues to grow, the result could be anywhere from dozens to thousands of traffic deaths that would have been avoided in bigger vehicles, according to…’ Do I need to read anymore? Is this not obvious and has it not been obvious for who knows how long?
I know the Democrats are trying to outlaw the laws of physics here, but this is something that everybody has had knowledge of. You don’t even need to have had one day in school to understand this! Well, what’s amazing here is [what happens when you try] to get everybody out of SUVs because SUVs are destroying the planet and they’re running into these little cars and killing them. Now all of a sudden, all these new deaths, all these new deaths because of people driving these little bubble cars. What’s a few thousand more deaths, folks? Because look at the impact on climate change that fewer people will have, fewer carbon footprints, fewer pollutions, fewer carbon emissions. By the way, you could put a Baby on Board sign in the back window of your little bubble car, and it ain’t going to help anybody. It ain’t going to help you and it ain’t going to help the baby. Now small cars are killers. ”Small vehicles have higher fatality rates than larger ones,’ the NAS report said. … A driver is up to twice as likely to die in a small car as in a midsize, just one step up the size scale, according to IIHS data. A 2003 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report showed similar results,’ and who is it that’s forcing people into these cars? It’s the government. Good old unintended consequences of well-intentioned, big-hearted liberals, trying to save the environment on a meaningless crusade, especially now since the ChiComs are out buying boats and big land yachts and SUVs. (chuckles) I’ll tell you this, folks, if you own a small car, don’t compound your risk by eating carrots.