Surging SUV use driving road fatalities rise, new study finds

“The case for regulation of larger passenger vehicles couldn’t be clearer and with the cost of inaction measured in children’s lives politicians urgently need to wake up and act”

New research shows how SUVs are more likely to kill pedestrians and cyclists in a collision, compared to small cars. 

A study from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine looked at data from the US and EU to conclude that the likelihood of a pedestrian or cyclist being fatally injured is 44% higher if they are hit by an SUV or light truck compared with smaller cars. Read more in this Independent article.

A child hit by an SUV or light truck is 82% more likely to be killed than a child hit by a small car.*

Jemima Hartshorn, director of Mums for Lungs, said: "This study makes shockingly clear the danger larger SUVs pose to children on our roads. Our children deserve the right to walk, scoot, cycle and play in the streets, but this right is being sacrificed for the comfort of drivers of massive SUVs and the profits of the car industry. The case for regulation of larger passenger vehicles couldn't be clearer and with the cost of inaction measured in children's lives politicians urgently need to wake up and act." 

SUV road danger

SUVs pose a greater danger to other road users due to the size and design. More weight increase the energy they carry, meaning they hit with more force than a lighter car, even at the same speed. 

Common SUV design features like raised bonnets are also a safety risk. A 2024 study found that a 10 cm increase in front-end (bonnet) height of a vehicle - SUVs commonly have higher and flatter bonnets - raises male pedestrian death probability by 19% and raises female pedestrian death probability by 31%.

Making matters worse, SUVs are getting bigger by an average of 1cm every 2 years. More than half of new cars in the UK are too wide for typical urban parking spaces.

SUV risk to children

Children are particularly at risk because of their size, but also because the higher driving position afforded by an SUV means that drivers cannot always see a child in front of the vehicle. Parked SUVs pose a similar danger in that a small child cannot see or be seen when entering the road from between parked cars. 

Alice Ferguson, co-director of Playing Out, said: “It is very clear that high-fronted SUVs pose an unacceptable threat to children’s lives and limit their ability to walk and cycle, to be outside and active. These huge vehicles have no place in our streets, towns and cities where children live”.

SUV sales in the UK have soared in recent years, mirroring the trajectory of the US, where SUVs and pick-ups are far more common still. Pedestrian deaths on UK roads increased by 6% between 2023 and 2024, and in the US rose 18% between 2019 and 2022. 

Misleading advertising

SUVs are often advertised as safe, family vehicles in which parents can keep their children safe. This stands in stark contrast to the mounting evidence of how dangerous larger SUVs are to other road users. A recent Volvo advert took this to extremes of manipulation. 

Fear of traffic danger is a major reason parents cite for not allowing their children to walk or cycle more, especially to school. This creates a vicious cycle in which more children are put in cars, increasing traffic and thereby increasing the rationale for putting children in cars rather than allowing them to walk or cycle. 

Taking action for safer streets

Anna Goodman, assistant professor at the LSHTM and senior author of the study, told the Independent: “Around the world, we have seen a huge increase in the sale of ever-larger cars.

“Our findings indicate that this proliferation of larger vehicles threatens to undermine all the road safety gains being made on other fronts.

“Cities and countries around the world are starting to introduce measures to discourage the use of these large vehicles, and our study strengthens the road safety rationale for this.”

The SUV Alliance manifesto makes 5 clear asks of local and national government to reduce the presence of dangerous SUVs on our streets. Introducing regulation on vehicle size and bonnet height would be a logical first step. 

*A previous study concluded that children are 8 times more likely to be killed when struck by an SUV, compared to a small car. This latest research uses a wider dataset to obtain a more accurate (lower) figure.

Feature image: Crispin Hughes - Clean Cities - Climate Visuals.