“Wimbledon: drop dangerous SUVs”, campaigners urge
Open letter from campaigners urges All England Lawn Tennis Club to drop Range Rover sponsorship of Wimbledon
SUVs and light trucks 44% more likely to kill pedestrians / cyclists, 82% more likely to kill a child
Higher bonnets mean drivers cannot spot children as old as nine in front of car
Horrific SUV crash killed two eight year olds two years ago in Wimbledon
A coalition of parents and 15 grassroots groups co-ordinated by the SUV Alliance has written to the organisers of the Wimbledon tennis championships urging them to drop sponsorship from Range Rover, given the huge danger that supersized SUVs cause for children, pedestrians and cyclists. [1] Measures to curb dangerous supersized SUVs in London are being supported by a majority of London Assembly Members.
Despite the serious dangers posed by large and heavy SUVs, Range Rover was confirmed as an official partner of the Wimbledon championships in May last year, in a decade-long deal. [2]
Two eight year old girls, Selena Lau and Nuria Sajjad, were killed by a woman driving a Land Rover Defender during the Wimbledon championships in July 2023, and ten people were hospitalised with their injuries. The horrific crash occurred just a few roads away from the All England Tennis Club. Polling shows that 79% of London parents think it's not safe enough for children to cycle on London's roads (8% disagree), while 61% are concerned that bigger cars make it more dangerous for children to walk and cycle in London (16% disagree). [3]
A Wimbledon Range Rover.
Oliver Lord, UK Head of Clean Cities, part of the SUV Alliance said: “It’s astonishing how Wimbledon insists on deploying large SUVs in our crowded capital despite excellent public transport and mounting evidence of the dangerous risk they pose to children. Why can’t guests use public transport like most Londoners, at the very least, more normal sized cars that don’t crowd us off the roads or endanger people walking and cycling?”
Research has shown that heavy and large SUVs, like the Range Rover, are especially dangerous to children and people walking, wheeling and cycling. The letter is being co-ordinated by the SUV Alliance and is signed by the Road Danger Reduction Forum, Clean Cities Campaign, Mums for Lungs, Transport Action Network, Merton Cycling Campaign, the Campaign for Better Transport and Adfree Cities amongst others.
The probability of someone walking or cycling being killed increases by 44% when struck by an SUV or light terrain vehicle compared to a passenger car, increasing further to 82% for children. This is due to the extra weight of an SUV and design features such as a taller bonnet, according to a paper published by the BMJ Injury Prevention Journal [4]
London Assembly members have passed a motion calling on the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to urge the Department for Transport to impose stricter limits on passenger vehicle size and bonnet height. It also requests that HM Treasury introduce progressive taxes based on vehicle weight within Vehicle Excise Duty and encourages London boroughs to consider higher parking charges for larger vehicles. [5]
Labour Assembly Member Elly Baker, who proposed the motion, argued that London’s streets were not designed for large cars like SUVs, which now make up a third of vehicles on the road. “Their size, weight, and high bonnets increase risks to pedestrians and cyclists, reduce parking space availability, and cause more road damage,” she said.
Green Party Assembly Member Caroline Russell, who seconded the motion, warned that SUVs are growing bigger each year, worsening congestion and posing greater danger to vulnerable road users. She also highlighted research showing that half of UK cars are now too large for standard parking bays, a trend known as “carspreading,” which raises safety concerns.
James Ward from the SUV Alliance added: “The endorsement of large SUVs through high-profile partnerships like this promotes an unnecessary culture of ever larger vehicles, at the expense of public space and safety for children. Excessive advertising and marketing has contributed to SUV ownership surging in the UK, from just 19% of sales 10 years ago to 62% of new car sales last year.” [6]
Vehicles with higher bonnets are more dangerous in crashes - but bonnet height continues to rise. Average bonnet height in newly-sold cars is increasing by half a centimetre (0.5 cm) a year, reaching 83.8 cm in 2024, up from 76.9 cm in 2010, according to research by the advocacy group Transport & Environment (T&E). High-bonneted SUVs and pick-up trucks typically strike adult pedestrians above the centre of gravity, often first hitting vital organs in the body’s core, with a higher likelihood of knocking them forward and down, and a greater risk of driving over them. On the other hand, low bonnets tend to hit pedestrians’ legs, giving them greater chances of falling towards the vehicle, or of being deflected. [7]
Supersized SUVs reduce drivers’ vision of other road users - and can entirely compromise it. Drivers behind high bonnets can fail to see children as old as nine in front of them, for example, when leaving a driveway or parking space. At junctions, compromised vision increases crashes, particularly when turning. Poor vision may also lead to more near-miss incidents, burdening all other road users with higher risks and increased danger.
To tackle the phenomenon known as ‘carspreading’, campaigners are calling for fairer taxes in favour of lighter and more appropriately sized cars and for parking costs in cities to be based on the size of a car.
ENDS
More info: alex@alexbigham.com; Alex Bigham
Interviews: Oliver Lord, Clean Cities oliver.lord@cleancitiescampaign.org; James Ward, The SUV Alliance james@adfreecities.org.uk
Hi Res Photos:
SUVs and families (Credit Crispin Hughes) - Google Drive and
Wimbledon SUVS (Credit SUV Alliance)
More Information:
https://www.suv-alliance.org.uk/
https://cleancitiescampaign.org/carspreading/
Press Release Notes to Editors:
1. Final text and signatories of joint letter here.
3. Results for We glimpse (SUV survey) 156 7.4.2025.xlsx - Google Sheets
4. https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2025/04/11/ip-2024-045613
5. https://www.london.gov.uk/motions/addressing-impacts-carspreading
7. Car bonnets becoming half centimetre higher… | T&E United Kingdom