2024-02-02 22:29:02
A recent study carried out on accidents in the United States shows that passers-by hit by a large SUV die in 12% of cases. A figure much higher than during impacts with classic sedans (8.5%).
As imposing as they are polluting, SUVs are regularly singled out for their impact on the climate. To the point of being the subject of a vote in Paris, Sunday February 4, for an increase in the price of their parking. But these steel monsters are also singled out for their danger to pedestrians.
According to an American study published on January 19 on the academic journal platform Sciencedirectthe risk for a pedestrian of dying by being hit by a car increases as the size of the latter increases.
The boom in pick-ups and SUVs coincides with that of pedestrian deaths
According to data collected by economics researcher Justin Tyndall, from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, covering a sample of 3,400 road accidents in the United States between 2016 and 2021 involving a pedestrian, 308 resulted in the death of the latter. By comparing the size and weight of the cars involved, and more particularly the height of their front bumpers, a correlation emerges between these elements. “An increase of 10 centimeters in the height of the front of the vehicle is associated with a 22% increase in the risk of death,” notes Justin Tyndall. Conversely, “limiting the height of the front of vehicles to 1.25 m would reduce the annual number of pedestrian deaths in the United States by 509”.
In the United States, the number of pedestrians killed in road accidents increased by 72% between 2010 and 2021. Data which challenged the researcher, when he noted that the number of driver deaths had decreased over the of this same period and that the size of American vehicles has increased considerably. Figures that coincide with an increase in the sale and rental of pickups and SUVs, which have continued to gain popularity in recent years.
The data is unequivocal: the probability of pedestrian deaths varies from one type of vehicle to another. In its sample of 3,400 recorded accidents, passers-by hit by a car and a compact SUV die in 8.5% and 8.8% of cases, respectively. This probability decreases when it comes to a van (6.6%). On the other hand, accidents involving a pick-up – another ultra-large and ultra-polluting vehicle – or a large SUV have higher mortality rates, with 11.9% and 12.4%.
“Vehicle preferences diverge sharply by gender”
By isolating it from other factors (speed and age of the pedestrian in particular), the researcher calculated that the risk for a pedestrian of dying due to an impact with a vehicle is 63% greater with a compact SUV than with a sedan, a figure which rises to 68% for a pick-up and 99% with a larger SUV.
Across all types of vehicles, men are behind the wheel in 69% of accidents, according to the study. But this figure rises to 89% when it comes to a pick-up. This “huge gap” suggests that “vehicle preferences diverge sharply by gender,” writes Justin Tyndall. While noting that the differences in mortality observed according to the size of the vehicle “could also be attributed to divergent driving behaviors according to gender”. As for pedestrians, it is women, children and the elderly who are most in danger from large vehicles.
Unfortunately, the trend is not towards reducing the size of cars. According to Justin Tyndall, new vehicles in the vehicle fleet are increasingly larger, which is “likely to increase pedestrian fatality rates”, “unless regulatory changes are made to design standards cars”.
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