Latest news with #EuropeanTransportSafetyCouncil
The Guardian
06-04-2025
- Automotive
- The Guardian
The Observer view on SUVs: they are too dangerous and too big, their drivers should be made to pay
Britain is facing an unusual crisis: carspreading. Our road vehicles are getting bigger as people buy more and more SUVs of increasing dimensions and weight. At the same time, our streets and parking places remain the same size. The consequences of this uncontrolled vehicular expansion have become profound. Potholes are being created in greater numbers as our roads are pounded by heavier vehicles; multiple parking spaces are being taken over by single, giant cars; and road accidents are now producing more severe injuries to drivers and passengers of other vehicles. This last issue is of particular concern. A study by the European Transport Safety Council found that in a collision between a modest-size SUV (sports utility vehicle) weighing 1,600kg and a lighter car weighing 1,300kg, the risk of fatal injury decreases by 50% for the occupants of the heavier car but increases by almost 80% for the occupants of the lighter car. Similarly, pedestrians and cyclists are more likely to be killed if the car that strikes them has a bonnet that is higher off the road than average, a typical feature of an SUV. The trouble is that sales of these vehicles are booming. In 2024, they accounted for 33% of all registrations, compared with a figure of only 12% a decade earlier. This dramatic change in the use of our roads has led organisations such as the campaign group Clean Cities to call for strict measures to be imposed on car owners. Their argument is straightforward. If a car generates more potholes in our roads, takes up more parking space and poses more danger to pedestrians, cyclists and other car occupants compared with smaller vehicles, then it is only fair that its owner pays more for driving that vehicle. Paris has already introduced specific parking charges for SUVs. Drivers of these vehicles now have to pay triple the amount of those who drive regular cars. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has indicated that he would support such a scheme for the capital and should be encouraged to pursue the idea with rigour. However, attempts to tackle the problem should not be confined merely to parking. At present, the owners of polluting vehicles have to pay more road tax, based on the carbon dioxide they emit, and drivers of more expensive cars, including electric ones, are also hit with an extra tax. It may be that these measures will have to be expanded in future, with similar levies being imposed on the owners of SUVs and other vehicles whose sizes exceed specific dimensions. Sign up to Observed Analysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers after newsletter promotion Avoiding such measures could allow a transport problem that has already reached significant levels to become a major crisis. It is an issue that now needs to be considered as a matter of urgency.
Forbes
01-04-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Serious Traffic Injuries In Europe Worse Than Reported, Study Finds
Serious road injuries in Europe are 'massively' under reported. The lack of accurate data for the number of injuries that result from collisions and where and when they occur, are contributing factors for why most countries are failing to significantly improve road safety. Those are the main findings of a new report published on Monday by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), a Brussels-based independent non-profit organization. 'Every day, all over Europe, hundreds of people are seriously injured on our roads,' Jenny Carson, project manager at the safety council said in a statement. 'Policymakers underestimate both the scale of the problem and the impact that these injuries can have.' About 1,291,000 people are reported injured annually in the European Union, and some 141,000 of them are serious, based on estimates obtained from official sources, the safety group said. But those numbers may underestimate the true extent of the problem, it added, due to inconsistencies in data collection and sometimes massive under reporting by the police. According to the report, 'Reducing Serious Injuries on European Roads' most official statistics on traffic injuries in Europe are from police reports, but police often have no specific knowledge and can misjudge the severity of the injuries. In addition, while collisions involving motor vehicles are much more likely to be reported by police, officers are rarely at the scene of the vast majority of incidents involving pedestrians and cyclists when no motor vehicle was involved, and as a result, many go unreported. The report noted that while hospitals collect their own data on patients injured on the roads, they do not routinely collect information on where and when injuries occur, necessary information to identify high risk sites that need upgrades to prevent future incidents. Also, governments often struggle to combine information collected by hospitals with police statistics, which is essential to form a comprehensive picture of the scale of the problem. For example, the report cited that collision data collected in the Czech Republic indicated that the police database contained only 43% of the injuries recorded by the public health insurance system. And a study conducted in the Netherlands found that there were police reports for about 65% of people seriously injured in collisions when motor vehicles were involved, but only about 12% when there were no motor vehicles involved. Many countries in the European Union have incorporated serious injury reduction targets into their national road safety strategies, but this report highlights that progress in reducing injuries ' is lagging behind the reduction in road deaths.' To address the challenges and achieve a reduction in deaths and serious injuries, the report advocates for better governance and management so that leaders take responsibility, ensure transparency, guarantee funding, improve data collection, and develop partnerships. The study supports a "Safe System' or Vision Zero approach to road safety and design that takes human error into account, first put into effect in Sweden in the 1990s. The goal of the initiative is to eliminate all road deaths and serious injuries by creating multiple layers of protection, so if one fails, the others will create a safety net to lessen the impact of a crash. Improvements are designed to result in: safer people, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds and better post-crash care. 'National governments,' Carson added, 'need to work harder to improve the flawed system of relying extensively on police-reported data which gives a misleading picture of the full burden of road injuries on individuals, societies and our economies.' To access the full report, click here.
