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SUV driver harrassing cyclists"Increasingly at risk of fatal injuries": Danger to cyclists posed by larger, heavier cars laid bare by new research
New large-scale analysis of more than 300,000 road collisions between 2017 and 2021 has detailed the extent to which heavier, larger vehicles are putting cyclists and pedestrians at an increased risk of suffering serious or fatal injuries in the case of a collision.
The research comes thanks to the Vias institute, formerly known as the Belgian Road Safety Institute, and saw the characteristics of vehicles involved in collisions analysed. Factors such as mass, height and age were noted alongside the severity of injuries sustained by the vehicle's occupants, and those suffered by occupants of any other vehicle involved, or pedestrians and cyclists.
The height of a car's bonnet was seen as one factor that can increase the risk of fatal injuries to vulnerable road users. A pedestrian or cyclist hit by a car whose bonnet is 90cm high was found to have a 30 per cent greater risk of fatal injuries than if they are hit by a vehicle whose bonnet is 10cm lower.
When the researchers looked at vehicle type there were also implications for cyclists, the risk of serious injury increasing by 90 per cent and the risk of fatal injuries increasing by almost 200 per cent when a pedestrian or cyclist is hit by a pick-up vehicle.
"Two-speed road safety"
Vias concluded that the increase in heavy, tall and powerful cars on the roads meant "two-speed road safety", whereby the risks to the larger vehicle's occupants and other road users is drastically different.
"On the one hand, passengers in these more robust vehicles are increasingly safer; on the other, vulnerable users and occupants of smaller cars (lower mass and power) are increasingly at risk of serious or fatal injuries," the study concludes, saying it is "essential" to slow down the increasing production of heavier cars.
"Of course, the increase in the mass of cars is partly explained by the massive presence of driving aids, but also by increased comfort, greater sound insulation and increasingly thick body pillars. This study clearly shows that it is essential to slow down this increase, to move towards a more homogeneous fleet and to better protect vulnerable users in the event of collision with cars," Vias says.
Disparity in weight leading to disparity in risk was also seen when looking at collisions involving two cars. In the case of a crash between a 1,600kg car and a 1,300kg car, the risk of fatal injuries decreases by 50 per cent for the occupants of the heaviest car, while it increases by almost 80 per cent for the occupants of the lighter car.
The research around taller bonnets posing more danger to cyclists backs up another study published in April of this year. Research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in the United States, found that SUVs' large front ends are more dangerous to cyclists than other cars.
The study found that crashes with SUVs resulted in 55 per cent more trauma and 63 per cent more head injuries than crashes with other cars, owing to taller front-end designs, the lead author suggesting that vehicles with taller front ends run down vulnerable road users, while other cars tend to vault collision victims over.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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81 comments
We are all at danger from two wheelers who think that normal rules of the road don't apply to the them , red lights means cars stop cyclists carry on , signals no need drivers can read minds , lights no need drivers can see in the dark , and the whole lane is for bikes so ride in the middle and stop anyone passing , and there's def no need to look when pulling out at a junction just pull out right in front of the truck he can stop in 1mtre can't he , and of course if it's easier ride down the right side of the road just to keep things interesting
Have you been following me on my daily commute?
BINGO!
But seriously, you do understand that the article is a discussion about the dangers to *everyone else* of oversized SUV? It wasn't intended for you to shoehorn in your personal list of "this one time I saw..." grievances, m'kay?
We are all at danger from two wheelers who think that normal rules of the road don't apply to the them , red lights means cars stop cyclists carry on
Another apparently new thickhead- is this one a retread as they so often are?
https://upride.cc/incident/ye10aju_mini_redlightcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/ds6972_porsche_redlightpass/
https://upride.cc/incident/fd67nej_bmw420_redlightcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/pk68zfl_32tonnetipper_redlightcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/t90jdt_audiwithcaravan_rljatspeed/
https://upride.cc/incident/pn68kpg_hiluxtrailer_redlightcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/dl66xgz_lcctraffic_redlightpass/
etc. etc. All drivers forgiven by Lancashire Constabulary because 'everybody does it'- the mode of forgiveness is, of course, by ignoring the report
Yawn
Have a watch of this for the standard of driving.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=eLLRHzIdEXQ&si=HwenT33NgPCGSosM
Still, you'll be back at school soon.
