To think the law needs to change on 4x4s and Supersized SUVs in Cities.

[JustMint]

Unsure how, but today's news is just horrifying, these vehicles really need to be reduced in numbers in residential areas in my opinion. They are significantly heavier than smaller cars (I know that's stating the obvious) but who really needs a 4X4 in a city?

So every time something bad happens to someone we are going to ban something? Get real. Horrible accidents happen.

I read a thread earlier saying that the tennis championships at Wimbledon should have been cancelled today.

I'd rather see SUVs drastically restricted myself, but can we not immediately fall into the ableism? OFC some people need private cars. Disabled people, midwives and doctors being the obvious ones.

Half mile exclusion zones are completely unworkable and even if introduced, wouldn't be properly enforced.

If we want change, it needs to be a proposal that's cheap and easy to institute, and probably phased in over time.

No I know @Alyso

It was @1990s who jumped the shark.

How about simply changing SUVs to a different licence category? Like trucks and tractors are.

if you need one for practical reasons, you’ll make the effort to do a separate SUV licence test.

if, however, you’re just a car driver looking for a status symbol, it would probably be sufficient to persuade you to buy something less lethal to pedestrians.

This!

My standard issued in 1996 driving license allows me to drive a 7.5t truck & a 16 seat mini bus but I'd be expected to take another test to drive something a lot smaller than either of those.

Even standard licences issued today allow the holder to drive a 3.5t van.

It's never going to happen & if it did there would be grandfather rights for those of us who already have a licence.

I disagree. In London, there are currently "school streets" which non-residents are blocked from driving down at certain times of the day. A similar but more wide-ranging exclusion could be introduced for certain types of vehicle.

Why not? School streets have been a massive success. Stick a camera up, and some signs, watch the cash flow in from fools in cars. Councils would be all over the extra revenue.

@hattie43 Just because tyres are inside the white lines doesn’t mean that there’s room to get out of the car. So they are parked legally, but functionally it is obstructing the spaces either side.

The news today is just horrific obviously, but thought there should be some restriction on them for ages, although not sure they could be easily baned. They are so much for dangerous for other road users (pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers) + tragically it would seem also those near roads too. Also more polluting. Seems crazy that when we should be trying to reduce carbon as much as possible people have started driving around in small trucks. Most of my friends and family have one though, we have refused, but are definitely the odd ones out (and we do not live in a particularly rural area where anyone actually needs a 4by4 type vehicle)

I disagree. In London, there are currently "school streets" which non-residents are blocked from driving down at certain times of the day. A similar but more wide-ranging exclusion could be introduced for certain types of vehicle.

Hmm, but being a Londoner who moved away, I notice that other cities aren't like London. Maybe part of it is the borough council system in London, which really chops up the city into patches. The density of London is unusual but not unique, so it can't just be that. I just don't think you'd get the appetite to administrate it.

Besides, if you took a map of London and drew half mile exclusion zones around every school, there wouldn't be much left except for Richmond Park.

Better just to extend and expand ULEZ type systems.

You refused to buy a vehicle🙄

Reclassifying all new SUVs registered from 2025 onwards as agricultural vehicles and forcing the motor manufacturers to switch manufacturing to saloons and MPVs would be the easiest way to achieve huge impact.

I was unfortunate enough to live near a private school for ten years, there were innumerable outsized cars parked dangerously and inconsiderately every day. I think another issue was that many of the drivers were too small to have clear visibility when manoeuvring. I had £800 worth of damage done to my car by a very petite lady driving an enormous Audi.

Drivers of both sexes frequently parked massive cars on hatches at the junctions and there were many near misses for children and other road users due to there being no clear line of sight. The school did send letters out periodically reminding parents about safety and showing consideration to residents, but any improvements were short lived and they refused to act against a man who threatened my husband after being asked to move off the hatch.

I would definitely support an enhanced test for driving these vehicles.

They're everywhere in Birmingham and I don't see the need for it. Huge great things. I wonder if you'd even see a kid that ran out in front of you, they're so high with massive grills / bars on the front.
It all starts with one manufacturer making a slightly bigger car, and then the others join in to keep up, and gradually cars get bigger and bigger, and people buy bigger and bigger cars to feel 'safe' amongst all the other big cars.... and it just gets ridiculous. And they wonder why people don't like cycling.

they're so high with massive grills / bars on the front.

Bull bars have been illegal for more than 15 years.

There's the safety issue of high-fronted vehicles being more dangerous to pedestrians in a collision, but also bigger vehicles are a big problem for the climate. The increase in SUV sales globally has cancelled out the benefit from electric vehicles.

There's lots of heated discussion on Mumsnet on how personal fashion and beauty decisions may be influenced by social norms, media and marketing, but it doesn't seem to come up so much on these sort of threads. But of course, that's why cars have got bigger. And for families with one or two children doing the school run, not farmers. Our ideas of what is a small, medium or large car have shifted a long way from what was considered normal in the past and this is actively harmful.

So I'd ban marketing of SUVs. Others have suggested this in the past https://theecologist.org/2021/dec/22/car-adverts-work-so-ban-them
Obviously there are a lot of other measures needed in general to make our cities healthier and safer like school streets and clean air measures but there is always a lot of pushback against these.

I'd love to see regular medical/eyesight/competency tests for all drivers of any type of vehicle.

Over the nearly 40 years of driving I've seen some absolutely horrendous driving from drivers in all categories of vehicles... mostly of high end value cars ( not usually SUVs /4x4s) and I feel that regular testing would eliminate such stupid driving.
These tests should be alongside a regular basic health/eye test.

I'm going to be brutally honest here , but gif car drivers seem to be far more generous to other drivers and road users as they almost seem to over compensate.
However, don't start me on those mini fiat owners... they're the worst!
They think they're invincible and assume we'll all stop and accommodate them.
Oh.. and those Smart cars too.

@Bingbangbongbash "I’m no Clarkson, but that’s a motorbike not a car."

No mention was made of said vehicle being a car.
"The elderly pedestrian killed recently in West London was hit by a met police BMW weighing only 259kg."
The point is that someone was killed by a motor vehicle a tenth of the weight of a Land Rover Defender (and driven by a highly trained professional to boot).

There's a common road safety message aimed at ignorant drivers of 4-wheelers:
THINK BIKE

Unfortunately I am one of “those people” who cycle everywhere.

Just putting my ideal situation here, same as everyone else on the thread.

Just putting my ideal situation here, same as everyone else on the thread.

And I was just observing that your "ideal situation" is extremely ableist.

News reports have suggested driver may have had a medical incident. Do t be so quick to judge.