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?

Yep! The only ones who suffer are the ones who can’t afford newer hybrid type cards and small businesses, delivery drivers. Another way of separating those who have and have not.

Stupid waste of breath, if you want to get really annoyed read about what's going to happen when 2 electric cars crash. Then you can really start to panic about the danger to life in cities and our roads. Just be grateful it wasn't an electric car.

Yes I have a 4x4 defender 90 that's stays firmly in the countryside and drive my smaller car if I go to towns and cities and what happened today was awful, but if it's true about a medical incident I'm afraid that whatever car the poor lady was driving there would have been issues.

I don’t know how that would be achieved. There are masses of the things around here - like bloody great tanks. Charging more road tax for cars above a certain weight would IMO be a good move, but it’d have to be significantly more. Not that I think that’d put off the sort of people who feel the need to drive them in the suburbs.

If weight is the issue electric cars will only make it worse. They are significantly heavier than petrol cars. Should we then ban electric cars? There is no practical solution.

Oh justMint manages just fine without a car in a city and has adapted her lifestyle so that must mean we all can do the same. What an absolutely ridiculous idea and thing to even suggest. Any car regardless of size is a lethal weapon. Somebody could take unwell at the wheel of a fiat 500 and still kill/injure somebody just as badly as a 4x4 can it’s all circumstantial

Always a "medical episode" , glad the driver would have been breathalysed. Just in case..

The point was if you bring in license conditions that you need an additional test to drive a vehicle over a certain size and weight then it will also apply to all vans on the roads too.

Then why has the driver been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving?

Thanks - how will you categorise which vehicles are SUVs of a certain height or weight? If an electric car is as heavy as an SUV, would they need to take the test? Or is it size AND weight? What about vans - as people have suggested eg: supermarket delivery vans?
How many people would need to be tested?
What will you do about enforcement?
Oh, and what does
We need a crash dummy scenario
mean?

We got hit on the motorway by a rangerover. Back of our car crumbled and was written on. Barely a dent on the range rover.
The things are lethal for anyone outside the vehicle. No place for those tanks in urban areas.

Perhaps we should ban all private cars from London

Yes please!

Have a look upthread, been answered many times.

I think that people who haven’t driven or lived in SW London or other affluent don’t appreciate quite how many of these massive vehicles are routinely driven terribly and much too fast. And also that genuine these are not people who spend 90% of the time towing trailers or driving in fields.

It’s easy to say that nothing is possible but I agree that more should be done to ensure that cars are safer for pedestrians/ cyclists in a crash (and not just those inside the vehicle) and also agree with the idea of an enhanced driving test above a certain size- which could educate people about the difference in driving this type/ size of vehicle as opposed to a mini. I also think that perhaps there should be a lower points threshold for having your licence taken away if you drive something like this- to encourage really careful driving.

The ULEZ/ high insurance does not touch most people who drive this type of car around The Study. But having to book on to and attend a course might just persuade them to size down (or at least they wouldn’t be able to hand the keys over to the 19 yr old au pair who’s fresh over from Spain).

Exactly - unless it's "only applies to those horrid SUV things that I hate" which is understandable but not precise enough for an actual law.

What a spectacularly pointless response. Electric cars are much heavier than regular, and what about vans / trucks?
Many people buy SUVs because they are so safe for passengers. You can’t use marking as tragic as this as an excuse to police something you just don’t like.

The weight of the car makes a huge difference actually. If this person had been driving a smart car it would probably have been less severe - the lower weight meaning it would have been slowed down much more by the fence. Had it been a bicycle chances are no deaths or serious injuries.

I saw a lovely old Ford Capri the other day. It was tiny. I remember them as big cars!

Because a child died and the Police still have to investigate it. They don't just shrug and go OK then. One assumes there will gather medical evidence from tests done on the day, get her medical history and then decide whether to move from arrest to charging.

I witnessed a car / motorcycle collision earlier this year. The motorcycle was speeding, came flying out of a side road and ploughed into the car which was halfway across the road. The motorcyclist was thrown 15/20ft away from the collision, his bike much further. The car driver was arrested at the scene. He's subsequently not been charged.

If it's the vehicle rather than the driver which is permitted or not presumably there could be a difference based on commercial vs private usage.

Careful now, you are posting logic now - that won't do on this thread.

OK so a lot of people seem angry that I don’t know how to solve this - it’s out of my area of expertise but how about this…

Let’s use London (whoever compared London to the Welsh Valley’s is clearly missing the point) as the largest city and as an example.

Out of M25 / End of Public Transport Route parking facilities for free for large cars so people can travel in on PT.

Higher Tax for anyone who “needs” an SUV / 4X4 in London - if they can afford the car they can afford a whacking increase in tax, or they will have to think again about whether they really need the car. Tax should be on a percentage of income/savings rather than set amount - that way it impacts all in the same way.

Taxation money goes back into local infrastructure to fund educational campaigns and design infrastructure around high pedestrian / cyclist routes, particularly with young children footfall.

Policy changes so that schools encourage no cars on pick up and drop off, and policy changes that mean car manufacturers have to start improving car design for pedestrian safety ON PAR with the design for passenger safety.

Educate - advanced theory and driving courses for anyone driving a vehicle over a set weight, it’s clear from this thread people don’t understand car weight is a factor in car deaths (quite a terrifying lack of knowledge) and then probably don’t factor in breaking distances, kerb hop capabilities, and potential injuries from driving a heavier/larger car. This would include EVs as well.

Most employed delivery drivers do additional training and have their driving monitored by their employer. It would be a good idea to make that compulsory.

Most people who drive SUVs don’t have large families 🙄. The constant justification is ridiculous.

Everyone else can stop driving them but I neeeeeed mine. Yes of course you do.

@Thatboymum please point out where I have said everyone should go carless, I was responding to a comment about the OP of a similar thread driving a Porsche Cayenne - and pointing out that I don't drive so no worries with the thread going down the same vein.

Such cars would spectacularly fail occupant safety and primary safety these days - one reason cars are larger and heavier is all the safety aids.