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SPORT utility vehiclesare among the most popular vehicles in the US, but Jeffrey Runge isn’t impressed in the least. As the US government’s road safety chief, and a former ERdoctor, he’s calling on the automobile industry to make these beefed-up hybrids of cars and vans much safer. In testimony to Congress last week, he said that some types of SUV are so dangerous that he will not let members of his own family drive them.

But if Runge is right, why does his ultimate boss, George W. Bush, want people to buy even more SUVs? The answer is that the…

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