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.

Honestly not bothered- they do not need to be in London

The ‘I need a big car with lots of storage’ stand up very well either

I went down a real rabbit hole when looking for a family car

the boots on many popular models are tiny

90% of them are all armour and a massive shell. Hardly any storage at all

A passat or a superb will do someone who needs massive car boot well

it’s just become the norm for a massive car. The gym and school run and and car park near me is full of people who can’t park them

i always think of those poor little girls who died when the woman drove into their school in Wimbledon.

A gold Land Rover defender (complete with black tinted windows) was literally ‘my car is bigger than yours’ vehicular flashy dick swinging. a smaller, lighter car may not have even got through the fence

When the dickhead took my wing mirror off without stopping the vehicle in front of him was a transit van - there was room for him to pass, just not room for him to drive down the middle of the road but he obviously either can't judge the size of his matt black, illegally window tinted, daylight absorbing, penis subsistute and thought he was at the edge of the road or he decided that he would rather actually hit my car because it is small, cheap and driven by a woman than risk a few mud splashes on his twat wagon. I suspect it was both.

what an absolute bastard, eh?

Thread posted by someone from some other political party seeing if we're with Sadiq on this one?

Hmm I dunno. I personally think SUVs are obnoxious and that people who drive them in urban/suburban areas are wankers but taxing people on the basis of being wankers although tempting is not particularly coherent. And there's always the chance that someone will think something I do is wanky and want to tax me for it, even though I'm perfect in every way. Like it or not it's legal to buy and drive SUVs so it's a bit of a piss take to charge them extra for doing what every other car driver does ie for polluting cities and endangering cyclists and pedestrians. I say that as a driver myself. What would be better is to bring down the cost of public transport everywhere and to actually have useful reliable public transport services everywhere, not just in London, so we're not all jumping into our cars so much, whether those cars are SUVs or flammable Musk-torches or whatever.

All cars are a risk. But mostly because of the drivers.

Retest everyone every 10 years.

Make public transport better.

No, they use the road. They take up too much room. They’re more dangerous. Charge them. 👍

Red cars don’t represent a substantially greater risk to pedestrians than other colours. In fact, they’re probably slightly safer, as red is a bright, conspicuous colour. SUVs are big, heavy, and can give pedestrians a fatal wallop, even at low speeds.

cars in general take up too much room if you're on a bike, or walking. Cars take up the entire bloody road. The extra couple of inches an SUV takes up is neither here nor there, for a cyclist or someone waiting to cross the road. The only people who get pissed off with them are other drivers. Who tell themselves they're pissed off on behalf of cyclists and pedestrians.

I think it’s normal to care more about your and your family’s safety before that of others.

I drive an SUV because as as passengers we are much safer than in a smaller car.

The extra few inches certainly do matter to pedestrians and cyclists, because they put an SUV’s bonnet at the same height as their head or vital organs. Non SUVs have lower bonnets, which are much less dangerous to the human body in a collision.

Great idea!

I live on a farm and even I don't have an SUV (you'd be amazed what you can do with a Fiesta and an old Volvo estate).

I reckon at least 80% of the people who claim to "need" one could do just as well with a hatchback.

Anyway here you go OP.

I am sick to death of these massive vehicles cramming into London streets.

If everyone drove a smaller, lighter car there wouldn't be any need to drive an armoured vehicle for your 'safety'. That horrendous incident in Wimbledon would have been less horrendous had the vehicle not been a monster Range Rover or whatever it was.

No one needs an SUV for the school run or a supermarket shop.

And as for 'COLC' well, not for all, clearly, judging by the huge numbers of massive and expensive vehicles driven by quite ordinary families.

Everything is out of proportion.

(I go camping, often at sites up rural tracks, go to the Lakes and happily drive over Hard Knott pass in my ordinary hatch back)

I think this is absolutely right. These behemoths are not needed in London.

Did that woman who killed two kids in Wimbledon get charged? She should never be allowed to drive again,

Why on earth does anyone even own a car in London? It has the best and more reliable public transport anywhere in the country plus most of it is entirely walkable. Way better for everyone’s health if Londoners stopped driving. It also must be a total pain in the arse to drive there anyway, the traffic is insane.

There’s a few cities like this in the UK, I did research at Oxford uni for a few months last year and that’s an incredibly walkable city and obviously cycle friendly too. Why drive?!

A landmark study in the US also found that these cars kill more than they save. So the "I just want to feel safe" line doesn't fly. The more SUVs there are the more the danger increases - for everyone.

https://archive.ph/alsMM (link to the Economist article below, but this one isn't behind a pay wall)

https://www.economist.com/interactive/united-states/2024/08/31/americans-love-affair-with-big-cars-is-killing-them

I believe she had an epileptic seizure and it was her first.

She was re-arrested, isn’t the investigation ongoing?

If she gets away with it due to lack of evidence then it’s between her conscience and God.

Get the bloody things off the road. Huge space hoggers that inflict serious injury in an accident.

I live in a historic town with lots of old buildings and narrow streets: very narrow, in some cases. SUV drivers seem to think it's perfectly fine to drive down them with 2 wheels on the pavement.

The pavements in some of these streets are paved with brick, and the bricks are getting badly broken as a result.

paved with brick

Do you live in Oz?

When purchasing SUV’s, it should be mandatory for people to retake the driving section of the driving test.

Op not back? Just a hit n run

I had a perfectly lovely small car, reliable, got me where I wanted to. Fairly old but well looked after, regularly serviced, cam belt recently replaced & new tyres. Good for a fair few more years, driven in London. It was rear ended by a SUV and written off on account of its age. I got a couple of thousand for it (barely enough to cover the tyres and cam belt) but it cost me another £12k for a newer second hand replacement. I cursed that SUV and it's driver for quite a while! I'd rejoice at any measure to discourage their use in London.