Science Musings Blog

Add my voice to those bemoaning the influx of SUVs into Europe. Yes, they are impractical in the inner cities of London or Paris, but more alarming is coming face-to-face with one on the backroads of Kerry or Wales.

I spent quite of bit of time driving on these country roads the past two weeks, in my rental car, an oddly-proportioned Toyota Minutiae or some such. A car that small is decidedly necessary to navigate rural Irish roads. An SUV, on the other hand, is grossly inappropriate. I came close a few times to being sucked into the wheel well of one of these invading leviathans as they came barreling around the corner of a narrow country lane. I would have rattled around a few times and then been spit out into the gorse bushes.

I expect if that had happened I would have returned my Toyota and asked for the latest Ford Behemoth. Eat or be eaten!