Large US vehicles are particularly deadly on European streets, organizations representing cyclists, pedestrians, consumers and cities, the road safety group ETSC and the green transport lobby Transport and Environment, warned in a joint letter to Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, and his transport colleagues. Climate action, environment and justice.
Because the front end is “often higher than 10-year-olds,” the vehicles limit visibility, are difficult to maneuver and “have been shown to kill and seriously injure other road users at an alarmingly higher rate than regular cars when they get into crashes,” they wrote in a message sent Wednesday night.
“A deadly imported American substance is making its way onto the streets of Europe,” commented James Nix, Vehicles Director at T&E.
Earlier this year, the VIAS Institute for Road Safety in Belgium concluded that while pickup truck drivers are less likely to be injured in crashes, the people they hit are at much greater risk of serious and fatal injuries.
Pedestrians or cyclists hit by a pickup truck are 90 percent more likely to suffer serious injuries and nearly 200 percent more likely to die than if they were hit by a regular car, according to the institute’s analysis of accident data.
American groups have reached a similar conclusion: Studies by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have indicated that drivers of larger vehicles cause more damage when they collide with pedestrians; They are also more likely to be hit. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that 42,795 people died on US roads in 2022. The European Union saw 19,917 road deaths in 2021.
