LOCAL GROUP PRANKS PARK SLOPE SUV DRIVERS

Sport utility vehicle drivers in Park Slope were given an unpleasant surprise last weekend: parking tickets. These were no ordinary parking tickets, however-no fines were levied. And the violations included "Polluting twice as much as regular cars," "Increasing U.S. reliance on foreign oil" and "Sloth."

The parking tickets were distributed in conjunction with a curious new crop of traffic signs. The signs, which read "NO SUV PARKING," were erected Saturday night, December 15, throughout Park Slope. Shortly after the signs were posted, over 600 vehicles within the vicinity were served with tickets.

The tickets and traffic signs were created by Public Works, a Park Slope collective concerned about the hazards of SUVs. For example:

• SUVs get as low as 3 miles per gallon and increase America's reliance on foreign oil.
• SUVs can spew 30 percent more carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons and 75 percent more nitrogen oxides than passenger cars. These pollutants contribute to eye and throat irritation, coughing, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, confusion and headaches. (Motor Vehicle Facts and Figures, 1997, American Automobile Manufacturers Association, p. 84.)
• According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, passengers in a car are four time more likely to die if they collide with an SUV than a car. A 1999 study by the NHTSA concluded that 2,000 people killed in car crashes would have survived if their vehicles had been hit by heavy cars instead of heavy SUVs. And light trucks and SUVs are twice as likely to cause a fatality in the struck car than a passenger car of comparable weight. (Traffic Safety Facts 1996: A Compilation of Motor Vehicle Crash Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the General Estimates System. DOT HS 808 649, Washington, DC, December, 1997, p. 64; New York Times, "Study Cites Fatal Design of Sport Utility Vehicles," March 2, 1999. )

A spokesperson for Public Works said the group hopes to encourage SUV drivers to think about how their vehicles impact the larger community. "But our primary audience is less SUV drivers than the people who may hear about this project second- or third-hand," she said. "If we can prevent even one Park Slope driver from buying an SUV, we'll consider it a success."

Public Works has created a bulletin board, where ticket recipients can leave feedback.

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"Every increase of one mile per gallon in auto fuel efficiency yields more oil than is in two Arctic National Wildlife Refuges. An improvement right now of 2.7 miles per gallon would eliminate our need for all Persian Gulf oil."--Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., New York Times, November 24, 2001

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