IIHS Study Shows Large Vehicles More Dangerous for Pedestrians at Intersections

This comes as no surprise whatsoever, given past studies showing that SUVs are more dangerous to pedestrians than cars, but a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) confirms that the larger the vehicle, the more pedestrians are at risk of dying in certain types of incidents.

By large vehicles, we’re talking of course about SUVs, vans and pickup trucks.

In this latest study, the IIHS looked at the most common types of vehicle-pedestrian collisions: those that occur at or near intersections. It then examined the consequences of three types of vehicles being involved in these collisions compared to cars.

According to the compiled results, the odds of a pedestrian fatality at intersections involving a left turn are about twice as high when SUVs are involved as when cars are, nearly three times as high for vans, and nearly four times as high for pickup trucks. The study factors in the proportion of each vehicle type currently in circulation in calculating its data.

When it comes to right turns, fatality rates are 89 percent higher for pickups and 63 percent higher for SUVs than for cars.

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