I enjoyed your caper and waving of your pig-bladder. Not because you are a good jester but because you are so inept at the craft! Your jesticulations are hackneyed and stale. Perhaps you should be sent to the kitchens to scrub the floors?
Anyway, must try harder.
Perhaps a small and outrageous monkey-companion would help? There are several hereabouts, although they're all very tatty, no longer able to jump convincingly, with thin and feeble screech.
"We are all at danger from two wheelers who think that normal rules of the road don't apply to the them , red lights means cars stop cyclists carry on , signals no need drivers can read minds , lights no need drivers can see in the dark , and the whole lane is for bikes so ride in the middle and stop anyone passing.."
So true Willywillygut. Just the other day I may have seen out the corner of my eye while driving my Wankpanzer GT 5 litre turbo and ranting on WhatsApp at the same time, a Lycra Lout plough into a bus, as it overtook him on one of those ridiculous 20mph zones.
His bicycle tore a gash along the length of the bus and passengers were screaming in fear, IMO. Then this utter road thug just rode off, without paying road tax and through five red lights.
Later, I saw two cyclists riding in my lane without any regard for my superior Rights to the road that I pay tax for. WTF! I mean, who the hell do they think they are, human?
Bloody cyclists are such a danger to us all. It's time they were banned from my roads, because I'm a Careful Understanding Nice Tweeter.
It seems MPV type cars (5 seats plus 2 folding seats, estate car style) are no longer made by any manufacturer except in an SUV style with a higher blunter front end. So if you need / want this type of car new, the only option is SUV (and in due course will dominate used market), except some van style (Berlingo) models. I checked the Citroen models out of interest and these are definatly rated worse for outside occupants in collisons than the older models. Why are we going backwards? There seems no control on what is being allowed to be sold...
I was sadened to hear a few weeks ago that Volvo will not be selling saloons or estates in the UK. So it's vanity behemoth or nothing from them.
It may seem unclear why road safety for those not inside the gasguzzlers and urban tanks is not part of the design remit for these monstrous maiming and murdering machines. The suppliers and pushers of these apparently addictive machines will shrug it off as "the evolution of market forces" - a handy "natural" phenomenon they like to refer to when avoiding any responsibility for the many deleterious effects of their dangerous stuff.
But, as with all manufactured and retailed items in the neolib market place, the design and the adverts employ large dollops of human psychology to discover then profit from those things that the less salubrious aspects of human nature can be made to crave. Size, power, speed, height and a general feeling of being invulnerable in a tank-like thing, in the case of SUVs.
We hoi-polloi are very sheep-like. We herd in the fashion pens quite readily. If a manufacturer and its retailers can herd us into spending loadsa money for literally more stuff (much bigger and more expensive cars) they'll do so. Its apparently their job to "grow" their business and profits .... and, nowadays, to exclude all other concerns.
*********
When the NHS is fully privatised, very soon now, it won't be a surprise if car manufacturer financiers are also eager to buy into "accident" victim repair facilities. Or funeral parlours. Market opportunities multiplied by maiming and murder machines! Buy your shares in them all now!!
This is really valuable work, being
a - European, SUVs here being different to U Light Trucks in that they follow normal safety regs.
b - The first work I have seen on this done since about 2005.
The prevalence of these huge SUV and pickups does mean that I don't feel the slightest guilt at taking primary position through various chicanes I use. It's not like those things are able to fit through and pass me - not even a close pass, the only way they'd fit through the chicane if I was there would be if they drove over the top of me.
And very few motorists are likely to actualy do that...
Depends. I witnessed a father with a toddler aboard cycling round the outer edge of a small city roundabout with his young (8yrs approx) daughter following behind. A motorist in an SUV cut him up but he managed to proceed, he was continuing around to the next exit, the motorist was coming off. It was close enough that the father paused and remonstrated with the driver, which drew the driver's attention.
So, whilst gesticulating at the father the driver proceeds to exit the roundabout, driving completely unawares over the bicycle of the young girl who was gamely following her dad.
