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02/20/2004 Entry: "The Overwhelming Demands of the Road."

There's an excellent Malcom Gladwell article on SUV "safety". Besides the expected "dwarfed car/intellegent driver" bit early in the article, this passage jumped out at me, like a burbrat playing four square:

For years, we've all made fun of the middle-aged man who suddenly trades in his sedate family sedan for a shiny red sports car. That's called a midlife crisis. But at least it involves some degree of engagement with the act of driving. The man who gives up his sedate family sedan for an S.U.V. is saying something far more troubling--that he finds the demands of the road to be overwhelming. Is acting out really worse than giving up?

Since a hybrid reports the gas mileage constantly during a trip, it also gives an enormous sense of engagement. I hope this doesn't count as my midlife crisis. That's not scheduled for another twenty years or so !

In other news the Totsplat 2004 National Tour visited Northern Virginia this week.