Page 3 | To ask you to sign this petition to stop SUVs being driven on a standard car licence?

dontbenastyhaveapasty · 2023-07-06T19:50:02+00:00

I saw this petition, and it seems like a good idea to me. What happened at the school in Wimbledon today is too horrible to ever let it happen again. The sheer size and weight of SUVs makes them deadly to anyone they hit. And they’re totally unnecessary for 90% of their users. Click this link to sign the petition: [[https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/640774/sponsors/new?token=yeP8ehx43vxfZNaYPaLi https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/640774/sponsors/new?token=yeP8ehx43vxfZNaYPaLi]] My petition: Ban SUVs from the list of vehicles that can be driven on a standard car licence SUVs are unnecessarily dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists. Their size, weight and bonnet design result in death or serious injury that would not be caused by a similar collision in a car. The law around their categorisation needs to be revised to restrict SUV use. Following the appalling tragedy at a school in Wimbledon, the danger SUVs pose to children has again been highlighted. Large heavy vehicles with high square bonnets are too dangerous to be a standard domestic vehicle type. Please legislate to prevent their use as a conventional domestic car. This could be by revising licence categories so SUV is a separate class, or by changing the law on vehicle design to outlaw “cars” with high or square bonnets or over a certain weight. Click this link to sign the petition: [[https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/640774/sponsors/new?token=yeP8ehx43vxfZNaYPaLi https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/640774/sponsors/new?token=yeP8ehx43vxfZNaYPaLi]]

Confuzzlediddled · 07/07/2023 15:44

My car has a high square bonnet, it's a ford torneo connect - it's also the only one that would fit my hoist and mobility scooter without losing seats...

SistersNotCisters · 07/07/2023 15:47

SweetPetrichor · 06/07/2023 21:00

Nope, not a chance. It’s just a car…it doesn’t take any additional skills.

This.

And as someone who grew up on a farm and currently live in the middle of nowhere, why should I have the extra inconvenience and cost to be able to drive a normal (to me) vehicle just because one person had a crash in theirs?

LanaDelReyGigChauffer · 07/07/2023 15:48

JeandeServiette · 06/07/2023 21:02

TBF the risk to pedestrians is completely with the vehicle (nose design and weight) and not with the licensing.

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@JeandeServiette

they're no heavier than many electric cars and only about a passengers weight in most BMW's/Mercs/Audi.

it's not the car, it's the driver

Carlapig1 · 07/07/2023 15:52

People will not agree with a ban or even tighter controls, as like in the US with guns, nobody wants to give up what they enjoy or what makes their life easier and they think it will never happen to their child.

So much research available when you Google for example:
A recent study from the US has found that children are eight times more likely to be killed in a collision involving an SUV or pick-up truck than they are in a crash in which a standard passenger car is involved.
Published in the Journal of Safety Research
The study comes at a time when such vehicles are getting increasingly large, and as SUVs make up an increasingly large proportion of new cars sold especially in affluent urban areas.

massiveclamps · 07/07/2023 15:57

speluncean · 06/07/2023 21:03

The risk is the drivers who can't drive them properly.

Are you planning to stop 16 year olds driving tractors too?

16 year olds can drive tractors, but not on public roads.

drpet49 · 07/07/2023 16:08

Nope, I’m not signing it. Stupid idea.

speluncean · 07/07/2023 16:10

As far as I'm aware once you pass the tractor test you can drive on the road at 16 in a tractor?

I'm off to check - my youngest is 22 so it's been a few years and I may not be up to date.

LanaDelReyGigChauffer · 07/07/2023 16:12

Carlapig1 · 07/07/2023 15:34

This is the same argument as guns aren't the problem argument. They are part of the problem and the part we can do most about at the moment. I live a mile from Wimbledon town centre, there is no need for this kind of vehicle in this area and they are a danger, all the facts show that if you are hit by one you are more likely to die of your injuries.

@Carlapig1 that's one part of their journey, you have no idea what the other 95% of their life involves.

& who gets to decide who needs what?

with MY money, I'll buy what I deem I require.

speluncean · 07/07/2023 16:14

www.nfuonline.com/updates-and-information/driving-licence-requirements-for-agricultural-vehicles/

Someone better tell the NFU that a Mumsnet poster says they're wrong.

And farmers weekly too www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/tractors/taking-your-tractor-test-all-you-need-to-know

Gov.uk says you can get a cat F licence (which is a tractor licence) at 16 www.gov.uk/learning-to-drive-a-tractor-or-specialist-vehicle

www.gov.uk/driving-licence-categories

speluncean · 07/07/2023 16:15

So. In summary. If you pass the tractor test you can drive a tractor (of limited size) on the road quite legally.

LanaDelReyGigChauffer · 07/07/2023 16:15

I'd be interested to know the breakdown of new cars between SUV/non SUV

akkakk · 07/07/2023 16:16

massiveclamps · 07/07/2023 15:57

16 year olds can drive tractors, but not on public roads.