By some miracle the girl escaped with only scratches - her leg had been trapped under the bike but the SUV's front wheel surmounted the bike's pedal sparing her ankle beneath.
It occurred to me that from the driver's seat he could not even see the girl on her bike as he exited the roundabout, she would have been obscured behind the high flank of the SUV. He had not spotted her earlier as he was too preoccupied with ranting at the father.
...
Fortunately the US is an ocean away. The most sold car there is the Ford F-150 and it is just huge.
Nevertheless even in Europe electrification adds a few extra hundreds kg to cars, that have already got seriously fat during the early 2000 when EuroNCAP standards became important (for good) and today SUV trends may make them even heavier.
So what is the solution? It is simple for me, just add serious annual vehicle weight tax , with reasonable exempts for parents. Weight (and it's correlated volume) kills more easily other road users, takes more space on the road and parking. need more energy thus having greater carbon footprint and degrades local air quality if not electric. Today A-segment cars can have fantastic ride quality, 5 stars at crash tests and big guys like me can fit in them. If you add a good rooftop cargo carrier you can have some great luggage space too.
I see no practical reason for tiny ladies driving huge SUVs, whereas they could be do their errands in VW E-Up.
It would be interesting to see if Euro NCAP pedestrian ratings agree. This does not of course account for trends in driving 'style' linked to particular vehicle types.
I see no practical reason for parents driving huge SUVs, whereas their offspring could easily fit in a VW E-Up.
FTFY
if you are carrying a delicate cargo, drive more carefully!
Huge SUVs maybe not, but they definitely need some space extra. I know two kid families who go on 2weeks camping vacations with a B-Segment car and a rooftop cargo but I believe that this is the lower limit and only for disciplined families.
SUVs are mostly a trend, past gravel roads are getting more and more and paved, yet people increasingly buy them.
My experience with roads in the UK, is that roads which are paved, are becoming more like gravel.
My feeling is that VED should be linked to GVW. And when ICE cars finally disappear and are replaced by EVs, road user charging will be introduced. The GVW should be a multiplier so that a user of say a 2tonne vehicle will pay 4x the charge of a user in a 1tonne vehicle.
Allow people to use large vehicles of they wish. But charge them appropriately for the road wear they cause.
In the mean time, I still don't understand why some people feel the need to drive vehilces like these . Do they have such feelings of inadequacy they want to look down on everyone else? A neighbour is a builder and has one. It's much worse than the old 2wd Toyota Hilux pick up I used to drive, which was basically estate car-sized. These new beasts are higher and harder to load and they handle like sh*t as well.
People drive those cars because our capitalist consumerist society scares, individualises, divides, privatises risks, while at the same time promoting senseless status symbols such as huge cars.
Had the misfortune to see one of these* the other day in a rural area.
Absolutely no place whatsoever in UK roads for these wankpanzers.
* and no I don't mean one of the tanks !
I got held up in traffic the other day. When I got to the front there was one of these things half sticking into the road. There was a guy sat in the passenger seat who caught my eye. I gave him a, in what I thought was in a banterous and light hearted tone of voice, "that's f**king awful parking" as I cycled past. All I heard from behind was abuse.
Another way of limiting these beasts is by better parking control. ie if you can't fit in the space then you can't park there.
More and more don't fit in parking bays
https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/which-cars-are-too-large-for-parkin...
see also #wankpanzers on twitter
I know someone that took his large works van to an out of town retail park and got a ticket. I suspect that it was controlled by a private company who directly benefit from the fines. As we know if local authorities did it, it would just be another tax on the hard working motorist.
Not sure if anyone has ever been fined, but Richmond council have a weight restriction of 1525kg in all of their public car parks...
https://www.richmond.gov.uk/services/parking/car_parks
Thats a bit stupid considering even a Tesla Model 3 weighs more than 1600kg.
It probably wasn't a stupid idea in the days when cars weren't quite so big and heavy. It probably means a lot of modern cars are excluded from legal use of their car parks.
If the Daily Mail got wind of this, I'm sure we'll see an anti-EV article noting all the car parks you can't use if you buy an EV.
I regularly see one of these on my commute - I suspect the owner lives in my village...
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