SUVs and Pickup Trucks Pose a Public Health Risk, Says Report
A coalition of Ontario advocacy groups has released a report entitled “Oversized Danger” that urges governments to introduce regulations to make SUVs and pickup trucks safer for everyone. The report recommends measures such as special licenses for larger vehicles, smaller size requirements for manufacturers, and banning SUVs and pickup trucks from certain busy areas, like school zones. The report also suggests safety warnings in advertisements for larger vehicles.
The report brings together a variety of studies that point to unnecessary dangers the vehicles pose to other road users. Those studies include a 2021 Ontario Ministry of Transportation report that found 61 per cent of road fatalities involve SUVs, even though they only make up 41 per cent of road vehicles.
Albert Koehl, founder of Toronto Community Bikeways, one of 16 advocacy groups involved with the report, says governments need to consider everyone’s safety when it comes to larger vehicles. “The federal government decides what vehicles are safe enough to be on our roads,” Albert Koehl, founder of coalition-member Toronto Community Bikeways, said in an interview. “But what it isn’t looking at is whether these vehicles are safe not only for occupants, but for other people on the road: people who are walking, people cycling, the kinds of activities that we’re really trying to promote.”
The report encourages cities to charge higher parking fees for SUVs and trucks, since they take up more space. Montreal’s Plateau neighbourhood, pictured here, introduced such a model in 2019.
On top of that, the coalition notes, children are eight times more likely to die from a collision with an SUV than with a regular-sized car, according to a 2022 report from the Journal of Safety Research. Larger hoods also create a blind spot directly in front of the vehicle, according to a 2021 consumer report the coalition cites, making collisions more likely.
Koehl says that information has been common knowledge for some time, but the coalition report will provide new ammunition in a battle advocates have long been waging. “With our report in hand and with a coalition of groups behind it, we’re going to meet with all of these politicians and with health and safety officials and push harder for these [recommendations].”
