To think levying additional charges on SUV owners in London is a bad idea?

I live in a very rural area, regularly drive down track roads, drove roads, through tractor mud, etc. I have a mini. Nobody needs an SUV unless they are farming and driving off road.

"SUVs are 14% more likely to kill pedestrians and cyclists than other passenger cars if there is a collision, and 77% more likely to kill children."

https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/large-suvs-more-dangerous-to-pedestrians-london-may-consider-new-charges/322754

You don't think anything should be done about this?

I agree on the policy about SUV but not so much on 20mph. Sure inner London but it really the outer boroughs should remain 30mph. Particularly south london where we arent blessed with the tube network and all 20mph does is increase journey times even more, build a more connected tube network down south and ill be all for 20mph but right now no.

Good god, Khan's come up with a sensible policy? The world really is going all topsy-turvy. Though of course, like all his initiatives, the rich will be able to pay some tiny (to them) amount and carry on as usual.

What will happen:

1. Lots of people outside of London plus the Daily Mail plus Nigel Farage will get in a flap about it,

1. They'll call Sadiq Khan an anti-democratic communist nutjob,

1. They'll rile each other up into thinking they're in the vanguard of a 'common sense revolution', the 'proof' for which is a few YouTube videos made by, for and featuring morons,

1. It'll turn out that people that actually live in London are quite keen on the idea, and if Sadiq Khan stands for mayor again he'll be voted in again.

Basically it'll be ULEZ and those 'blade runner' cretins all over again. I don't mind SUVs but evidence is evidence so I think this is a good policy.

I agree with this. We have a Fiesta and a pickup (for actual commercial purposes, not as a status symbol!). I am generally a very safe driver, but when I drive the pickup, I realise I feel able to take slightly more risks than when I drive the Fiesta. It feels much safer for me. All my driving is rural fast roads, so pedestrians aren't at risk from me, but I imagine the same applies to urban drivers in SUVs subconsciously, even if they're unaware of it.

However, I don't think SUVs and pickups should be taxed extra, I think they should be banned on the basis of risk to pedestrians. Exceptions for those with genuine demonstrable purposes such as crofting, regular offroading for work, etc etc. They don't do anything that estate cars don't do so there is no reason for your average civilian to have one when they are more dangerous.

Down with the SUVs 🥳🥳

Accidently voted YANBU when YABU. I wish this could be extended to the whole country. They are so anti social. It's always them parking on double yellows on my way to school and they are so huge it makes it extra hard to be able to see to cross the road safely. They just don't give a fuck about anyone else.

I think he should go further and just ban them all 😆Few people need these big cars. They take up so much space on the road, in car parks etc and mostly people in them are bad drivers who think they have right of way.

over half of London is subject to 20mph limits

Pedestrian fatalities are highly dependent on speed. At speeds below 20 mph, accidents often result in minor injuries regardless of vehicle type

No-one "needs" an SUV @glitterpaperchain in London or any where else for that matter, but when we start to "enforce" non-sensical restrictions under the pretext of "safety" because it may be seen as a vote winner, it should give pause for thought.

I do think it's incumbent upon us, the "proles", to actually reflect on what our politicians are advocating and their "actual" reasoning behind it.

It, very rarely, is from an altruistic perspective

Excellent idea, I firmly support this.

They take up a disproportionate amount of room and are completely unnecessary in cities. Good for Sadiq

I live rurally, I have a job in 'the rural economy' I drive a hatch back. Many SUV drivers around here drive down the middle of the lanes, they often have several feet of road between them and the edge while they hoot and gesture at me to get out of the way. They know who will come of worse if I don't take to the hedge/ditch to let them past so they just drive at me and expect I'll get out the way. I've lost two wing mirrors when I have been right at the edge of the road/half way in the hedge and the on coming SUV driver has several feet of road to spare but they hit me rather than shift over (one didn't even bother to stop).

Of course they will tell you they 'need' an off road vehicle but they never actually get the tyres muddy unlike those who do actually take their vehicles off road which tend to be ancient landys rather than massive modern SUV. They block views at junctions and for people trying to cross the road but will drone on about safety to justify their lifestyle choice. The sooner they are taxed off the road the better.

Brilliant idea. Let's roll it out everywhere else too. Unless you tow a horsebox or live up a mountain no one needs these cars. And if you do need one then the extra cost will just be something you have to put up with.

Can we call it the wankpanzer tax?

Oh, sorry, I am on my phone and I’ve changed my vote on several occasions.

Anyway, it’s a landslide and you know you are on the winning side.

Oh - also on website? I couldn’t :(

No one needs an SUV in London.

This is his reasoning

I think this is a great idea and would love to see it implemented here. It could be charged like EZ Pass.

Do they have a 'bad rep' because of the 'evidence that they pose a significantly increased risk of fatal injury to pedestrians in collisions, particularly children'?

Oh those gullible proles 🙄

Honestly who needs a giant SUV in London?

Why not do both? Make it more inconvenient to own SUVs, enforce speed limits and revoke people's driving licenses if they cause death or injury alongside actual meaningful fines and prison sentences

If you read the coverage, this probably won’t apply to all SUVs - just the mammoth ones. There is a massive difference in bonnet height in SUV, which I particularly notice when cycling as the largest ones feel on a level with my head, and given the risk to pedestrians it’s not really unreasonable for these extra large cars to be regulated. Car manufacturers can make safer designs - they are just choosing not to.

There are also expenses that arise to councils if people choose to drive these really heavy cars - for example the Institute of Structural Engineers recently warned that older car parks might need engineering work not be able to support the weight. Why should someone who drives a hatchback subsidise SUV drivers?

Then there’s the effect on the weight on pavements re slabs cracking & creating tripping hazards (although this might be less in London as unlike elsewhere in the country they actually have rules restricting pavement parking). It sounds minor - but it isn’t for older people who are vulnerable to falls.

What really impressed me in Sadiq Khan’s statement is that he is openly talking about Vision Zero - specifically that we have too many people killed / injured in road collisions and that we can and should reduce this. That’s something that other mayors / council leaders should do too. He’s also talking about his own car use too so that people know these rules will apply to him too. Again, that’s something other politicians should copy.

As for 20mph - if a car hits you at 20, you have a good chance of survival - at 30mph you don’t. Pedestrians & cyclists aren’t there to be collateral damage just because drivers don’t like using their brakes.

You can change your vote

There were similar findings when Australia (I think, it was years back) made cycling without a helmet illegal - more cycling fatalities. Some professor in the UK did a study showing how drivers behave more recklessly to helmet wearing cyclists as they perceived them as ‘safe’.

Londoner here and I loathe those huge SUVs. Cars can't pass on roads where SUVs are parked on both sides. The height of their bonnets mean they are more likely to kill or seriously injure a small child. And this must be far more important than those drivers saying they feel safer inside one. They should not be categorised as cars and therefore should be taxed differently, and by that I mean heavily as a deterrent.