Category: Uncategorised

Monsters of the road: what should the UK do about SUVs?

They have higher emissions, hog roadspace and are more dangerous for other road users. Yet SUVs are selling better than ever. As calls for curbs increase, some people are taking matters into their own hands By the early part of this year more than half of all new car sales in Europe were SUVs or […]

Soaring SUV sales in Ireland prompt calls from Green party for action

Ireland’s Green party has called for measures to reduce the sale of sport utility vehicles after figures showed that two out of three cars sold in the country in 2022 were SUVs, 13 percentage points higher than the EU average. Data provided to the Financial Times by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association showed that SUV sales as […]

“Increasingly at risk of fatal injuries”: Danger to cyclists posed by larger, heavier cars laid bare by new research

New large-scale analysis of more than 300,000 road collisions between 2017 and 2021 has detailed the extent to which heavier, larger vehicles are putting cyclists and pedestrians at an increased risk of suffering serious or fatal injuries in the case of a collision. The research(link is external) comes thanks to the Vias institute, formerly known as the […]

Boo hoo: Ranger Rover insurance renewal goes up by 180%

A Range Rover driving idiot was “shocked when our renewal quote for this year arrived from Aviva, which had shot up from £893 to £2,531. An increase of more than 180%.”  According to the DVLA, Range Rovers were the second most stolen cars in 2022, with more than 5,200 taken. Earlier this year, an Autocar […]

More than 150 car models too big for regular UK parking spaces

Fears over safety as analysis by Which? shows ‘autobesity’ epidemic means cars getting wider and longer More than 150 car models are now too big to fit in average car parking spaces, according to analysis conducted by Which?. While the size of the standard parking bay has remained static for decades, cars have been growing […]

We must kill off large electric SUVs and make fewer private car journeys to cut demand on critical metals, says green transport group

Electric cars will need to be smaller with shorter ranges and people must make fewer private journeys by road to ease the inevitable surge in demand for critical metals when transitioning to battery vehicles, according to a new report. These are among the recommendations outlined by a green transport thinktank as part of a study […]

Study shows three quarters of ‘off road’ SUVs sold in the UK are to people living in our towns and cities.

Our research shows that a full three quarters of all SUVs sold in the UK to private citizens in 2019-2020 were actually registered to urban addresses. What strings have advertised pulled in people to bring about such a perverse shift in the face of the double air pollution and climate crises? Decades of work and […]

Restrict Twice-As-Deadly SUVs In U.K. Cities, Urge Transport Data Scientists

Earlier this year it was reported in the U.S. that the “nation’s SUV boom is becoming increasingly deadly” after it was revealed that pedestrian deaths hit a 28-year high in 2018. A new data crunch from British transport data experts shows there may be a similar lethality problem with SUVs in the U.K. Britain’s Department for Transport (DfT) should […]

A ban on SUV ads could help create the happier cities we want

You may have also noticed that the cars on our streets – and in the adverts – are getting bigger. A new report by the New Weather Institute and climate charity Possible shows that SUV sales are rising and that: “In 2019 alone, over 150,000 new cars were sold in the UK which are too big to […]

Call to ban SUVs from city centres after Selena Lau, 8, killed in school crash horror

Calls have been made for SUVs to be banned from built-up areas after a girl was killed in a crash outside her primary school. Eight-year-old Selena Lau was killed during a tea party at The Study Preparatory School in Wimbledon. With three quarters of new SUV sales going to owners who live in urban homes, […]

SUVs ‘eight times more dangerous’ to kids walking or cycling than smaller cars are

Fatal pedestrian and pedal cyclist crashes have been on the rise in the United States since 2009. This rise in fatalities coincides with the rise of large vehicles on American roadways, continuing a trend that began years earlier. Method: Through rare access to both crash and hospital records, this report investigates the relationship between striking […]

Range Rover vandalised in Broughty Ferry with neighbours threatened ‘will it be your SUV next?’

A letter was left on the vehicle referring to the tragedy in London where two children died after a 4×4 crashed into a school. https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/dundee/4553773/range-rover-vandalised-in-broughty-ferry-with-neighbours-threatened-will-it-be-your-suv-next-next/

Paris to charge SUV drivers higher parking fees to tackle ‘auto-besity’

Paris city hall is to impose higher parking fees on owners of SUVs in its battle to reduce pollution in the capital. Details of the charges have not been announced but the size, weight of the vehicle and its motor will be taken into consideration. Electric vehicles and those with large families requiring a bigger […]

Reasons to ban SUVs / 4x4s

Banning SUVs is a contentious topic that raises important considerations regarding environmental impact, safety concerns, urban congestion, inefficient resource use, and social equity. While it is a complex issue, proponents of banning SUVs argue that such measures will have positive effects on these issues. Environmental impact One of the primary reasons to ban SUVs is […]

