SUV blind spots | “We don’t see the children”

Four children are standing in front of an SUV, a Toyota Highlander, a vehicle like thousands of which are sold in Quebec.

Yet to the person perched in the driver’s seat, the four children are invisible. The pompom on the tallest man’s tuque barely sticks out to signal the presence of the group.

A young child must stand nearly 5 meters in front of the SUV to finally be seen through the windshield.

“SUV drivers often have the impression of having a better view of the road, but in reality, these vehicles have huge blind spots,” explains Sandrine Cabana Degani, general director of Piétons Québec. We don’t see the children. »

Along with Équiterre, Piétons Québec organized a demonstration on Tuesday of the importance of SUV blind spots in a context where 79 people traveling on foot lost their lives in 2022, an increase of 22.7% compared to the average in recent years, according to the SAAQ.

Light trucks, including sports utility vehicles (SUVs), represented 71% of the number of vehicles sold in the province in 2021. This “truckization” of the Quebec automobile fleet puts on the road vehicles whose safety record does not take into account the safety of adults and children present outside the vehicle.

Each year, an average of 300 children are hit by the driver of a motor vehicle in Quebec – and vehicle-pedestrian collisions are more numerous in the fall, when darkness arrives earlier. “It’s almost one child per day,” notes M^me Cabana Degani. And four children lose their lives as a result of such a collision on average each year. »

In addition to causing significant blind spots, the raised noses of these vehicles hit people at vital organs rather than at the legs, as a regular car would. This increases the risk of serious injury and death to non-occupants of the vehicle.

Collisions caused by an SUV are also 28% more fatal for other drivers, and cause 55% more serious injuries to cyclists than collisions with cars, reports M^me Cabana Degani.

Heavier

Anne-Catherine Pilon, sustainable mobility analyst at Équiterre, notes that the consequences go beyond the individual choices of consumers.

“SUVs are heavier than a typical car, and are responsible for 50% of the increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the province, according to the Quebec government. We also know that these vehicles deteriorate the road surface more quickly, and collectively worsen road congestion and on-street parking by occupying even more space on public roads. »

To reverse the trend, Équiterre is asking the government to put in place dissuasive financial incentives for the purchase of light trucks, particularly in terms of increasing registration fees based on the size and weight of vehicles, in order to reflect adequately their greater impacts.

“Quebec could take inspiration from France and Washington. France imposed a tax on the purchase of vehicles weighing more than 1,800 kg, adding 10 euros for each excess kilo, on top of the tax on carbon emissions for new cars. “Washington proposed a targeted fee based on vehicle weight, with registration fees significantly different between a small car and a pickup truck,” says Mr.^me Pestle.

Piétons Québec would like the safety of people outside vehicles to be integrated into vehicle safety tests. “The European Union, China, Japan and Australia are already doing this. But in North America, we choose not to do that. In fact, vehicles from North American manufacturers sold in Europe take pedestrians into account, but those sold here do not, which is absurd. »

Global problem

Around the world, public authorities are looking for new ways to start passing on to SUV owners part of the bill hitherto borne by all taxpayers.

On Tuesday, the City of Paris announced the upcoming holding of a vote in which Parisians will have to vote on the application of a more expensive parking rate for heavy SUVs.

This higher rate, which would not concern residential parking, is proposed by Paris City Hall to “enable better sharing of public space for the benefit of soft mobility, from streets to schools and pedestrians,” indicated the city hall. in a press release.

“Accident-prone, heavy, bulky and polluting, SUV vehicles are identified by multiple institutional actors as a cause of numerous problems within the public space”, continues the town hall, wanting to encourage motorists to give up “a race towards gigantism unsuitable for the quality of life in the city.

The Paris town hall did not specify the amount of the planned price increase, however describing it as “very significant. »

Earlier this year, the borough of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, in Montreal, implemented pricing for parking stickers based on vehicle weight and engine size.