Bigger SUVs cause 30% more deaths

Over 300 families bike past Westminster to highlight dangers of SUVs 'carspreading'

Home » Bigger SUVs cause 30% more deaths

Published: March 26, 2025
This Article was written by: Katie Hill - My Green Pod
cars, kids, policy, transport

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Main image: Image credit: Crispin Hughes / Clean Cities

Over 300 families rode through central London on Sunday (23 March) to highlight the importance of making roads safer for children, pedestrians and cyclists.

They were highlighting shocking research that reveals SUVs cause 30% more deaths.

In response, a coalition of groups is campaigning against ‘carspreading’ by ever bigger SUVs.

They’re calling for fairer parking charges and taxes on new cars that reflect the size they take up and the danger they pose.

Dangers of SUVs

Research shows that SUVs are getting heavier and larger – 400kg heavier in the last seven years, according to research by Autocar.

As cars get bigger, so do the risks. People hit by larger cars when walking or cycling are far less likely to survive.

According to a Europe-wide study, which included the UK, when vehicles are 300kg heavier, the risk of fatal injuries is 30% higher for vulnerable road users.

Pedestrians and cyclists are also 30% more likely to be killed if they’re hit by a car with a bonnet that’s 10cm higher than average.

The research was conducted by the Belgian Road Safety Institute. The data analysed 300,000 car passengers and vulnerable users over four years.

‘We know that SUVs are getting bigger and heavier every year, and that children hit by larger cars when walking and cycling are far less likely to survive. As the parent of a highly active nine-year-old desperate to start to navigate the streets on his own this is terrifying to me.

‘As these cars get bigger, our children’s worlds are getting smaller as parents become too scared to let their children walk or cycle around on their own. Nobody wins. We need councils and government to take action, to discourage cars this size in towns and cities.’

NICOLA PASTORE
A parent who lives in Lambeth

Stop carspreading

Clean Cities is part of the SUV Alliance, a group of charities and campaigners calling for measures to stop carspreading.

The SUV Alliance will formally launch its manifesto at an event in the House of Lords on Wednesday.

City leaders should make parking policies fairer by varying costs based on the size of a car.

At the national level, government should adjust taxes in favour of lighter and more appropriately sized cars.

There should also be maximum width, length and height limits for new cars. Current regulations allow for cars to be built as wide as a truck.

‘We know that SUVs lead to more fatal crashes, cause more potholes and crowd out parking spaces. No one would want to buy a car thinking it would be more dangerous for a child.

‘We’re calling for central and local government to work on a plan that would save taxpayer money and generate revenue that can be invested in public transport, walking and cycling. For local councils that can be a system of parking charges where bigger or heavier SUVs pay a fairer share, or a review of vehicle tax to account for the damage that oversized SUVs do.

‘We also need the car industry to step up. It doesn’t suit anyone – least of all car drivers – to have vehicles that are too big to park in our towns and cities.’

OLIVER LORD
UK Head of Clean Cities, which helped organise the ride

Less space for kids

Bigger cars take up a lot more space, but the cost of parking has stayed the same.

Supersized SUVs also reduce the space available for children and other vulnerable road users to cycle, walk and scoot.

The ride was a collaboration of grassroots organisations including IBikeLondon, Streets for Kids and Solve the School Run, who are part of the global Kidical Mass movement.

Last year the movement saw over 200,000 participants in mass bike rides across Europe, the US, Africa and Australia.

IBikeLondon kept the atmosphere going and the bikers pedalling with music from their fleet of Disco Bikes.

‘There is a real problem on our streets, the cars are getting bigger and bigger, and more dangerous. The chance of a road death or serious injury if you collide with one of these big SUVs is huge. Of course we want everyone including young children to cycle on our roads, but it is unsafe these days.’

JEMIMA HARTSHORN
A parent who set up the Mums for Lungs group