Pádraig Hoare: We need to start the conversation about the dangers of SUVs

These vehicles are massively contributing to our emissions problem. For every five SUVs sold, you knock out the benefit of an EV

While banning them may not be possible, additional taxes and parking restrictions are some of the measures that could be used to disincentive SUV popularity among motorists.

All consumers know that when the producer names the tune, the consumer has got to dance.

American jazz and soul poet Gil Scott-Heron was lamenting the exponential consumerism bloat that has taken over his country when he wrote and performed B Movie in 1981, and more than 40 years later, it hasn’t gotten any better.

Lest we feel smugly superior to our American friends, we should remind ourselves how rampant consumerism habits have shaped our own lives over this side of the Atlantic.

For myriad reasons, chiefly those espoused by the late and most definitely great spoken-word poet, we have convinced ourselves that the so-called sports utility vehicle (SUV) and bigger cars are the best, safest, and most value-for-money when it comes to getting around.

We’ve fallen for the hype created by the carmakers and their exceptionally talented storymakers in marketing and communications, because SUVs are now ubiquitous.

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Our predilection for SUVs has come to the forefront this week in the national news cycle after comments from one of Ireland’s leading transport experts laid bare not only the questions around their emissions output, but also the safety aspects.

In casting a critical eye, I’m being a complete hypocrite. Because up to now, I’d love to have one of the fancier SUV models someday. I haven’t been inoculated against the hype and storytelling.

I’ve been thoroughly seduced by adverts showing young sprightly folk putting their surfboards in the back and engaging in wanderlust, seeking out adventure and fun, freewheeling and unshackled by societal norms — I’ve fallen for the said slick marketing hook, line, and sinker.

To some, SUVs are ugly contraptions, representing the worst of Western excess. To others, like myself, they generally look slick, they feel safe, and you can pile just about anything cumbersome inside them and still have room to spare.

The estate family car suddenly looks boxy and boring alongside the shiny SUV, while saloon cars seem to be the preserve of the company or boring executive

Reading about Trinity College Dublin (TCD) Professor Brian Caulfield in this newspaper this week, it’s given me food for thought, and I’m reevaluating my admiration for the vehicle that has taken over Irish roads and driveways for the past decade.

In the context of both emissions and safety, the seduction I’ve fallen for doesn’t seem half as romantic or fun.

Running out of road

Prof Caulfield, regarded as one of the leading authorities in transport emissions in Ireland, and someone who has conducted extensive research on decarbonising the transport emissions conundrum, said SUVs need phasing out.

“We should be looking at SUVs because they are massively contributing to our emissions problem. For every five SUVs sold, you knock out the benefit of an EV.

“They are about 20% on average more polluting than a regular car. If I had one thing I could do, it would be to stop selling them.”

While banning them may not be possible, he conceded, additional taxes and parking restrictions are some of the measures that could be used to disincentive SUV popularity among motorists.

“They are more dangerous, emit 20% higher on average, and are bigger. That to me is one of the policy levers we could pull pretty easily in order to start phasing them out of the market.”

Even SUVs that are fully electric are not a solution because of their size and the emissions-intensive way in which they are produced, he added.

“They are better than petrol or diesel but those batteries still use a lot of energy.”

Safety

That is even before the safety aspect comes into play. Surely, one would think, having a good-sized vehicle that is sturdily built and estimable in size is a way to keep you and your family safe from the unpredictable nature of roads and motorways.

Not so, according to studies from the US, where around 80% of new cars sold in recent years are SUVs.

The 80% figure comes from respected consumer insight analyst JD Power, which showed that in 2021 that nearly 80% of cars bought were SUVs, up from just over 50% a decade ago, even as car sales, on the whole, are declining.

At the same time, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the New York Times, road deaths are on the rise in the US over the last couple of years, bucking the trend of almost every developed country across the world — all except Switzerland and, notably, Ireland.

Data scientist Danny Cunningham, based in Chicago, crunched the numbers to see if the number of SUVs is merely correlation or a cause of excess road deaths in the US.

Using in-depth and impressively rigorous methodology, he extrapolated that “SUVs are 16% more likely to cause incapacitating injuries and 36% more likely to kill pedestrians than smaller cars”.

Pickup trucks are 33% more likely to cause incapacitating injury, and 108% — or more than twice as likely — to kill pedestrians, he also found.

SUVs do actually make drivers themselves safer in a crash, he said — it’s those outside the vehicle who are most likely in peril when things go awry

“Bigger, heavier cars are more likely to kill pedestrians than smaller, lighter cars. Ok… not exactly groundbreaking. However, a lot of people don’t realise it’s a problem in our cities — I never thought about it until it was pointed out to me. I’m hopeful that some hard evidence will spread some awareness,” he said.

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Maybe it’s a good thing that the Kia EV6 that I’ve enviously had my eye on for the past couple of years, waiting for the secondhand market to do its thing and make them more affordable, is currently out of my budget reach.

Maybe in the next couple of years, BusConnects and cycle lanes will have seduced me into thinking my SUV desire was but a passing love crush.

Maybe I’ll never look at a car advert the same way again. Maybe the carmakers will go in a different direction.

A lot of maybes, but people like Prof Brian Caulfield have started the conversation that needs to be had.

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