SUVs more dangerous to cyclists than other cars, study suggests

Idk. about the US but where I live in the EU a _lot_ of people think that driving a SUV without needing the off-road capabilities is at least egoistic if not outright asocial.<p>And given that this area (and many others) have &quot;good enough(1)&quot; streets so that the huge majority of people don&#x27;t need the off-road capabilities of a SUV it&#x27;s pretty easy to be for people to assume that you are egoistic or worse when they see you driving a SUV.<p>This bias is probably reinforced by the coincidence(?) that the group of people driving SUVs here has a big overlap with some groups often associated with entitled egoistic behaviour.<p>Somehow it often feels that the people insisting on driving a SUV without a need for it are using it like an armor they ware because they are afraid of the outside world.<p>(1): The requirements for a road to not need a SUV are pretty low IMHO. Sure you might need a &quot;good enough&quot; ground clearance, motor and brakes in mountain areas, but you can get that without an SUV, many (most?) new non-sport cars fall into this category.

It&#x27;s not just cyclists. A year ago I saw a middle-aged couple both go up onto the hood of a Prius that was rounding a right turn without looking. I think they were both fine. If it was an SUV they&#x27;d have been knocked forward so hard they&#x27;d have been seriously injured or killed.

See also the video essay &quot;These Stupid Trucks Are Literally Killing Us&quot;: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;jN7mSXMruEo" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;jN7mSXMruEo</a>

The old reason for driving a smaller car&#x2F;truck was reduced operating costs, mostly in fuel. That reason largely disappears for electric vehicles. In fact, electric vehicles are larger&#x2F;heavier than ic equivalents. This problem of huge vehicles is only going to get worse. We will all have to learn to live with more massive vehicles.

&gt; While cars tend to vault cyclists over, SUVs with large front ends run them down, resulting in more head injuries<p>This is the perfect excuse for pro-car people to shout &quot;But was he wearing a helmet?&quot; in response to any incident where a car crashes into a cyclist.

If it’s a reasonable option, most people end up choosing a large vehicle.<p>(Note than large vehicles are not a reasonable option in cities with poor auto infrastructure.)<p>It’s a classic tragedy of the commons situation, would you rather buy a car safer for you and your family or buy a small car hoping the world changes overnight?<p>If you disagree, the car companies must also be very wrong about what the customers want, because they keep making bigger and bigger cars and people keep buying them.

The sane solution: ban massive cars, give exemptions to people with true professional needs<p>The ’murica solution: get an even bigger truck yourself, so the other party sustains most of the damage

IHSS insurance institute for highway safety are a credible organization but I agree it is a surprisingly small sample size and analysis. Urban, suburban and rural cycling also have very different risk factors.<p>Regarding vehicle size, driver visibility of surroundings is more critical. I&#x27;m not a fan of huge SUVS but I don&#x27;t have 4 kids and 2 dogs. Being hit by a commercial vehicle on a 2 wheeled vehicle is going to be bad, but I&#x27;d argue generally commercial drivers pay more attention to their surroundings than the typical soccer mom, far better training and regulations.<p>I also feel distractions play a large part in many collisions - the replacement of analog tactile knobs and dials in cars with giant flat screens is a major safety setback - and of course smartphones are a disaster for distracted driving.<p>(replying to a now deleted comment)

Not surprising. SUVs are larger and heavier vehicles so they carry more KE at the same speed. My city has dedicated cycling lanes but they don&#x27;t cover every place. I sincerely hope they do.

I assume they aren&#x27;t counting crossovers as SUVs here? Because crossover front ends more closely resemble the front ends of cars than they do those of trucks.

Suggests? I could have suggested that too. It does not take much thinking to do. Is there a ladder of words used, where proves is highest? If so, where does suggest go?

If you read the actual study it actually shows smaller vehicles hit bicyclist more often than SUVs by a large margin. But that SUVs cause more harm when they are hit. So SUVs actually hit less bicyclists.

Well there&#x27;s a suprise, but what if its electric? Being electric it would have better avoidance tech.

Obviously vehicle safety is an important consideration, but I find that any &quot;large car&quot; thread brings out almost pathological vitriol.<p>I wonder if the vitriol is a reaction to something that these cars represent: large families, folks with land&#x2F;property&#x2F;&quot;manly&quot; business, etc.