While it may seem like SUVs receive a disproportionate amount of bad press (see Indians of the Concrete Jungle and FUH2 for our recent coverage), a study in the British Medical Journal provides yet another reason to SUV-bash.
In addition to guzzling gas, requiring extra resources to build, and taking up extra space, SUVs pose a dramatically increased risk to pedestrians compared to regular passenger cars. A collision between an SUV and a pedestrian is twice as likely to result in a fatality. In fact, researchers from
The increased danger posed by these killer cars stems from the design of the front ends of SUVs. Because of the higher platform and impact point, there is more force absorbed by a pedestrian’s upper leg and pelvis. Injuries to vital regions such as the head, thorax, and abdomen become twice as likely in these crashes.
The SUV phenomenon has come to resemble an arms race, with drivers feeling unsafe unless behind the wheel of a behemoth the scale of their fellow road warriors. Pedestrians, cyclists, and more conscientious drivers (i.e. in smaller cars) bear the brunt of this escalation. A great first step to a carectomy is to get out of our killer SUVs.
Photos via Flickr courtesy of Dr Doom & Megan Cole
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
First yes I saw the video’s, but turned it off when I realized it was college kids without a life. While I ride my bike a lot, my car is a 4×4 Mid size truck. Do I “need” it on a daily basis? No. Do I want it? yes. will I give it up? Maybe, only if it means I won’t have enough money to put the kids through private school. No, Redcoat, or red blooded American for that matter, pubescent college boy or girl that doesn’t have a real life and noting better to do than harass people in their cars will never convince me to get rid of my truck. But high gas prices and my 4 and 5 yr old sons will. I will say this its the safest thing on the road when it is a wet/slimy or icy road day.
So if I try and make you keep it, will you give it up then?