BMJ CALL FOR HEALTH WARNING SHOWS NEED TO DOUBLE C-CHARGE FOR SUV'S

9.55.13am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 7th Oct 2005

Following the article set to be published in the British Medical Journal which will call for health warnings to come with Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) to highlight the increased dangers they pose to pedestrians, the London Assembly Liberal Democrats have today renewed their call to double the toll on SUVs entering the congestion charge zone.

According to the European rating system for safety, known as NCAP, only three out of 16 of the SUVs tested have a pedestrian safety rating of more than one out of four stars.

One in every seven cars bought in London are SUVs, with Londoners buying more SUVs than anywhere else in the country.

Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesman, Geoff Pope, said:-

"Sports Utility Vehicles in city centres are a danger to pedestrians, a potential hazard to other road users, can cause more damage than any other type of car and take up more roadspace so increasing congestion.

"It is time that the Department of Transport classified Sports Utility Vehicles as a separate entity so we can start to deal with them. After all, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it is time we said it was a duck. In this way, many of the motoring industry arguments could be put to rest.

"The one size fits all congestion charge is both outdated and flawed. The Mayor must consider new and innovative ways of enabling roadspace in central London to work better and to protect pedestrians. The Mayor stuck his neck out with the existing congestion charge, but he is burying his head in the sand when it comes to implementing improvements."

ENDS

Pedestrian ratings by Euro NCAP can be found at: http://www.euroncap.com/content/safety_ratings/ratings.php?id1=9)

Pollution

SUVs are among the most environmentally harmful vehicles on the market, emitting up to four times more CO2 than cars and only doing approximately 12 mpg in city traffic. They also emit up to 81% more toxic nitrogen oxides and 41% more tiny carbon particles, which are blamed for hastening death every year.

Increased fatalities

Clay Gabler, an associate professor in the department of mechanical engineering at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, along with his colleague Devon Lefler, looked at three major databases on US traffic accidents over the last decade. They discovered that while the number of pedestrians killed by cars decreased between 1991 and 2000, the number killed by SUVs, pick-up trucks and vans increased by 10%.

Focusing on the 89% of accidents that involved a single vehicle and a single pedestrian, they then calculated the number of pedestrian fatalities per 1000 crashes by type of vehicle, between 1995 and 2000.

The results clearly showed that the larger and more blunt-fronted the vehicle was, the more likely it was to kill.

So while 4.5% of pedestrians struck by a car died, the figure rose to 7.8% when they were hit by a small SUVs, and 11.5% when hit by a large one. In the study published by Accident Analysis & Prevention, and reported by New Scientist, Gabler and Lefler concluded that pedestrians struck by large SUVs are twice as likely to die as pedestrians struck by cars.

Other reports, most notably one commissioned by the Institute of Highway Safety also suggest that motorists in side impact accidents with SUVs are 27 times more likely to die than those hit by other cars.