Regulation Policy

Heavier Is Safer

In both single- and multiple-vehicle crashes, people in large and/or heavy vehicles are less likely to be injured than those in small and/or light ones, reports the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Using counts of deaths in various crash configurations involving 1990 to 1995 models over the period 1990 to 1996, the IIHS computed death rates involving cars (including passenger vans), pick-up trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) per million of each type/weight combination registered per year.

Researchers found that, in general, overall death rates declined with heavier weight for each type of vehicle. In two-vehicle crashes, while cars and pick-ups have similar death rates, SUVs have somewhat lower death rates in each weight class.

  • For instance, the two-vehicle occupant death rate per million vehicles for SUVs weighing 2,500 to 3,000 pounds is 54, compared with rates of 83 for people in cars and 89 in pick-ups.

  • But while single-vehicle crashes account for only 41 percent of all deaths in passenger cars, they account for about 59 percent of deaths in pick-ups and 65 percent in SUVs.

  • The difference is partly because nearly 80 percent of occupant deaths in single- vehicle crashes of SUVs involve rollovers, compared with 62 percent for pick-ups and only 48 percent for cars.

In two-vehicle accidents, the overall relative death risk for cars of similar weight is 1 to 1 -- but in collisions between the heaviest and lightest cars it is 3 to 1. In accidents involving a car and a pick-up truck it is 3 to 1, and for a car and SUV 4 to 1.

But the relative risk ratio increases to 10 to 1 for collisions between the lightest cars and heaviest SUVs.

Source: "Crash Compatibility: How Vehicle Type, Weight Affect Outcomes," Status Report, February 14, 1998, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 1005 N. Gelbe Road, Arlington, Va. 22201, (703) 247-1500.

For text http://www.highwaysafety.org

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