LAST UPDATE | 30 Apr

A DUBLIN TD has called for SUV-free zones as a major study has revealed that children are 82% more likely to be killed if hit by one than when hit by a regular car.

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Imperial College London gathered data from more than 680,000 road collisions in multiple countries over the past 35 years.

They also found that pedestrians and cyclists are 44% more likely to die if they are hit by an SUV or similar-sized vehicle rather than a traditional car – and that figure rises to 82% for children, a study has found.

Paul Murphy, a People Before Profit TD for Dublin South-West, described the statistics as “alarming” and said SUVs “are not built for busy city environments”.

He’s calling for SUV-free zones, similar to protections against heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) in urban areas.

SUVs have grown in popularity in recent years, with many drivers favouring their higher seating position. SUVs are generally taller, wider and heavier than traditional cars, and less fuel-efficient.

“These massive vehicles are getting bigger and more dangerous,” said Murphy.

“Many of them are built more like trucks than cars, and meant for off-road use, not driving around quiet estates, or past busy schools.”

The study highlighted previous research showing that a key reason for the increased risk from SUVs is that they have a taller front end, which means a person is struck higher on their body.

This means an adult is hit in the pelvis rather than the knees, while a child is struck on the head instead of lower on their body.

A blunter front ends also means a person is more likely to be thrown forward, which could result in the vehicle hitting them a second time or rolling over their body, the report added.

Tanya Braun of the charity Living Streets in the UK said the research shows it is “clear that SUVs make people, especially children, less safe” while out walking.

Researchers analysed 24 studies, including 16 from the US, with others from countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands.

The authors estimate that the proportion of car crashes involving an SUV are around 20% in Europe and 45% in the US.

If all SUVs were replaced by standard cars, the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed in car crashes would decrease by an estimated 8% in Europe and 17% in the US, they said.

Anna Goodman, assistant professor at the LSHTM and senior author of the study, said: “Around the world, we have seen a huge increase in the sale of ever-larger cars. Previous research has found that this trend is substantially undermining progress towards net zero goals.

“Similarly, our findings indicate that this proliferation of larger vehicles threatens to undermine all the road safety gains being made on other fronts.

“Cities and countries around the world are starting to introduce measures to discourage the use of these large vehicles, and our study strengthens the road safety rationale for this.”

With reporting by Mairead Maguire