By Megan Link
As vehicles grow ever larger in the United States, their “safety” benefits for drivers diminish while the danger for pedestrians and other drivers rises. From SUVs to oversized pickup trucks, the shift toward heftier cars has become normal for many drivers seeking a sense of security. But beyond a certain weight, these vehicles offer no extra safety to drivers and make the roads more hazardous for others. Removing just the heaviest vehicle fleet could save many lives on the road.
The weight of a vehicle is a critical factor in American car crashes. A recent analysis by The Economist finds that while larger vehicles might seem safer for their occupants, they significantly raise the risk of severe injury or death for others on the road. Getting into a car-crash with a vehicle that weighs an additional 1,000 pounds increases the likelihood of death by 66%.
While electric vehicles are essential for meeting climate goals, increasingly large EVs make safety matters worse. As EVs often require large batteries, they tend to be heavier than traditional vehicles, which adds to the strain on our roads and infrastructure, posing a serious and unsustainable challenge for our roadways.
Fatality rates are seven times higher when a vehicle collides with a heavy pickup truck versus with a compact car. According to The Economist article, more than a dozen lives are lost in other vehicles for every life saved by the heaviest 1% of SUVs and trucks. If the heaviest tenth of vehicles reduced weight to a lighter car class, road fatalities in multi-car crashes could be reduced by 12%.
This is an arms race that only the wealthiest families can win. The rising cost of these larger vehicles also means that only those who can afford them benefit from this supposed safety. The average price of a full-size SUV is now $72,000. As prices climb, so does the exclusivity of safety benefits, leaving many of these benefits out of reach for most people.
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