Small Cars

Small cars are getting to me. I mean the imports--the coupes, sedans, even pickups. They are super-responsive. They dart from one place to another. On the freeways, I find them coming up fast behind me. Speed limits are ignored. I try to keep out of their way. If there is a space in front of me, they zip across lanes. On surface streets, a yellow light is a signal to floor the accelerator.

One of them burst through the intersection in front of my office the other day as the yellow light was changing to red. A bigger car started forward on the green. Result: The little car looked like a squashed tin can. Its driver was taken to the hospital.

Small cars, because of their speed and mobility, must give their drivers a feeling of power and indestructibility. But they are hardly a match for big U.S. cars in crunching contact. They make me nervous. They have spawned a breed of impatient drivers.

H.M. WAMMACK JR.

Glendale