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

[FirmNavyCat]

Saw this article in the Guardian yesterday and it's been prominent in my mind since I read it. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/mar/13/suv-drivers-could-face-extra-charges-for-driving-in-london

Sadiq Khan is talking about levying further charges to SUV drivers due to the evidence that they pose a significantly increased risk of fatal injury to pedestrians in collisions, particularly children. While on the face of it this seems like a noble cause, my belief is that policymakers should be focused on beefing up existing laws. Speed limits should be reduced on roads that have the highest number of fatalities, and drivers who cause injury or death should face tougher sentencing by the courts. I know SUVs are popular on MN (and are popular with mums in urban areas generally). They feel so much safer to drive compared to smaller cars. Also, should the worst happen and you are involved in a collision, I would very strongly prefer to be in an SUV than a smaller car. I'd want my loved ones to be in an SUV as well if I had to choose.

Pity that the modern SUV that rear ended my car & wrote it off couldn't see that it was there.

They do luxury ones now but it's more of an asian thing. I think the shorter bonnet does help with avoiding accidents.

https://www.lexus.co.uk/new-cars/lm

Does anyone have real statistics for child pedestrians killed by vehicles in london, broken down by vehicle type. Trying to search for this information returns multiple comments about the higher potential for SUVs to cause death but no actual data. Busses and HGVs apparently kill quite a few more pedestrians than cars do but we don’t have any outcry about them. Additionally, vans like a fort transit or Mercedes sprinter are large, potentially heavy, and with high fronts to them. How do they figure in the statistics.

Nobody needs anything or any luxuries. You can make do in London without even a car.

But if people want SUVs they should be allowed to have them.

Why? If they cause externalities such as extra traffic due to their width then surely it is reasonable that the local government should seek to increase traffic flow by banning cars past a certain width which would include most (but not all) SUVs and potentially other cars as well.

No, it’s a good idea. What conditions require anyone to have an off road vehicle in an urban setting?

Lol

?

All cars cause externalities and traffic. Let people drive what they want.

Why specific to London? Which, I agree, is not the headline figure.

But the data is real and not about potential. In 2025 researchers from Imperial and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine analysed studies concerning over 600,000 real life road accidents. Those involving SUVs and LTVs were 44% more likely to kill and were 82% more likely to kill children.

The details are in a press release from LSHTM from April 2025 with a relevant title.

Yes but this specific issue in London happens because we have very narrow roads not designed for wide cars. I have a tiny car and 2 of my size car can pass each other pretty easily on the streets around me. Whenever an suv comes down the road everyone has to awkwardly pull in and sometimes even reverse all the way back down the road to accommodate it. A while ago there was a road closure and a local man had to come in and unblock the cars and everyone got stuck because 2 cars couldn’t pass each other. It causes a huge amount of issues around my neck of the woods.

Sure, they can have them. And they can pay the extra taxes and extra parking charges and extra emissions fees etc etc etc. They can also suffer social opprobrium (but people like this tend not to hear it, or if they do they just shout back louder about their freedoms and blahblahblah).

There's no relationship between taxation and child safety unless the taxes are prohibitively high. SUVs in London are a manifestation of the "I will because I can and fuck the lot of you" mentality, which deserves all it gets and more.

If you want an SUV buy one and pay the additional taxes associated with driving a tank.

Oh yes, the bloody headlights, especially in the rear view mirror when they are tailgating. Can’t see a thing in front of me on unlit roads once some entitled prick in an SUV has come up behind me and blinded me via the rear view and wing mirrors.

Buses and HGVs do not kill quite a few more pedestrians than cars do. Where are you getting that from? For a start, buses and HGVs are vastly outnumbered by cars, and are all driven by trained, professional drivers.

Busses and HGVs apparently kill quite a few more pedestrians than cars do but we don’t have any outcry about them. Additionally, vans like a fort transit or Mercedes sprinter are large, potentially heavy, and with high fronts to them. How do they figure in the statistics.

'Apparently' - well that's me convinced then! But seriously, surely the point here is that if you need a vehicle that can carry 50 people, or 300 parcels, or all a trade's tools and materials, or 20 tons of building waste, then it really does need to be big; there's no way round it. That's rather different from people coming up with ludicrous reasons for why they 'need' a big SUV in London ('Yeah I live in London but at weekends I need to drive to Mogadishu with my four kids six great Danes and towing a caravan').

One thing I will say, though, is that it does always strike me as odd that while lots of people are anti-urban SUV, which I can understand, loads of people these days are getting vans as family cars, which are surely just as bad but never get mentioned.

Busses and HGVs apparently kill quite a few more pedestrians than cars do but we don’t have any outcry about them

eer, yes there has been

https://roadsafetygb.org.uk/news/fta-opposes-calls-for-rush-hour-lorry-ban-in-london-4700/

https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/calls-ban-lorries-our-cities

https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2023/10/04/residents-morning-ban-heavy-goods-vehicles-victoria-park-road/

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34846537

The article just talks about "SUVs" but lots of people on this thread are talking about "giant" and "huge" SUVs. Does anyone know how SUVs will be defined for the purposes of this policy? As far as I'm aware the V11C doesn't record whether a vehicle is an SUV anywhere, it's just a marketing descriptor.

We have a large estate car and a smaller, lighter "compact SUV". We chose it because it was the best electric vehicle available from a local dealer within our budget for a second hand car when we were looking. It would seem odd for us to be charged extra to take the smaller, lighter and less polluting vehicle into London!

Maybe the same metrics as France uses?

https://futureofdublin.ie/blog/2024/10/06/frances-weight-tax-on-suvs-a-practical-breakdown/

possibly a combination of all or some - weight, chassis structure, and off-road capability

I would install maximum width limits in car parks and clamp every single SUV owner who broke the rule. Suspect that would make city-dwellers think twice about getting one.

You’re replying to the wrong poster.

Not a tank dear. It's a car.

Okay and? Deal with it and pull in.

SUV = tanks.

Hth.