We all get unsolicited advice on which car is
the safest to buy. Some might say that heavier and bigger cars are
the safest cars on the road, while others will tell you to avoid
the lighter ones because they lead to a higher risk of
fatalities and accidents.
So maybe what this means then is that the
lighter, more fuel-efficient car gets forgotten in the mix, and
that SUV gets a nod from your entire family because
they’re huge and heavy.
But are these truths or fallacies? In most
cases, they are true — but you’re not entirely seeing the
entire picture here, either.
Truth is, there’s more to safety than size and
weight. And there’s certainly more to safety than guaranteeing
you’d come home in one piece. Many safety analysts tend to
overemphasize the safety
risks that drivers of a particular car model will
get, when it’s also important to
consider how
their cars will affect the safety of other drivers around
them.
Combining these two kinds of risks make
evaluating a car’s overall danger on the road more comprehensive
and accurate. When these two risks are combined, SUVs are actually no safer than subcompact
or compact sedans — or any other car*. What’s
more, those who drive pickup trucks actually stand a much greater
risk compared to SUV drivers. In fact, combining both risks show
that SUVs and pickup trucks pose a much greater danger compared to most cars on
the road. Perhaps our concept of the safest cars may not be
accurate.
Here is a chart to help you understand the
safety risk of drivers and other drivers using different vehicle
types on the road:
Keep in mind that the chart above is just an
overview. Not all cars are the same, just as not all drivers are
the same. And there are just as many factors that affect a car’s
safety risk. They include:
Just like everything else, vehicles are also
affected by the laws of physics. So when two mismatched cars
collide with each other, the lighter vehicle takes the heavier
impact between the two.
In fact, the odds of a fatal accident between a car and
SUV driver are 7.6 times higher for the person driving the car than
the SUV. And even if the car has a well-rated front crash feature
than the SUV did, the driver is still four and a half times more
likely to die than the SUV driver.
In case of side and rear collisions during lane
changes, the car driver still has the disadvantage. Small vehicles
tend to crumple when a violent impact hits it from these areas. And
even the presence of airbags can only do little in the face of
quickly bending metal.
Larger vehicles also lessen the amount of collateral
damage that happens in a crash. In the Insurance Institute
Study (IIHS), only 8% of vehicular deaths involved
passengers in the back seat of large cars.
So does this mean that passenger cars like sedans are
walking death traps? Certainly not. In fact, they can actually be
as safe as SUVs and other larger cars if they improve their
design.
Improving a car’s design and safety features can
actually lessen fatality risk even in light or small cars. A study
made by IIHS researchers found out that vehicle changes like
added safety technology and improved structural
design were the main source of decline in car fatality risks that
happened in the U.S. from 1993 to 2006.
One good example of how design can impact a car is seen
in small overlap crash tests. In the real world, crashes don’t
always occur head-on. And in some cases, the impact usually happens
at an angle, such as when your car’s front corner collides with
another car or a tree. These are called small overlap crashes.
These crashes, which are very demanding on airbags and
safety belts, can result to more lower extremity injuries compared
to direct, full frontal crashes. They are debilitating, since 40
percent of the serious injuries happen on the lower legs and feet.
What’s more, they’re costly to maintain, since drivers who face
this type of accident are unable to work for three months or
longer.
Vehicle manufacturers often design their cars for
moderate to full frontal crashes — not the smaller ones. So they
have adjusted their designs and included better airbags on the
front and side, as well as widening front-end structures and
strengthening the safety cage of their cars to resist deformation
from side impacts.
These design tweaks have made many cars today much
safer on the road — especially smaller cars.
The environment also has a say when it comes to safety
risks. This is particularly true for those that experience heavy
rain. Rain causes poor visibility and slippery roads — two factors
that can lead to collisions or accidents.
However, it’s interesting to note that the impact of
adverse weather and the seriousness of the injuries appear to be
less fatal, falling by 28.9 percent. This can be attributed to
drivers who practice more caution and lesser speeds during bad
weather.
Weather is not the only factor here. Locations
where vehicles are used should also be taken into consideration.
For example, pickup trucks have high risk ratings mainly because
they are used in rural places that offer poor road conditions and
higher speeds (due to lesser traffic).
Driver behavior is hard to measure, since they vary
depending on the person. But whatever the case, it’s a known fact
that there is a direct correlation between aggressive drivers and
fast vehicles — particularly the sportier ones.
Sports cars go hand-in-hand with speed, and
there’s a huge body of evidence that consistently supporting the
theory that increasing speed increases a person’s chances of
crashing, getting injured or killed. For fatalities, there’s around
4 percent to 12 percent fatality risk for every one percent
increase in speed.
Safety risks can also be affected by age and
gender. However, a study made by Wenzel and Ross showed that
behavior, age, and gender don’t have enough influence in
determining a vehicle type’s safety risk factor. On the other hand,
weight, design, and even the car’s price have the
highest significance in influencing the degree of safety
that a driver and his fellow drivers will experience on the
road.
The information above might not mean anything to
someone whose priority is to buy a cheap, low-quality car. If
you’re that person, then keep in mind that the savings
you make when purchasing an inexpensive car can easily be
wiped out with the medical costs of just one serious accident.
When driven responsibly, SUVs are still the safest cars
when it comes to overall safety. But if you’re opting to buy
a small car, then it’s best to invest in as many
safety features that you can get as possible. And make sure that
they are all up-to-date. That way, you’re almost getting the
benefits of an SUV — without the hefty price tag that comes
along with it.
—
—
*
Taken from the research paper: “An Analysis of
Traffic Deaths by Vehicle Type and Model,” prepared by Tom Wenzel,
an energy analyst with Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy
Technologies Division, and Marc Ross, a professor in Michigan’s
Applied Physics Department.
** “An
Analysis of Traffic Deaths by Vehicle Type and Model,” by Wenzel
and Ross
*** “The Roles of Vehicle Footprint, Height, and Weight
in Crash Outcomes: Application of a Heteroscedastic Ordered Probit
Model” By T. Donnachen
“The Aggressivity of Light Trucks and Vans
in Traffic Crashes,” Gabler, H.C. and W.T. Hollowell
The post Are SUVs and Big Cars the Safest on the Road? Not
Always appeared first on Carmudi
Philippines Journal.