Why doesn't everyone drive small cars?

 As I sit here, sipping my morning coffee, the news reports are talking about gas prices finally dropping after hitting all time highs. 

Now, certainly, this is good news!  Gas prices have climbed so high so quickly that it has put a tremendous strain on people's finances, especially as we have also been struggling with the cost of EVERYTHING else going up thanks to inflation. 

But at the same time that the reporter is talking about gas prices coming down and likely to drop further over the next few weeks, he also cautions that severe weather in parts of the country could slow or halt gas production, sending prices back up!

And my first thought is we've been through this before, but never learn. 

Why doesn't everyone drive a small car? 

Now don't get me wrong, I fully realize that some people need a big car or SUV to haul around the kids, and others a rugged SUV to deal with dirt roads, and others still pickup trucks to haul around cargo. 

But it seems most EVERYONE is buying trucks, SUVs whether they need them or not.

You drive down the highway and look at all these people going down the road, one person per vehicle and you have to ask why? Why would you want the expense of a bigger vehicle? It costs more to buy, more to drive. Why would you want to pay for something you're not really using? 

Can you imagine going to a restaurant and ordering dinner for 4 but dining by yourself? Can you imagine doing this every day and justifying it with well you never know when I might need to feed a few friends? 

Can you imagine being a single person and buying a 4 bedroom house because I might have guests? 

And while there are other reasons to embrace small cars, less parking congestion in cities, more maneuverable, uses less resources to manufacture, you really don't have to cram yourself into a tiny subcompact (though some are pretty roomy inside) to find a vehicle that would still achieve pretty good MPG numbers. 

I'm not sure where to go with this, but if you're complaining about the cost of gas, (or food, electricity, heating fuel, etc.)  and you're driving a really fuel efficient car, grocery shopping to take advantage of the sales, shutting of the AC when you're not home, and lowering the heat, I sympathize. There are whole bunch of folks who are so vulnerable to rising costs and have very little ability to absorb that rising costs into their budgets.  

But, if you're driving the big SUV just because it's what you want, or running AC's in every room, or cranking the heat up in the winter, ask yourself what are YOU doing to make things more affordable for yourself?