Driving as if Your Life Depended on It

As sophisticated as our road system is in the United States, tragically in terms of deaths per mile driven, we are nearly twice as dangerous as the rich country average. Each year, car accidents kill roughly 40,000 people in our country, despite recent years improvements in technology that in theory are meant to make driving safer. 

The critical or key issue appears to be weight – not yours or mine, but the cars. It has been shown (from data involving 7.5 million crashes in 14 states over a 10-year period) that for every 10,000 crashes, the heaviest vehicles kill 37 people in the other car; compared with fewer than 6 deaths for cars of a median weight; and fewer than 3 for the lightest cars. Note, that is for deaths of people in the other cars. It’s true that heavier cars are safer – for the people in the heavier cars. However, for every life saved by the heaviest 1% of SUVs or trucks in our country, more than one dozen lives are lost in smaller vehicles.

This situation may in fact be getting worse. In 2023, 31% of new cars in the US weighed over 5,000 lbs., compared with only 22% in 2018. The number of pedestrians killed by cars has almost doubled since 2010. Current trends toward electric vehicles is not likely to improve this – because of the weight of batteries. By way of example, the Ford F-150 Lightning weighs about 40% more than its gas engine comparable model. And that’s because of the battery which adds significant weight to the car.

There are probably few practical solutions to this. Driving slower would be one thing – but try to sell that in our country. Forcing cars to be lighter – well, that’s a pipe dream when so many people like the big cars and the trucks. Perhaps taxing the bigger cars – placing a significant surcharge on any cars weighing over a certain poundage and escalating that charge as it goes up. I’m sure some genius will come up with improved crash avoidance technology and other yet to be determined methods for reducing the lethalness of these heavy vehicles.

If you have any questions contact Kal Barson at kal@barsongroup.com.