Show quote history

wrong - they can drive them on the public roads - conditions might apply, e.g. proximity to a farm - but 16 year olds are driving tractors all across the country...

the petition is of course a nonsense - it is someone with a chip on their shoulder about a category of cars called 'SUVs' who has no logic other than a hatred for who they perceive might drive them!

a large number of SUVs are closer to the ground than an estate car like the volvo XC90 cross country or Audi allroad or Skoda Octavia Scout - their only difference is a slightly higher roofline (so is it height off the road that is the issue?)

a large number of SUVs weigh considerably less than a large number of luxury saloons like a rolls / bentley / lexus / mercedes / etc. (so is it weight that is the issue?)

most suvs will have better visibility than most sports cars - and def. better than the vans out on the road (so is it visibility that is the issue?)

most suvs on sale now are not even 4x4 they are 2 wheel drive - they just have a seating position that is a bit more upright (so is it the seating position that is an issue?)

modern SUVs (the car in Wimbledon is a very new Land Rover Defender) will meet all pedestrian crash requirements better than an older car on the road which meets older standards - other cars (e.g. Jaguar f-type) which are low-slung sports cars have to have mini explosives under the bonnet to pop the bonnet open on impact to protect pedestrians because their shape is worse for pedestrians! (so is it shape that is the issue?)

no - the only issue is that someone hates people they think buy SUVs and therefore is using this sad accident as an excuse to try and ban them - totally illogical, with no understanding of actual cars on the market!

quoting american stats is misleading because there is a trend in the USA for large (and that means huge!) pickups which are a totally different type of car - we have very few of those in the UK - in the UK the average SUV is likely to be sat on the MBQ platform (same as a golf) but with a different roof line and seating position!

LanaDelReyGigChauffer · 07/07/2023 16:18

Carlapig1 · 07/07/2023 15:52

People will not agree with a ban or even tighter controls, as like in the US with guns, nobody wants to give up what they enjoy or what makes their life easier and they think it will never happen to their child.

So much research available when you Google for example:
A recent study from the US has found that children are eight times more likely to be killed in a collision involving an SUV or pick-up truck than they are in a crash in which a standard passenger car is involved.
Published in the Journal of Safety Research
The study comes at a time when such vehicles are getting increasingly large, and as SUVs make up an increasingly large proportion of new cars sold especially in affluent urban areas.

@Carlapig1

using data from the USA is utterly pointless.

TMess · 07/07/2023 16:20

I don’t live in the UK anymore, so correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s my understanding that your SUVs are not that large comparatively speaking? I’m guessing that what I drive is significantly bigger than anything in the UK (although I moved prior to being of driving age so wasn’t necessarily paying attention to vehicles!) and it’s no more difficult to handle than any other vehicle, certainly not to the extent of requiring a separate type of license.

wonkylegs · 07/07/2023 16:20

Cars are inherently dangerous. This is a knee jerk reaction to a tragedy but doesn't consider that accidents happen in cars of all sizes and driving any vehicle is a dangerous exercise.

The car that hit demolished a wall, ploughed through a tree and smashed through the front window of my mums house on her quiet residential street was a Vauxhall Corsa. In some ways it was a similar accident however it was pure luck that nobody apart from the driver was hurt.

I don't support this kind of response, it would do nothing to make a real difference. If it was to campaign for regular retesting (it makes no sense that you are tested once at 17 and then generally allowed to continue on that license for the rest of your life), for proper sentencing plus lifetime bans for drunk/drug driving, speed limiters, proper punishments for dangerous driving & speeding and making sure people know that driving is a privilege not a right so that they treat the fact that they a driving something dangerous with the care and reverence it needs then I could support that.

itsgettingweird · 07/07/2023 16:21

Don't be daft!!!

It was a rabid accident and my heart goes out to all involved and especially the family of the young girl who lost her life.

But SUVs are often driven by people with mobility difficulties due to their design and boot space.

Having taken 18 months to get my sons license which he has to renew every 3 years I'm not signing to make it harder for him to be able to get out and about.

We don't yet know why the accident happened. When that has been investigated then it's time to look at if change is needed and why.

BarelyLiterate · 07/07/2023 16:22

Realistically, there is zero chance of this happening because JLR is one of the UK’s biggest engineering & manufacturing employers, and biggest exporters, and its main plants & offices are in parts of the country with many marginal constituencies. Solihull, Castle Bromwich, Wolverhampton, Merseyside / Cheshire, Warwickshire.

SoupDragon · 07/07/2023 16:29

Poppysmom22 · 06/07/2023 20:59

You do know a long wheel base transit can be driven on a standard licence along with several other large vans up to 3.5tons. all much bigger than your average suv

This.

it's an utterly ridiculous idea.

DontYouThreatenMeWithADeadFish · 07/07/2023 16:30

I definitely agree with more training as a requirement before being allowed to buy a large 4x4 or other high performance vehicles. I hate it when I see these large vehicles on single track roads and small streets with drivers who are unable to reverse to the passing point 10m behind them so sit their like absolute wazzcocks making pathetic 'shoo' gestures through the window to the half dozen other cars in front of them that they are expecting to all move in order to accommodate their crap driving skills.

orangegato · 07/07/2023 16:32

I’m pretty sure a lot of damage would also have been done if a hatchback crashed into primary school children. What a ridiculous reactive load of shite for a personal vendetta against SUVs.

And I don’t even own a car!

thenightsky · 07/07/2023 16:44