Car bonnet heights

[GingerBeverage]

I don't understand how they pass safety tests?

In crashes, high-bonneted SUVs are more likely to strike the vital organs in the core of adults’ bodies and the heads of children. Hitting pedestrians above their centre of gravity means they are more likely to be knocked forward and down and then be driven over. In contrast, low bonnets tend to hit pedestrians’ legs, giving them a greater chance of falling on to the vehicle and being deflected to the side.
The report, by the advocacy group Transport & Environment (T&E), found that the average bonnet height of new cars sold in Europe rose from 77cm in 2010 to 84cm in 2024.
The rise matches booming sales of SUVs from 12% to 56% of all cars over the same period, with the increasing size of vehicles being described as “carspreading” or “autobesity”. SUVs are also 20% more polluting on average and this rise in sales is cancelling out the reduction in climate-heating CO2 due to electric vehicles and fuel efficiency improvements.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/11/ever-rising-height-car-bonnets-suv-threat-to-children-report

outside my dcs primary school every single day cars and vans are driving on the pavement, even as the children are coming out. Even Lorries do it.
The worst I saw was a massive grabber lorry trundling along the pavement towards a year 5 walking to school with her cello in hand. Fucking awful.

Because for some reason in this country the most vulnerable road users (pedestrians, especially children) come bottom of the priority list.

We have two cars, neither of which are SUVs because very few people actually need a car that size. When we needed a lot of space we got an estate car.

There is so much wrong with this post.

Blaming pedestrians for being the victim of a RTA

If drivers weren't on their phones, or drunk, or on drugs, or lacking sleep, or listening to loud music, or speeding, or just shit at driving they might be less prone to smashing their oversized cars into people.

Thats sort of the point. The Police usually enforce laws 🙄

Surely "if it saves even one life" we should invest in more places where pedestrians can cross the road safely.

Yes. I am literally saying that people should take responsibility for themselves rather than expect others to do it for them. Shock horror!

If a pedestrian walks out in front of a car, that pedestrian is to blame for the collision, they are not a victim. Same as if they drove out in front of another car, their action caused the collision.

By your logic, construction workers needn’t bother wearing hard hats. They should take responsibility for themselves and avoid situations where something could fall on their heads.

If a driver is distracted, incapacitated or careless it may be deemed their fault and the law can hold them to account.

Your views are very far from the UK social/legal norms.

My gate goes straight out onto a road. I couldn't legally leave my house! My DM wouldn't be able to catch a bus from the bus stop right outside her house, or the next stop along.

Councils would be very busy putting crossings in everywhere!

@Chiseltip

as there’s only 4 pedestrian crossings in my town this could be very difficult! Countries with semi enforced jaywalking laws have many more crossing points but these points (look like zebra crossings) don’t insist cars stop, they are just where you can see properly to cross. I prefer our system of cars being compelled to stop

But you’ve provided no evidence for your assertion this is the major cause of accidents between cars and pedestrians.

Yes if someone steps out six feet in front of a car going down a dark dual carriageway at 60 then the driver has no chance of avoiding them and the pedestrian is at fault. If, as happened on my road a few weeks ago, the pedestrian was legally crossing the 20mph road at a corner, where they have right of way, in broad daylight and the driver just turned right and mowed into them claiming they “didn’t see them” then the driver was at fault. It’s nothing like as simple as you’re suggesting.

There isn't a driver in the country that would agree they are to blame for a collision where a pedestrian walks out in front of their car. 35 million people aren't wrong.

It's not socially acceptable to take blame when something isn't your fault.

It’s nothing like as simple as you’re suggesting. Yes quite.
Legal responsibility, quite rightly, depends on the specifics of each case.

It is as simple as I am suggesting. If that pedestrian was legally banned from crossing anywhere other than a marked crossing, then they wouldn't have been hit at that corner would they?

Crossing a road at a junction is dangerous because cars have windscreen pillars that can obscure the drivers view. Pedestrian crossing keep pedestrians safe.

This is really simple stuff.

As a pedestrian it’s incredibly difficult to check if it’s safe to cross a road because of how tall these cars are. It feels like you have to be in the middle of the road before you can see past them.

This. We have an estate as we needed boot space.

I still remember when we were in America and hired a stupidly big SUV, you could barely get two bags of shopping in it. So when people say they get an SUV for boot space I laugh. The boot space is so tiny most have roof boxes!

Totally agree. My dc have to walk through a car park (with me) when they leave one of their clubs and every single car bonnet is higher than my 6 year old. He is utterly invisible to people pulling out unless they rely solely on cameras and sensors, which most people won't do if they see it clear in front of them.

UK law is what it is and won't be changing any time soon. Drivers will continue to plead guilty, or plead not guilty and be found guilty, or plead not guilty and be found not guilty, depending on the individual circumstances of the case in question.

Met one yesterday on a lane I know well. They saw me as they were level with a passing place, the closest one behind me was 50 yards back, rather than stopping they kept coming and then got into a stand off telling me they weren’t able to reverse! If they had just waited where they were there was no need for them to find this mysterious gear. But no, in the wee fiesta I had to go back 50 yards down a lane because they couldn’t handle the vehicle they were driving

I don’t think all SUV’s are equal in this respect - I think there’s a big difference between something that’s Nissan qashquai like vs a massive Jeep or Range Rover. I see lots of the former but not many giants!

Except there are many places where gates and drives go straight onto the road with no path to walk along. So as a pedestrian you have the option of crossing where there is no crossing or walking in the road to a designated crossing place. The alternative is having a crossing at every gate in areas outside 30mph zones.

They’re not only not banned from walking across the road though, they legally had the right of way. Highway Code says so. See here for example https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/legal/new-highway-code-rules-what-you-need-to-know/

Are you seriously saying there should be a marked zebra or pelican crossing on every single road and no one should cross anywhere else?!

Are you proposing speed limiters for cars based on gos location. Otherwise it is a grey area .... Speeding car or misjudged crossing by a pedestrian? Where does the blame lie then?

@GingerBeverage are you actually anti-car???

Yes, this. No one needs a monster truck. There isn't the space on the roads for a start.

But we do lots of things to try and reduce the extent of injuries (or death) if there's an accident - 20 mph or 30 mph speed limits for example are in place because it drastically reduces the chance of the pedestrian dying or being seriously injured if there's a collision. The height of a bonnet isn't irrelevant. I'd also argue that vans and lorries are needed, whereas in the vast majority of cases (very rural areas excepted) SUVs are not a necessecity but rather a want.