Whoever buys a Hummer, or a big ugly Toyota truck for that matter, only cares about him/herself. Let me qualify that: they're only *capable* of thinking about themselves.

This just doesn't work in the 21st century.

My proposal: tax vehicles by gross weight. Lighter vehicles tear the road up much less, and present less of a hazard to other, innocent folks.

Really, this is it. It's back up to more than $3 per gallon in CA. People are going to have to start buying smaller, more-efficient cars because they aren't going to want to have to choose between gas and food.

Also, it is totally true that most people in giant FU-mobiles drive like entitled jerks who are putting the rest of us in danger on the road. Who doesn't have a story about almost being smeared across the highway by some a-hole in a Suburban? That's right - Suburban drivers.

My behemoth road hog has more "smashing power" than your widget car, therefore I am safer. I do not care that you and your family may be squished like flies, and it is my god-given right to abide by much more lax smog standards than you have to with your Kia.

Of course, I really believe that I NEED my guzzler because gosh, at least twice a year I have more than two people riding with me. And lord forbid I should actually have to walk two blocks to the Stop-and-Rob for my big gulp. Or ride my dusty schwinn. What if the neighbors were to see?

My SUV (Sodomized Unocal Victim) gets 2.3 dead soldiers to the mile, and I don't care if your Honda sedan does better. I don't need to worry about handling and weaving through traffic jams because inconsiderate prick that I am, I'll simply keep gabbing on my phone and plow right through the lot of you.

And while we're at it, I'm going to tell my local pro football team to not draft big linemen, as they can pose a danger to the other players! Leave it to a lib to come up with this perspective...but I bet he/she'd rather put his 16-yr old child in a larger car!

You said "Finally, I have a sort of tow-bar rule - unless the SUV has a tow-bar, it is pretty obvious that the driver does not need it; even then, I would rent a truck when I had to tow something."

What pathetic drivel. I have a small hybrid SUV because I have 4 Siberian huskies, I drive in heavy snow on big mountains, and I carry a dog sled and related equipment on the roof. Your tow bar rule is pure BS.

It depends on where you go -- on a country by country basis Japan and Europe by law require the bars on the side as well as the front. The US has come to require them for simply liability reasons; i.e., if there is an accident your lawyers will tell you that the failure to have such bars will be a huge liability issue - and so insurers demand it too. On the mudflaps - they are mandatory in Europe as is the tachograph (which the drivers hated originally.) To these would add brake requirements, vehicle weighing etc. as largely about the safety of oter road users (as are driving licenses.)

Seth -- you are simply incorrect in what you are saying. The regulations are not that different (the US essentially the EU with a few less tests) -- rather it will take 18 months for FIAT to put in place the distribution and parts channels and do the tests (even if they buy Chrysler they have no US support infrastructure for any Fiat's right now, just Ferraris and Maseratis.) The new FIAT 500 is built on the FIAT Panda platform which is very robust and flexible and for a FIAT is regarded as a remarkably high quality car (these days FIATs are boringly reliable and solid.) Will Americans buy it, well that is a tougher question.

As far as safety is concerned what is worrying is that the same car, e.g., the Chevy Malibu can get a US 5-star rating but an EU 4-star rating. The main reason is that it performed badly on the frontal impact test in Europe which includes an oblique or collision offset test, driver's side to driver's side (which is more realistic.) US cars are built to meet the more lax US tests, which in turn reflect US manufacturer lobbying.

The main reason the old Focus platform was offered in the US rather than the newer C1 platform was cost -- and even then they defeatured the old European Focus for the US.

The "rear bar' as you put it; or ICC bumper as it's known; has been around since the sixties. It's probably the one safety feature put on trucks besides the obvious 'lights'; to help other drivers. It's secondary purpose is to prevent the brake airlines from being severed in a collision. As for "side bars", (whatever they are), "sprayless mudflaps" and electronic tracking of driver behavior ; all are optional and not required at all. Fleets might choose to install them for insurance and PR purposes; just like anti jackknifing devices; but it's their call. Having been in the transportation business for over thirty years I can say there's very little on the modern truck that is designed to protect other drivers. Because in the real world, those 'other drivers' have safety features on their vehicles designed to protect them also.

It's solid enough.

Just an article that confirms the effort required to meet US safety and environmental regulations.

http://rumors.automobilemag.com/6550655/news/fiat-500-being-readied-at-chrysler-headquarters-for-us-market/index.html

Here you go again. The argument isn't about which country has the best safety standards. This issue is that the US safety standards are different and one of the results is that our car options are less efficient. You cannot continue to say that all European market cars exceed US safety standards because that's just not true.

Here's a good example because it's current. Fiat just brought Chrysler and both the company, dealers and consumers are excited to welcome the Fiat 500 to US shores. We are looking at a minimum of 18 months before it arrives. But wait, MacK.. says that the Fiat 500 already exceeds all US safety and environmental standards. So why does it take 18 months? How long does it take to change the km/hr to m/hr? Well, the reality is that there are a lot of US safety regulations from airbags, to LATCH, to electronic safety systems, to roof strength that are different from what is required in Europe. As such, the Fiat 500 will take another 18 months to arrive and I wouldn't be surprised if it is somewhat less efficient from it's European counterpart when it does.

(Here is a short article on the introduction of the Fiat 500 that mentions US safety standards and regulations that must be met before the car is imported.)