Slap a warning label on SUVs
On June 23, a man riding a scooter in Canarsie was killed in a hit and run. Like a growing number of those killed and injured on our streets, he was struck by an SUV.
To date in 2020, 41% of pedestrians, 88% of cyclists, and now, 100% of scooter riders who’ve lost their lives on our streets have been killed by drivers of large vehicles like trucks, buses and SUVs.
These deaths could have been prevented through changes to street design, which has been one of the most effective ways to slow drivers and prevent crashes. But increasingly, design changes aren’t enough, especially when the vehicles responsible for a growing number of traffic fatalities are getting bigger and more powerful.
SUV sales have been booming in the United States, from 7% of vehicle sales in 1990, the year the Ford Explorer was introduced, to an expected 50% in 2020. When combined with vans and pickup trucks, this class of larger vehicles (known in the industry as “light trucks”) now accounts for 72% of all U.S. auto sales, causing many automakers to reduce or cease the sale of sedans. LMC Automotive estimates that by 2022, trucks and SUVs will be 97% of total U.S. fleet sales for Fiat Chrysler, 90% for Ford and 84% for General Motors.
Just as the number of these vehicles on the road has grown, so too has their size. The Jeep Grand Cherokee, the vehicle involved in the death of the man on the scooter, weighed 3,700 pounds in 1996. Today, the same model weighs upwards of 5,300 pounds — a 40% increase.
Not only have automobiles become heavier, but they’ve also become more powerful. Between 1988 and 2017, cars and trucks, on average, have seen an 89% increase in horsepower, and a 38% drop in 0-60 mph times.
Pickup trucks, which accounted for the top three bestselling models in 2019, have also gotten larger. The front profile of best-selling American trucks from Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge range four to five feet tall, creating forward blind zones up to 10 feet. The forward blind zone on the Cadillac Escalade SUV is so long, a dozen children can sit in front without being seen by the driver.
A new report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that SUVs were more likely to kill or cause serious injuries to pedestrians than cars due in no small part to the vehicles’ higher front profiles. Research from the National Institutes of Health found that drivers with a higher driving position, like those in vans, trucks and SUVs, tend to drive faster than drivers seated lower to the ground.
Certainly some of the light trucks sold today are working vehicles, used for cargo, towing trailers and the like. But how much horsepower does one need to commute to an office job or run errands?
Since we cannot rely on federal lawmakers to address the dangers these vehicles impose on others, we’re taking matters into our own hands at the state level.
New legislation in the state Senate would require that automakers include warning labels, not unlike those on alcohol, tobacco, or household cleaning products, on SUVs and light trucks. Crash-test ratings only apply to the safety of those inside of vehicles. Shouldn’t consumers know the degree to which their mode of transport impacts the safety of the people outside their vehicles, too?
Overall traffic deaths in the United States fell by 2.4% in 2018, and automakers, by designing sturdier vehicles with new safety features, can take some credit. But during the same year, pedestrian and cyclist deaths rose by 3.4% and 6.3% respectively — an alarming increase for which automakers deserve some blame. This legislation is intended to send a message: Automakers should continue to protect those inside their vehicles, but not at the expense of people outside of them.