The SUV Alliance: A manifesto for fairer and safer streets
Large Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and 4x4s are more polluting, more expensive and more dangerous to other road users, yet they are fast becoming the norm in the UK.
Pushed by carmakers and their advertisers, who get higher profits from bigger cars, and facilitated by a lack of action from governments, bigger, heavier cars are taking over our streets, holding back the market for smaller, affordable electric vehicles, and reducing street space for other transport modes.
But there is an alternative. A few simple changes now would ensure that large, polluting, dangerous SUVs are no longer welcome on our streets, and would create space for accessible and affordable public transport, active travel and small electric vehicles.
This is the vision of safer and fairer streets we want to see.
https://www.suv-alliance.org.uk/
Private school run in south London linked to 27% rise in air pollution
Parents driving children to private schools is associated with a 27% increase in air pollution and congestion in a south London street, according to campaigners who are calling for private schools to make greater use of sustainable transport.
Bus times were also affected, with commuters facing longer delays on local buses at morning peak times on the days when Range Rovers and SUVs were ferrying children to private schools.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jan/14/private-school-run-in-south-london-linked-to-27-per-cent-rise-in-air-pollution
Gigantic SUVs are a public health threat. Why don’t we treat them like one?
Over the last half-century, American sedans and station wagons have been replaced by increasingly enormous SUVs and pickup trucks that now comprise 80 percent of new car sales, a phenomenon known as car bloat. Much like secondhand smoke, driving a gigantic vehicle endangers those who never consented to the danger they face walking, biking, or sitting inside smaller cars. Although not widely known, car bloat’s harms are well-documented.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/391733/gigantic-suvs-are-a-public-health-threat-why-dont-we-treat-them-like-one
Edinburgh activists target SUVs in solidarity with Spain’s flood victims
Ford CEO calls out America’s love for ‘monster vehicles’
As the leader of the over 120-year-old automaker, Ford CEO Jim Farley has an essential job of steering it into the future. Farley said smaller EVs, which Ford is shifting toward, are “super important for our society.” Meanwhile, Farley addressed the love for larger, “monster vehicles” in the US.
“We are just in love with these monster vehicles,” Ford’s CEO said at the Aspen Ideas Festival Friday. And although Farley agreed, “I love them too,” he acknowledged they are a major issue due to their weight.