SUVs and safety

From the Boston Globe:

With the price of gas on the rise, SUVs have lost some of their appeal. Nevertheless, one reason people are still drawn to SUVs is that they feel safer. They're higher and heavier than cars, a key consideration with so many other big vehicles on the road. But are these bigger vehicles really safer? One economist has undertaken a rigorous analysis of government accident data and finds that these bigger vehicles do not increase overall safety for their occupants -- and they pose a hazard to everyone else around them. The increase in the market share of the light-truck category (dominated by SUVs) from 1981 to 2004 is responsible for as many as 2,900 more deaths per year.

If you look at the actual study upon which the Globe's summary was based, it notes that:

The results suggest that a one percentage point increase in light truck share raises annual traffic fatalities by 0.34 percent, or 143 deaths per year. Of this increase, approximately one-fifth accrue to the light trucks’ own occupants, and the remaining four-fifths accrue to the occupants of other vehicles and pedestrians.

(HT: Evangelical Outpost)

Comments

I don't know...seems to me that if you drive responsibly, no matter what your vehicle, you shouldn't have any problems with safety. Even the roll-over hazard involved with SUVs can be avoided by simply driving according to the vehicle: higher center of gravity (and the feed truck I drive is even higher!) means you have to take corners slower...simple!

I'm not crazy...oh, wait, nevermind.
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