SUV ticket

The market for SUVs began rising significantly in the late 1990s and early 2000s, popularity caused by their perceived safety, versatility, and spaciousness. By 1999, US sales of SUVs and light trucks exceeded regular passenger car sales for the first time. Manufacturers heavily promoted SUVs due to their higher profit margins, leading to a shift away from sedans and station wagons.

Observing this upswell of popularity on Bay Area roads, longtime BAA member and transportation activist David Coale began the SUV Ticket campaign. The SUV Ticket was a tongue-in-cheek parking-ticket-style education tool that BAA+PCC activists placed on the windshields of SUVs in parking lots. It used humor to educate drivers to the myriad downsides to SUVs they might not be aware of, and contained a list of website links on the back for more information.

Safety criticisms

• ‍Rollover risk — SUVs had a higher center of gravity, making them prone to rollovers during sharp turns or single-vehicle accidents. Early models lacked stability control, leading to a rollover rate of up to 23% in crashes compared to 10% for passenger cars.‍
• Danger to other road users — Their large mass and high front-end profile increased the severity of collisions with smaller vehicles and pedestrians. SUVs were twice as likely to kill pedestrians and bicyclists in accidents.‍
• False sense of security — Drivers often felt overly secure, leading to riskier behavior, such as reduced seatbelt use and reckless driving.

Environmental criticisms

• ‍Poor fuel efficiency — SUVs consumed significantly more fuel than smaller cars, contributing to increased greenhouse gas emissions.
• ‍Manufacturing impact — Their larger size required more resources to produce, exacerbating environmental degradation.‍
• Market shift — The growing popularity of SUVs offset efficiency gains from smaller cars and electric vehicles, making them a major contributor to rising CO₂ emissions globally.

Mixed response

Not surprisingly, motorists were not always happy about the unsolicited critique.

‍J. Stewart of Santa Monica, CA, a self-described “extreme right wing conservative,” wrote to BAA to complain: “Dear Environmentalist Wackos: My wife was recently unnerved by one of your zealots who placed a parking ticket look-a-like notice on her windshield. This may not exactly be a crime of impersonating a law enforcement officer but it sure comes close. That your website encourages that kind of risky ‘assault’ is indicative of the so-called ‘environmentalist movement’. Killed any loggers with your spikes lately?...”

Coale made the SUV ticket available as a PDF for download on BAA’s early-2000s website. Evidently an unknown Southern California activist was using the tickets, as BAA certainly didn’t operate in Santa Monica.

“What about all your liberal Democrat friends in the state legislature who are chauffeured around in SUVs?“ continued Stewart’s letter. “Could it be that your true agenda is the destruction of capitalism? Of course it is! I think that it might be prudent for you to warn your ‘notice of violation’ ticketers that there are some of us out there who are of a mind to retaliate in ways that aren’t so ‘cute’ and ‘peaceful’.”

Stewart carefully declined to include his return address, but was certain to include NRA stickers on his envelope.

More than one BAA+PCCF member, however, reported changing their mind about an SUV purchase after learning about the poor safety and environmental record of SUVs.

From EcoAdvocate, vol 1 no 2 (2001): “BAA+PCC member Carol Milstein dropped by the other day and mentioned that after finding an SUV Ticket on her vehicle during her last visit, she and her husband traded in their gas guzzler for a smaller, fuel efficient car. And just in time for the skyrocketing gas prices… Thanks to our transportation guru David Coale, you can download and print your own SUV tickets from [the website].”

Also see Action vol 11 no 2.

Events

BAA and later BAA+PCCF organized multiple SUV Ticket events, putting SUV tickets on windshields in parking lots around the Peninsula.

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A Critical-Mass-style Awareness Ride on July 21, 2000, saw a group of BAA+PCCF members biking on ElCamino Real from Mountain View to Palo Alto, stopping at various locations and even giving them to drivers while stopped at traffic lights.