@Rafa C: I loved the read. that was brilliant. you should write a book or something.

@Rafa C: Don’t recall a pedestrian ever killing someone in a collision with a car…The fact you feel nice and safe as you cruise around in your tank is great. But like it or not, statistically you are more likely to kill someone in it. More likely than someone in standard size car, and infinitely more likely than a pedestrian is going to cause damage to you. It sounds like you are a safe driver so kudos. But there is not much point in trying to deny facts, larger vehicles protect their drivers, but are more dangerous to others. Telling everyone else to effectively stay out of your way is not the most productive, when it is you who are driving the weapon

@Dominic Leleu: Thanks a million, really appreciate that. I wasn’t planning on a book, but if I ever publish “How Not To Get Flattened by a Quiet Car” I’ll make sure you get a signed copy.

Honestly though, it’s wild how saying “maybe everyone should watch where they’re going” gets treated like heresy. I’ll keep driving my space-age ‘tank’, dodging TikTok zombies, rogue wheelies and kamikaze scooters, and hoping common sense makes a comeback.

Cheers again, it’s nice to know someone still enjoys a bit of common sense with their satire.

@James: Appreciate the measured tone, seriously. You’re right on one thing bigger vehicles carry more kinetic risk, physics isn’t up for debate. But neither is the fact that an SUV doesn’t operate itself. It’s not a sentient battering ram. Blame the driver, not the shape of the car.

The real issue is how people behave behind the wheel and on foot. I’ve seen more close calls caused by distraction, arrogance, and sheer obliviousness than by any specific type of vehicle. And no one’s denying risk, but the idea that safety begins and ends with the shape of my car is just flawed logic.

I’m not “telling people to stay out of my way” I’m telling everyone to stay switched on. Roads are shared spaces, not catwalks or racetracks, and if we all behaved like they were, the stats would look a hell of a lot better.

You want to talk about facts? Let’s talk about all of them, not just the ones that suit a tidy narrative.

@Rafa C: look I’ve owned Ferraris, Bentleys jaguars and corvettes, never crashed one so couldn’t comment on damage

@Rafa C: you said what most of us are thinking. Thanks sir

@Rafa C: Too, right

@James: you can kill someone with a bike or an ebike or a scooter. If some need and chooses a suv , so be it. It’s the person that does the damage not the vehicle, its just like guns, dont blame the gun its the person pulling the trigger. Hit by a 1.5 ton car or a 3 ton suv, neither has a good ending. Vigilance by all , and drivers knowing a vehicle is a weapon if not treated with respect.

@Rafa C: Driver, cyclist and pedestrian behaviour is obviously an important factor in road safety, I agree. But here’s the thing, the issue isn’t just behaviour, it’s outcomes. The consequences of a mistake differ drastically based on what hits them. Statistically.

Saying “people should be more careful” doesn’t change the fact that SUVs are 82% more likely to kill a child in a collision. That’s not about blame – it’s about risk. Vehicle design impacts public safety.

And to be honest the equal roads, equal rules argument isn’t the best equivalence. There’s a big difference between a multi-tonne vehicle travelling at speed and a cyclist or pedestrian. Urban streets aren’t motorways, they’re places were life unfolds, where neighbours interact, were kids play and walk to school etc

@ben quinn: As you say, it’s in the statistics.
I agree with Rafa on a lot of their points regarding safety, education and awareness, but the statistics are both clear and obvious.
There was an sponsored article here a few days ago regarding the best 7 seater SUV, and I tend to wonder how many they buy those actually need them, since family sizes are much down since just moved from cars, and how many are just bought as either status symbols or just the ‘look down on people’ aspect.

@ben quinn: You make a fair point outcomes do matter more than intent. A multi-tonne vehicle doesn’t get a free pass just because the driver meant well. But let’s not flatten the whole picture to one dimension.

True, SUVs are statistically more likely to cause death in a collision but so are buses, trucks, vans, and pretty much anything with size and mass. That’s physics, not villainy.

But collisions don’t happen in a vacuum. Kids walking into traffic glued to their screens, cyclists weaving through red lights with headphones in, adults more focused on their phones than their surroundings that’s not rare anymore, it’s daily life.

We now have pedestrian traffic lights that shine onto the ground – that’s where we are as a society – just to keep pedestrians alive. That’s not progress that’s a flashing indictment of how badly we’ve designed shared spaces.

The real problem isn’t just the size of vehicles it’s the shape of our cities. We’ve built roads that prioritise flow over community, and now we’re surprised when they become dangerous.

Blaming the car is easy. Rebuilding a system that actually protects vulnerable road users? That takes real will.

@ben wu: Well we needed a new car, ours was worth about 3k and it was costing about 500 quid every couple of months in and out of the garage. I test drove every car imaginable, SUVs, saloons, teslas, hatchbacks, in the end every new car was roughly the same price. So we honed in on EVs. As felt it suited us better.

Test drove them all – no lie, polestar, toyota, tesla, hyuandai, ford etc.

Then it came what range we wanted, and settled for 500-600 range suited our lifestyle.

Next it was aesthetics, a lot of EVs look like they’re cut out of cardboard, ugly angles. In the end the BZ4X won over, it was very nice to drive, had the space for the dog and the same price – cheaper than most.

In the end it gets 405km per charge, but more than enough for us.

@Rafa C: I would not been seen dead in of them pal

@Basildon Joe: and probably you won’t if you drive one

@Rafa C: I completely agree that urban design is key to this – cars dominate because we’ve built streets for them not people. But the design of individual vehicles matters too, especially when the risks they pose to others are so disproportionate.
I don’t think comparing SUVs to buses and trucks is a fair comparison. The latter serve essential urban functions; SUVs mostly don’t. They are a lifestyle choice. Yet their rising size and weight have reshaped parking and crash outcomes – with no real benefit to public life.
It’s not blaming the car to recognise that vehicle choices influence city form, behaviour, and safety.
You’re right that fixing the system takes real will. But that starts with not normalising high-risk private vehicles in shared human spaces.
Especially in urban areas.

@ben quinn: i completely disagree with everything you said…i myself is an owner if an suv needed with the amount of kids i have…no tv in my house….u could die from a bus truck even a motorcycle people need to be safer driving and also pedestrians need to be more self aware of their surroundings….in an suv im up high and can see everything around me but an suv is alot smaller then trucks but nobody will say anything about them even though there has been a few fatalities with them because it doesnt fit the argument….i could go on about how motor cycles pass through traffic with no concerns about other vehicles in lanes because they are smaller and can pass through but they are doing their movements illegally…truck drivers think because they are driving a bigger vehicle

@kaidon sharkey: will automatically give way….pedasterians who r too lazy to look up and just walk straight out into traffic….and people who take the right hand turn on the roundabout and take the straight exit just to cut traffic its not about suvs its about people and the people who drive these vehicles and pedestrians and cyclists cause cyclists can abuse them rules aswell

@Shane Gallagher: I’d say your wrong Shane, I work hard and can afford them, I spent a lot of time on the road so comfort is important as is safety, I also tow trailers and both myself and my wife work in the business so they get good use, I’m not too worried about you or the Jones family