
Road to Zero Coalition says bigger, heavier vehicles contributing to more traffic fatalities
By onMarket Trends
The Road to Zero Coalition has released new research that includes recommendations for federal, state, and local governments as well as vehicle drivers to improve hazards it says are caused by bigger, heavier pickup trucks.
Pickup trucks, SUVs, and vans account for nearly 75% of vehicles produced today, according to the coalition. The coalition aims to reach zero roadway deaths by 2050. It is a National Safety Council initiative funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The number of pedestrian deaths involving SUVs, pickup trucks, and vans rose about 77% between 2012 and 2022, while over the same period, the number of sales and leases of such vehicles rose by 50%, according to the report.
“This dynamic underscores the urgent need for comprehensive strategies within the [USDOT] Safe System Approach to address the complex interplay between vehicle size, safety, and transportation mode choices.”
The Safe System Approach is USDOT’s framework behind its National Roadway Safety Strategy, which states that safer vehicles, safer people, and safer roads are essential to eliminate roadway deaths.
Features of larger and heavier vehicles (including electric vehicles) that make them “so deadly,” according to the coalition, include:
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- Height and weight relative to pedestrians
- Crash incompatibility with smaller cars
- Unique front-end geometry and stiffness
- Large blind zones
- Compounding impacts of speed and acceleration
“This comprehensive report sheds light on important factors contributing to roadway safety — the impact of vehicle size, weight, and direct vision,” said Lorraine Martin, NSC president and CEO and the coalition’s chair, in a news release. “While more work is needed to solve this pressing challenge, the research is clear: government, manufacturers, and drivers all need to come together to tackle this critical safety issue, so more people can return home safely each day.”
For decades, fatalities of pedestrians and others traveling outside of vehicles have been on the rise, the release says, with 2022 marking the deadliest year for pedestrians in more than 40 years, and bicyclists since NHTSA began tracking the statistic in 1975.
“Simultaneously, the proportion of vehicles on the road that are light trucks has grown,” the coalition wrote. “Acknowledging that inadequate regulations and outdated policies have enabled the roadway safety crisis, this report illustrates how SUVs, vans, and pickup trucks — together known as light trucks — pose a greater danger to pedestrians, cyclists, and other roadway users compared to smaller passenger vehicles.”
The coalition suggests OEMs design narrower A-pillars to improve a driver’s direct vision or optimize the frames of EVs to protect their batteries from fire and minimize damage to other vehicle occupants in a crash.
“…current protocols have thus far not adequately addressed several hazards of light trucks: how poor direct vision from the driver’s seat increases the risk of a turning vehicle striking a pedestrian, how a vehicle’s high hood height makes it more likely a struck pedestrian will die, or how people who continue to ride in sedans can be far more grievously injured if they collide with a pickup truck than with a car similar in size to their own,” the coalition’s report states.
“Manufacturers’ choices to build vehicles with the safety problems outlined in this report, enabled by outdated incentives and tax policies, leave consumers feeling that they have no option but to keep up with the ‘arms race’ and buy light trucks to protect themselves… Without stronger government intervention, enhanced research and development, policy reform, and commitments to safety from manufacturers, the national safety crisis that claimed an estimated 40,990 lives on roadways in 2023 will prove difficult, if not impossible, to abate.”
In August, The Economist Intelligence Unit released its research findings from the analysis of 7.5 million two-vehicle crashes from 14 U.S. states. Based on that report, the coalition noted that for every life saved in the heaviest 1% of light trucks, more than a dozen occupants of other vehicles will die.
“According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), ‘Over the past 30 years, the average U.S. passenger vehicle has gotten about 4 inches wider, 10 inches longer, 8 inches taller and 1,000 pounds heavier,’ the report notes.
“The average hood height of passenger trucks increased by at least 11% between 2000 and 2021, and their average weight increased by 24% between 2000 and 2018, according to a Consumer Reports analysis of industry data.”
Higher hoods have been shown to increase the frequency and severity of head, torso, thorax, and chest injuries, and can force pedestrians forward, increasing the likelihood of being run over by drivers while shorter, the report says. More sloped hoods and wider windshields are associated with reduced pedestrian injury severity.
The coalition recommends the disincentivizing of larger vehicles and roadway design improvements.
Some of the recommendations the coalition has for the federal government include:
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- Issue final rule on the incorporation of pedestrian crashworthiness in NCAP,132 and advance efforts to further include pedestrian safety as part of a vehicle’s star rating.
- Consider other additions to NCAP such as bicycle crashworthiness and AEB testing, the inclusion of smaller and more vulnerable road users in pedestrian safety testing as well as visibility from the driver’s seat and hood height, and ADAS features that are evaluated on their ability to sense and protect people outside the vehicle in all weather and lighting conditions.
- Amend certain federal vehicle standards such as including intelligent speed assistance and capping front end height at 1.25 meters
- Create and implement a front visibility standard for both light vehicles and heavy trucks modeled after the 2014 amendment to FMVSS No. 111
- Regulate aftermarket modifications, including suspension and lift kits, to place caps on hood height.
- Move to a single CAFE target for cars and light trucks, or amend rules to stop incentivizing larger footprints.
The coalition also provides research, public education, funding, and procurement/fleet recommendations as well as recommendations for state and local governments, private industry, and vehicle buyers.
To learn more about the Road to Zero Coalition and its goal of achieving zero roadway deaths by 2050, visit nsc.org/roadtozero.
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Featured image provided by the National Safety Council