Safety Facts: Sport-Utility Vehicles

During the last two decades, the risk of being killed in a vehicle crash has dropped by 40
percent. Generally, sport-utility-vehicle drivers are involved in fewer accidents than
passenger car drivers and are better protected when they are involved in collisions,
according to statistics by the Highway Loss Data Institute. Additionally, occupant fatality
rates for SUVs are 10 percent lower than cars. Eliminating the heaviest SUVs and pickup
trucks from the road would reduce fatalities by less than half a percent, while eliminating
the lightest passenger cars would reduce fatalities by more than 2.5 percent.