SUV ‘shaming’ or why you should be worried if you have a big car

Lentils on the valves of the wheels, painted on the moons… The attacks of ecological activists multiply around the world as ‘eco-anxiety’ proliferates in young people https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2023-07-04/suv-shaming-pintadas-coches-madrid-ecologismo_3684187/

Electric cars too heavy for old multi-storey car parks, engineers warn

A review found that older buildings should either be strengthened or a vehicle weight limit of up to two-and-a-half tonnes imposed https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/05/electric-cars-too-heavy-old-multi-storey-car-parks/

EVs cause twice the road damage of petrol vehicles, study reveals

Electric vehicles (EVs) cause twice as much stress on roads compared to petrol vehicles, potentially worsening the pothole crisis in the UK, according to a study. The research conducted by data journalists at The Telegraph revealed that the average EV exerts 2.24 times more stress on roads compared to a similar petrol vehicle and 1.95 times more stress than a diesel vehicle. […]

The UK government’s refusal to rule out SUV adverts – an act of criminal abdication?

More and more, we are seeing examples of public opinion mounting against the scourge of SUVs in cities clogging our streets and adding to dangerous levels of air pollution. Ending advertising of the most polluting vehicles would bring us closer to achieving the immediate emissions reductions necessary to keep a liveable planet and align with […]

Majority of UK drivers support ban on SUVs and call for Clean Air Zones in every city

The majority of British motorists want an outright ban on highly polluting vehicles, such as 4x4s and SUVs, to stop them from entering well-populated areas like town and city centres. According to a survey of 1,000 UK drivers, 59 percent said they would support a ban on larger vehicles like 4x4s, SUVs and other large […]

As their sales continue to rise, SUVs’ global CO2 emissions are nearing 1 billion tonnes

Rapidly increasing the number of electric cars on the road in place of conventional cars is a key part of reaching net zero emissions by mid-century. At the same time, SUVs require larger batteries to power them, so a growing electric SUV market would impose additional pressure on battery supply chains and further increase demand […]

Tyre Extinguishers deflate tyres of 900 SUVs in ‘biggest ever action’

Guerrilla climate activists Tyre Extinguishers have claimed their “largest ever night of action against SUVs”, with 900 of the vehicles targeted around the world. “Last night (the evening of Monday 28 November and early morning of Tuesday 29 November), citizens in eight countries deflated tyres on nearly 900 polluting SUVs,” the activist group said in […]

Climate hactivists subvert Bristol Billboards with spoof ads

Climate activists have hacked billboards as part of an international protest against car adverts. Billboards in Easton and St Werburghs in Bristol have been replaced with spoof adverts targeting car companies. The Brandalism group claimed the hacking and local activists are calling for Bristol City Council to cut air pollution by restricting car adverts. http://brandalism.ch/ […]

Deflating SUV tyres is not welcome, but make no mistake – these vehicles are the worst

SUVs ARE AN environmental and social scourge. Whether we ban them in urban areas outright, as is being proposed in Germany, or we introduce new forms of taxation to regulate their weight, height and width, something must be done to stop the trend of excessively large passenger cars dominating our streets. Recent figures show that 58% of […]

SUVs in Bristol spray-painted with climate change protests

Nearly a dozen cars have been damaged by environmental protestors, who have spray-painted phrases like “climate criminal” on them. Avon and Somerset Police said it was investigating 11 reports of criminal damage to SUVs in Clifton, Bristol. It’s the second time climate protestors have damaged cars in Bristol – around 60 had their tyres let down […]

These Stupid Trucks are Literally Killing Us

SUVs are a giant punch in the face for anyone who doesn’t drive one. SUVs are oversized, ridiculous, unnecessary death machines that are literally killing people, even their own drivers.

We should regulate SUVs out of existence

“If huge cars disappeared, the biggest losers wouldn’t be drivers but carmakers. Some of them have probably been kept alive by the outsized profits from SUVs. If we let SUVs keep fouling the planet we might as well admit there’s no sacrifice we’re willing to make for the climate.” https://www.ft.com/content/7612e3c0-0e10-4cfb-895d-40b2e5d083b9

The Loophole That Made Cars in America So Big

Few trends have been worse for the environment than the dramatic growth of the SUV market in recent decades. Between 2010 and 2020, 65 million new SUVs hit the roads in America. Collectively those cars will pump about 4.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the next few decades, more planet-warming pollution than most […]

SUV sales ‘cancelling out’ emissions benefits of EVs

Increased sales of electric vehicles (EVs) have “not made a dent” in transport emissions, a leading expert has said, as he called for SUVs “to be phased out of the market”. Trinity College Dublin professor in the Department of Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering, Brian Caulfield, said ever-increasing sales of SUVs, or sports utility vehicles, […]