Reports by Consumers

Consumers have a tough call on safety:

Drivers have been running an “arms race” on American roads by buying increasingly large vehicles such as sport utility vehicles and light trucks. But large vehicles pose an increased danger to occupants of smaller vehicles and to pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists. This paper measures both the internal effect of large vehicles on their own occupants’ safety and their external effect on others. The results show that light trucks are extremely deadly. For each 1 million light trucks that replace cars, between 34 and 93 additional...

Yes, they’re appalling figures. Sadly it’s not a new issue. The road safety community has been concerned about this for as long as I’ve been aware. Even more sadly, the response from aggressive road users in the US has been that drivers of small cars are contributing to their own fatalities. They also extend this criticism to include government measures aimed at reducing fuel use by making vehicles lighter.

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Read more from this blogger: The quantifiable hazard of SUVs