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?

Err, no, care have a proper, considered careful look at exactly what I wrote?

The "evidence" is interesting but we don't know all the dynamics and factors of the accident so there's a danger of rushing to the wrong conclusion.

I know it's not fashionable to wait but maybe best to hang on and see what comes up as a result of any investigation and then consider addressing the cause(s).

Yeah and did you read what I wrote? This incident is terrible, but it's one of many. You'd be an idiot to ban something if one person had died once but that isn't what happened. This is an incident that has sparked a wider conversation

Like when someone gets shot in America and everyone goes, well it wasn't my gun

If you live in a city you could have one of those small Citroen Ami cars.

Ummm… do they even make featherweight cars???

Duh of course they do. The Nissan Leaf.

Lots of whataboutery from dedicated SUV drivers here as usual in these debates 🙄 Of course they need 3 tonnes of metal to get dear Jocasta and Hugo to school three streets away in a city.

Agreed OP and it should work similarly to ULEZ where you pay extra every day you use it in Greater London / whichever city.

Our street is absolutely packed with them (london zone 2) 🙄 Impossible to get to the big Waitrose without one, you see! Who knows what diseases one would catch on public transport.

So I'm flawed for being disabled and have to pay every time I need to go to the regional centre?

So I'm flawed for being disabled and have to pay every time I need to go to the regional centre?

I know you're just pushing back at the relentless othering, (someone upthread dismissed the disability issues as a part of MN bingo, which was delightful), but actually felt I should tell you that disabled motorists can get exemptions in both the ULEZ and the congestion charge.

So make sure you apply for that once you qualify @speluncean

(My current car even has managed to garner two ULEZ exemptions, one for the build and the other as it's my registered vehicle)

I didn't known that @JeandeServiette thank you.

But I'm also sure that that pp wasn't considering disabled people.

I have an SUV that can tow and is a 4x4 because that's what I NEED - for my disabilities and for the other parts of my life.

I cried when I had to get rid of my little car and I made a decision that I would just have one car that would do all I needed instead of borrowing someone else's. Which is/was a bigger SUV than the one I have.

I cannot get in and out of a little car anymore.

I know I was castigated for that by another poster here and told that I shouldn't be getting a disabled exception unless I got higher rate mobility AND used that towards a mobility car. That's so discriminatory.

And yes, I'm upset by that. I hate being disabled I hate being dependent on others and I just wanted to keep a bit of independence I suppose.

Why should I have my life made more difficult? There are lots of accidents with lots of cars and lorries and vans on the road every day. Whilst this one is tragic, it is no more tragic than any other death on the roads for the families involved.

I agree OP.

People should have to apply for a authorisation to purchase one. Reasons could include a regular need to tow (with evidence, either for work or hobbies), being a farmer or gamekeeper, or living very very rurally. No need to stop such people driving into towns, which would represent an unreasonable restriction, limiting them to people with a legitimate reason to own one would be adequate to see a significant reduction in them.

Tabitha who is transporting little Hugo to school via Waitrose shouldn't be allowed one.

But what if Tabitha buys little Hugo a pony, and needs to get both or them to Pony Club?

£12.50 is not huge

(as someone living just outside current ulez, will be in ulez next month and my car isn't ulez compliant)

So I'd have yet another disability exemption hoops to jump through. Wonderful

Well then Tabitha can well afford a second smaller car for whenever they don't have the pony with them.

I am really struggling to buy a non SUV style car though. We're probably the only people on the street without one. I have a small MPV style car at the moment and want similar again - but the market is flooded with SUV's. I was a medium sized car, that will hold all the hobby crap for my kids and carry bikes on the back. I find estates too uncomfortable to drive, so the small MPV style is perfect. Grrrrrrr

What about all those who have died in car accidents who might have survived if they were in a SUV BMW IX passenger safety 91% vs the mini copper (same brand) which is a small car you all think we should be driving at 79% or the even smaller aygo at 74%.

You could have landed a plane in the space she had to stop that defender something else has happened. The car may be mechanically to blame which considering it's a Land Rover is likely to be the electrics which happens to include the parking break on them! Evoque are trendy and live the garage with similar issues! The Defender also has steering problems, random windscreen crack (that would shock the driver) plus Google reports issue in America of the breaks locking on!

Our sons school has a chain link fence that would catch a car like that atleast slowing it down why didn't the school have similar in the current terrorism climate never mind crashes.

Not many people seem to have any clue about how politics actually works, and the fact we aren't living in the kind of state where you need to ask for written permission to buy a certain type of car.

Whatever the rights and wrongs - as a nation we are so far from that kind of state that I cannot envisage it ever happening.

That logic really doesn’t add up, horses are expensive to keep, and from my experience, there isn’t any spare money for a second car. In fact there are lots of sacrifices, such as no family holidays, no hairdressers, no eating out or takeaways, no phones or tablets. Most of the kids birthday and Christmas gifts were horse related. But what my children gained was responsibility, hard work, organisational skills, confidence, consistency and gratitude, not to mention fresh air, exercise and socialisation and lots of family memories. So the assumption that horse owners are rolling in it, is unfounded as most horse owners will tell you. A lot of my friends had the same opinion until I pointed out, that what they spent on one night out, would cover my horses keep for the week. Preferred to spend my money on horses than alcohol, going out clothes, handbags and taxis.

Brakes.

What about all those who have died in car accidents who might have survived if they were in a SUV BMW IX passenger safety 91% vs the mini copper (same brand) which is a small car you all think we should be driving at 79% or the even smaller aygo at 74%.

Are they for car on car or wrapping it round a lamp post?

Here is an idea, rather than getting into a debate on what is an isn't an SUV, why not have a tax for how heavy a vehicle is.

The thing that makes what we call an SUV dangerous (to other road users and pedestrians) is the weight.

You can actually have 4 x 4's that are small like the Fiat Panda and Suzuki Jimmy.

Most of the framework for implementing it already exists in the form of vehicle registration, vehicle categories on licenses and the infrastructure that's already in place for CC and ULEZ and other low emission schemes popping up everywhere

You can buy whatever you want, but you wouldn't be able to use it in London without exemption. So buying one without a qualifying reason would be stupid. It could be implemented just like ULEZ except it's a 1k fine instead of a 12.50 charge

I have a politics degree.

We already restrict the usage of certain vehicles (e.g. those over 3.5 tonnes) via the licencing system.

We restrict gun ownership, and one of the things you have to be able to satisfy to be allowed to buy or own one is
"they require their firearm on a regular, legitimate basis for work, sport or leisure (including collections or research)"
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/13/what-are-rules-firearms-licences-uk

There's no reason why the same principles couldn't be applied to the ownership of certain types of car.

Finally, if lockdown taught you one thing it's that life could change in an instance. If someone had told you in 2019 that the government would tell people that they weren't allowed to leave their own homes unless they had a good reason - and that the vast majority of people would have complied with it - you'd have laughed in their face.

What a ridiculous argument.

What about those who die specifically because of the SUV that hits them. That is the reality.

Cars all generally work when they're all comparable in terms of bonet heights. Throw a Range Rover into the equation and it renders everything else redundant.