SUVs: Big beasts of the school run have no place on Irish roads

In recent years, two out of every three new cars sold in Ireland were SUVs, a rate that is 13 percentage points higher than the European average. For many buyers the larger interior space is a win-win, more room for car seats, hurling gear, shopping bags and the dog. The automotive industry has spent the last decade convincing us successfully that while our families get smaller, our needs are getting bigger and we need more space.

But space is not an infinite resource. While our vehicles increase in size, our streets are becoming more cramped — and far more dangerous.

Forget the climate impact of SUVs for a moment — they are simply too large for Irish roads.

One of the most pressing concerns regarding SUVs in Europe is their disproportionate contribution to road accidents and fatalities. Studies have consistently shown SUVs are more likely to be involved in collisions and cause greater harm compared to smaller vehicles.

The sheer mass of an SUV amplifies its force of impact in accidents, posing a greater threat to occupants of smaller cars and vulnerable road users such as cyclists and pedestrians.

Any parent who has run the gauntlet at school pick-up time, past idling large cars, will recognise that uneasy feeling of a driver who can’t possibly see a smaller child over their large and imposing bumpers. Any vehicle with a hood height above one metre is likely to increase pedestrian fatalities. One study of 18,000 incidents found it to be 45pc more likely.

Moreover, an SUV’s elevated centre of gravity makes it more prone to rollover accidents. Unlike conventional cars, SUVs have a higher ground clearance and taller body, which increases the risk of tipping over during sudden manoeuvres or sharp turns.

Despite recent design innovations to address the issue, which largely focus on keeping SUV occupants safe, this continues to pose a dispropor was tionate danger to other road users. It remains to be seen whether safety concerns will win out over consumer “choice” (as dictated by a well-funded industry.) After all, we feel strongly about our cars. They occupy a space in our daily lives that is both utilitarian and based in status.

For many people, buying an SUV is simply a function of which car was affordable and available — and not about the related issues of safety or climate implications. But increasingly, all consumer choices are political.

And there are changes on the horizon.

Last week the Cabinet considered measures to ensure that pro-social driving choices featured strongly in our national transport strategy.

Car sharing and multi-modal travel will be incentivised, while cities will be empowered to manage access to their centres by private cars. Significantly, the changes have been driven mostly by environmental concerns.

The increase in emissions from heavier vehicles, such as SUVs, in the last decade have effectively reduced the gains made in emissions reductions across other areas, such as building operation and renewable energy.

However there is still a vacuum of leadership from sectoral players on the safety issue. The Road Safety Authority (RSA) takes a disinterested view on worsening outcomes on roads due to SUVs. This is noteworthy, as in the past they were quick to recommend licence changes on other vehicles, successfully lobbying the Transport Minister to make it more difficult to acquire a licence for the carbon-efficient moped.

But they have been entirely silent on the growing army of oversized vehicles populating our roads, preferring to focus on distributing hi-vis vests to small children in schools across the country.

Policy discussions to address the issue have taken hold across Europe.

A vote on to whether to limit the access of SUVs to some urban areas held in Paris in February. The low turnout was striking. Only 5.7pc of voters cast their ballot, despite transport issues — such as who owns the road, who has access to the city, and how they access it — having become flashpoints in a larger pushback against the car-centric policy of the last few decades.

The low turnout could be viewed as an electorate unconvinced by the proposal, or conversely as a populace not motivated to vote against such a common-sense measure. Either way, the proposal passed with 54.6pc support and Parisians agreed to treble the parking charges for SUVs.

Cities that have implemented restrictions of any kind on private cars routinely cite environmental considerations as a primary motivation. Petrol and diesel SUVs produce approximately 20pc more emissions than standard cars. In London, an Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) was introduced after the tragic death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah, who was the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as cause of death at an inquest.

For those of us raising small children in tight urban environments, a similarly compelling argument is that restricting SUVs can have tangible safety benefits and improve urban mobility more generally.

These vehicles are larger and bulkier than standard cars, occupying more space on roads and exacerbating traffic congestion, especially during peak hours.

By curbing the influx of SUVs, cities can alleviate congestion, enhance traffic flow, and improve overall transportation efficiency. This, in turn, can lead to reduced commuting times, enhanced productivity — and a more seamless urban experience for residents and visitors alike.

Unfortunately, even if we decided to take action on SUVs tomorrow, they are set to remain a problem for the foreseeable future. The used-car sector in Ireland is driven by domestic sales of new cars in previous years and by imports. The increase in SUVs is a Europe-wide phenomenon — so, despite any mitigation strategies down the line, we can expect to see them on the road for years to come.

An SUV’s sheer mass amplifies its force of impact