SUV’s have become the center of a large controversy in the last couple of years. Many studies have been conducted on the relation to the economy and the popularity of the SUV. The sport utility vehicle not only affects the economy with its gas-guzzling capabilities during a time of war, but with the safety questions that have continued to arise.
“Automobiles have a large impact on the quality of our environment and public health. Automobile use affects virtually every aspect of environmental quality – including noise levels, air quality, water pollution, and urban sprawl. Ninety percent of the environmental impact of automobiles occurs through the operation of the cars: about 10 percent from the production, raw materials and disposal of automobiles.
Federal law permits Sport Utility Vehicles to waste 33 percent more gasoline than passenger cars.
SUVs can spew 30 percent more carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons and 75 percent more nitrogen oxides than passenger cars. Since 1990, the inefficiency of light trucks (including SUVs) have led to Americans wasting an extra 70 billion gallons of gasoline. “
SUV’s burn more gas and spew out more pollution. Many of the big SUV’s pollute three times as much as cars, which greatly contributes to climate change and smog. But for many of us, it is difficult to connect our actions at the gas pump with the temperature outside or with the quality of the air. Since we do not see the immediate impact of our gasoline use – or our vehicle choice – it is easy to ignore the repercussions.
Transportation is the number one thing we consumers do that harms the environment. Transportation causes the highest amount of environmental damage overall – nearly half of the toxic air pollution and more than a quarter of the greenhouse gases traceable to household consumption. Over time, however, sales of trucks, vans and SUV’s went from 16% market share to over 50%. One big auto manufacturer even shelved their work of the last three years, spent updating their most popular selling economy car, so they could spend the money getting SUVs to market faster.
Many people buy SUVs for safety purposes, not realizing they are among the most hazardous vehicles on the road. An Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study shows that SUVs are more dangerous than mid-sized cars. There are 75 deaths for every million SUVs in accidents, compared to 48 for mid-sized cars. Half of all occupant deaths in SUVs in 1995 were caused by single-vehicle rollovers; rollovers account for 36 percent of the deaths in pick-up trucks and 19 percent in cars. I think of this every time I read about an SUV rollover accident in The Union. Further, these “mobile billboards” block the view of the road ahead for everyone behind them, as well as oncoming traffic (ever tried to turn from Pine onto Broad Street in Nevada City and one’s parked on the corner?).
Even though SUVs are frequently marketed as safer than cars, they are in fact more dangerous. Government studies have found that the occupant death rate for mid-sized SUVs is 6 percent higher than cars. For large SUVs, the death rate is 8 percent higher than minivans and mid-sized cars like the Ford Taurus.
Since SUVs ride higher off the ground and have a higher center of gravity, their rollover rate is three times worse than for cars. In addition, current government safety standards do not require SUVs to have reinforced roofs, which would help protect occupants in case of a rollover. Rollovers account for about 1,000 deaths each year – deaths that would have been prevented if the accident occurred in a car.
Given that SUVs are built with stiff frames, they are more likely to kill other drivers in an accident. Department of Transportation scientists study the “kill rate” – how many other people certain vehicle models are responsible for killing each year in crashes. Looking at SUVs, these scientists came to a frightening conclusion. For every one life saved by driving an SUV, five others will be taken. In one specific instance, they found that the SUV Chevy Tahoe kills 122 people for every 1 million models on the road. In comparison, the Honda Accord kills 21 people.
