KEY POINTS:
Academics have investigated thousands of injury crashes to try to answer that often debated motoring question of whether sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are safe or not.
"Previous research has shown some clear negatives about SUVs in terms of safety, but they are not as unsafe as many people make out," said public health researcher Michael Keall.
The University of Otago Wellington academic and researchers from Melbourne's Monash University Accident Research Centre investigated 17,245 injury-related crashes involving passenger vehicles in New Zealand in 2005 and 2006 and published the results in the international journal Accident Analysis and Prevention.
They found that SUVs are not generally dangerous, possibly because of the way they are driven, and the people who own them.
But their safety record is compromised by three factors.
"The first factor is that they are dangerous in the hands of young drivers, probably because of their inexperience as drivers and the instability of 4WDs," Dr Keall said.
They are more prone to rollover crashes, which lead to particularly severe injuries for drivers and passengers.
Thirdly, they are more dangerous to pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists and others who are harmed by the high bonnets and rigid structures.
"This means that if you are looking for a really safe vehicle for you and other road users, you wouldn't generally choose a SUV as it is not the best vehicle on the road in terms of overall road safety."
But SUVs are less involved in accidents because of how they are driven and how they are used.
Sports cars have the worst safety record of all vehicles probably because drivers tend to take additional risk when provided with high levels of performance and acceleration.
The research was funded by Land Transport New Zealand, the New Zealand Automobile Association, Road Traffic Authority of NSW, Royal Automobile Club of Victoria Ltd, NRMA Ltd, VicRoads, Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia Ltd, Transport Accident Commission, the Road Safety Council of Western Australia and by a grant from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
- NZPA
