In New York and around the country, an increase in pedestrian fatalities has gotten a lot of attention. The presence of SUVs on the road only adds to the risk due to their sheer mass and size, and they obscure the driver’s vision.
SUVs and Accidents
When there is a larger vehicle involved in an accident, physics predicts that the damage will be greater. More size and mass means more force, and that is a deadly combination. On top of that, research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that SUVs are more likely than cars to hit a pedestrian. Since those accidents are more frequent and more dangerous, they deserve special attention and careful consideration.
Even when they are obeying all relevant laws, pedestrians are at risk from mistakes by drivers or outside forces. When it is an SUV that is involved in the accident, there is a greater risk of serious injury or death. A pedestrian accident is riskier than a vehicle collision because the pedestrian does not have a vehicle to protect them from the forces of the crash. Even a low-speed accident can pose a serious threat when the vehicle is an SUV, and at higher speeds, the outcomes get much worse and can be deadly. Pedestrians can only do so much to protect themselves from these accidents because they are limited in their range of vision and motion when an SUV is out of control or in the wrong place.
Pedestrian accidents with an SUV are in their own category due to this elevated level of risk and the more severe range of outcomes.
