Fears over safety as analysis by Which? shows ‘autobesity’ epidemic means cars getting wider and longer

While this is mostly about parking issues, the part that stood out most to me in this is:

A study published in the Journal of Safety Research last year found that children were eight times more likely to die when struck by an SUV than those struck by a passenger car.

Eight times! To me, that’s insane. Even if it were 50% that would be very bad, but this is 700% more!

  • SyldonEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    Whereas I agree with most of what you are saying.

    Taking a step back, vehicles have become heavier at a faster rate and this means that a new car today vs a 2000 car of the same model, going the same speed, the new car will deal much, much more damage due to physics. There’s just more mass.

    Cars are heavier now than their counterparts due to the safety features added to cars. The metal used in cars is a lot thinner than in the past due to design improvements. Engines are a lot smaller due to efficiency gains in power. Electric cars are heavier again. Mainly due to the battery weight. Averaging around 500kg heavier than a normal engine.

    Overall deaths are down year on year. This is regardless that traffic has increased tenfold since records began in 1949.

    All of this is OFC offset if someone buys a much larger car, just because they can. I personally think the environmental impact is far more deadly overall.