Higher Point Of Impact Makes SUV Crashes More Dangerous For Cyclists
Tuesday, April 18th, 2023 AutoSUVs cause more severe injuries than cars when they hit bicyclists likely because the vehicles’ tall front ends strike the bicyclists higher on their bodies, a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows.
‘SUVs tend to knock riders down, where they can also be run over, rather than vaulting them onto the hood of the vehicle,’ said IIHS Statistician Sam Monfort, the lead author of the study. ‘That’s probably because the higher front end of an SUV strikes the cyclist above their center of gravity.’
Ground-impact injuries -- a frequent cause of head injuries -- were more than twice as common in SUV crashes than those involving cars, the study showed. The findings follow earlier IIHS research that showed SUVs are more lethal than cars to pedestrians despite design changes that have made them less dangerous to other vehicles. That study also traced the increased risk to the height of SUVs’ front ends.
Fatal bicycle crash rates have risen dramatically over the past decade. In 2020, 932 bicyclists were killed on U.S. roads, up from a low of 621 in 2010. One reason may be the dominance of pickups and SUVs in the U.S. vehicle fleet. Research consistently shows that such larger vehicles are more dangerous to bicyclists than cars.
