According to a recent article in Kauai’s Garden Island news, seven out of 10 people drive trucks on Kauai? (Kauai keeps on trucking) Whenever I drive my Hyundai Accent I am dwarfed by monster pickup trucks, usually tailgating me. My
According to a recent article in Kauai’s Garden Island news, seven out of 10 people drive trucks on Kauai? (Kauai keeps on trucking)
Whenever I drive my Hyundai Accent I am dwarfed by monster pickup trucks, usually tailgating me.
My observation is that many people driving these huge monster trucks with four doors and a backseat are not in construction, landscaping or a handyman needing them for their profession but rather the average citizen just wanting something big to drive.
Psychology teaches us that those with big trucks may be compensating for something else, according to Sigmund Freud?
Many consider Kauai the alternative island with many environmentalists, yet 70 percent of the population is driving gas-guzzling pickups and SUVs. Why?
It’s ironic with only 416 miles of paved roads on Kauai that huge powerful pickup trucks and SUVs make up the majority of motor vehicles. It gives little space to open throttle with the average speed of 40 mph or less on most roads. This is the reason why so many tailgate. No where to go with powerful vehicles.
My other theory is that with real estate being so out of sight for the average person — with fixer-upper homes capable of costing in excess of $500,000 in many situations — that a good majority make their vehicle their pride and joy just as real estate once was for generations past.
Many young people are paying $40,000 to $60,000 on vehicles. How do they afford it? They finance it! Their payments are like a mortgage payment while many young people live two to three generations in the same home with aging relatives.
Real estate usually appreciates and is considered a wise investment whereas a $50,000 vehicle depreciates the second you drive it out of the showroom and to be making big payments on something that is rapidly depreciating is ludicrous.
All in all, Kauai is a beautiful place, however, if you choose to drive be prepared to be closely tailed by a monster pickup truck. I guess it’s better than being tailed by an officer of the law with his flashing lights on, or is it?
•••
James Kimo Rosen is a Kapaa resident.
