A Doctor's Opinion

Congratulations for having the foresight (and the guts!) to try and combat the nonsense that the mainstream media publishes about 4WDs.

According to some ‘journalists’, and rat-bag safety fascists, those who choose to drive 4WD vehicles are big, dumb, rude, anti-social people who don’t give a damn about pedestrians and other motorists. Opinions displaying how little they know about our society and the world in which they live.

My wife and I have owned 4WDs for almost ten years, and the 4WD-owning people we have met during this time have mostly been very pleasant, courteous, law-abiding citizens with similar interests to ourselves; camping, touring, skiing etc.

As a GP, I welcome the opportunities to get away from the stresses of city life and recharge my batteries, in places where a 4WD is the only sane form of transport.

Are 4WD vehicles dangerous? They can be. Just as other conveyances, such as cars, motorcycles, boats, aircraft, and even snow skis, are when something unforeseen happens. Life can be a deadly place - but that doesn’t mean we should fear living it.

Our latest 4WD, a Jeep Commander CRD turbo-diesel, is proof that – far from being purveyors of weapons of mass destruction – the manufacturers are making safer, and more economical, vehicles than have ever existed in the history of the automobile. Our new Jeep features unitary construction, ABS, traction-control on all four wheels, three locking differentials, electronic stability control, electronic roll-mitigation, front and side airbags and many other design features to enhance occupant and pedestrian safety. In the USA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration awarded the Jeep the maximum 5-Star rating for front impact crash protection.

On a recent trip to the outback of Australia, with two adults, three children and the usual ‘necessities’, the Jeep used less than 9 litres per 100km. That’s better than 30mpg! Hardly a major threat to the world’s oil reserves.

Contributor's name withheld by request.