The Deadly and Costly Impact of Supersized Vehicles on New York
The Deadly and Costly Impact of supersized vehicles in New York
Why Vehicle Registration Fees Must Be Adjusted to Take into Account Traffic Violence and Road Damage
Every year, automakers roll out a new class of SUVs and light trucks which are larger, heavier, and more deadly than the last. These supersized vehicles are killing people walking, riding bikes, and driving small vehicles in record numbers. In New York City alone, SUV-related injuries rose 89% and fatalities increased 67% between 2016 and 2019, according to the City’s own data.
Behind the wheel of supersized vehicles, drivers are less likely to see pedestrians and bike riders and, in case of a crash, more likely to kill. Pedestrian fatalities have been rising for a decade, and a growing share of the victims are killed by the drivers of SUVs. For drivers in smaller and lighter-weight vehicles, the risk is equally significant: the increased weight of SUVs and pickup trucks mean that the drivers of other vehicles are also less likely to survive crashes. These supersized vehicles also impose a significantly greater strain on aging roads and bridges.
This is a nationwide crisis, but the federal government refuses to take the necessary regulatory steps to limit vehicle size and weight. An influx of federal funding for electric vehicles is only accelerating the trend because, due to heavy batteries, electric SUVs and pickup trucks can weigh up to 40% more than their already supersized gas-powered counterparts.
In the absence of help from Washington, New York State lawmakers must take action to protect the lives of New Yorkers. An immediate and effective solution is to pass S6657. This legislation would adjust New York’s existing biennial vehicle registration fee for passenger vehicles to better reflect the damage caused relative to vehicle weight. Municipalities from Hawaii to Washington, D.C., have already taken similar steps to both incentivize the purchase of lighter, smaller vehicles and account for the true cost that supersized vehicles currently impose on our communities.
SUVs and Pickup Trucks Are Growing in Size and Popularity
Since 1980, the average weight of a passenger vehicle rose by one-third, from 3,200 pounds to nearly 4,200 pounds today, and in recent years, the pace of growth has accelerated. From 2000 to 2018, the weight of the average pickup truck rose by 24%.
These supersized vehicles take up more road space. Since 2000, the footprint of a Toyota RAV4 grew 35%. The 2023 Hummer EV takes up 56% more roadspace than a 2008 Hummer H1.
These supersized vehicles also make up an increasingly large share of vehicles on the road. Since first outselling sedans in 2002, light trucks — a category which include pickups, SUVs, and minivans — have grown to make up more than 75% of all cars sold today in the US. As of 2020, SUVs represent over 60% of registered personal vehicles in New York City. Between 2016 and 2020, the number of SUVs owned by New Yorkers increased by 21%.
And these supersized vehicles are not being used in a way that justifies their size. Most drivers of full-sized pickup trucks report rarely using them for towing, off-roading, or hauling, and 92% of people who drive Ford F-150s — the most popular vehicle in America — report “never” or “occasionally” using their vehicle for towing, instead most often using the truck for commuting, shopping, and pleasure driving.
Supersized Vehicles Are Deadly and Disastrous for Cities
Compared to lightweight and low-profile sedans, SUVs and pickup trucks offer less visibility to their drivers, pose a greater danger to cyclists, pedestrians, and other drivers, produce more pollution, lead to more property damage in crashes, degrade roads and bridges faster, occupy more curb space, take up more street width, and cause more traffic congestion.
SUVs and pickup trucks cause deadlier crashes.
The size and weight of a vehicle is the main factor determining whether a person survives a crash, such that for every 1,000 pound increase in vehicle weight, there is a 46% increase in motorist fatalities. This is why a pedestrian struck by an SUV or pickup truck is 41% more likely to die than a pedestrian struck by a sedan at the same speed. One study estimated that if every SUV and pickup truck on the road between 2000 and 2018 were replaced with a sedan, at least 8,100 people killed in crashes since 2000 would still be alive today. In New York City, the rise of these supersized vehicles has meant more deadly crashes. Between 2016 and 2019, SUV-related injuries in New York City rose 91% and fatalities increased 75%.
SUVs and pickup trucks are especially dangerous for children.
Children are uniquely vulnerable to the dangers of SUVs and pickup trucks, and with the proliferation of these supersized vehicles, the problem is worsening. Children are eight times more likely to be killed in a crash involving an SUV or pickup truck than in a crash with a sedan. Between 2014 and 2019, 43% of children killed on New York City streets were struck by SUVs or larger vehicles. Between 2019 and today, that number rose to 77% of children killed. In 2022, a record number of children were killed by traffic violence in New York City, and more than 80% were struck by SUVs or larger vehicles.
SUV and pickup truck drivers are more likely to strike pedestrians.
New York is the eighth-densest state in the nation and home to the most pedestrian-dense city in America, multiplying the risk posed by supersized SUVs and trucks. The weight of today’s SUVs and pickup trucks is so substantial as to require vehicle design elements, such as thicker A-pillars, that limit drivers’ ability to see those around them. As a result, drivers of SUVs and pickup trucks are three to four times more likely to hit a pedestrian while turning as compared to drivers of sedans. The boxy front hoods of many modern SUVs and pickups, which add unnecessary weight and hit victims in their more vulnerable upper bodies, also limit visibility, leading to more "frontover fatalities", wherein a driver hits someone directly in front of a vehicle who is obscured by their hood's blind spot. Three-quarters of child frontover deaths involve vans, pickup trucks, or SUVs. These compounding dangers are lethal: between 2011 and 2020, the number of pedestrians killed by an SUV rose twice as fast as those killed by passenger cars.
SUVs and pickup trucks cause more damage to roads and bridges.
As of 2022, almost half of New York State’s major local and state roadways were rated in poor or mediocre condition, and one in ten bridges was rated poor or structurally deficient. Supersized vehicles are a big part of the problem. A 6,000-pound vehicle causes more than five times as much road damage as a standard 4,000-pound sedan. Road damage increases exponentially as vehicles become heavier, such that a GMC Hummer EV, weighing 9,063 pounds, will cause 116 times as much road damage as a Honda Civic, weighing 2,762 pounds.
The Solution: Adjust Registration Fees to Account for the Risk and Harm Imposed by Large Vehicles on New York and New Yorkers
New York State needs fair and balanced registration fee structures pegged to vehicle weight and type. Today, in contrast to most municipalities in New York State, vehicle registration fees for New York City residents are static regardless of vehicle size. A real-cost adjustment to outdated vehicle registration fee structures statewide would be a powerful step towards fairly distributing the burden of supersized vehicles on our roads and communities, disincentivizing the purchase of vehicles that put New Yorkers at greater risk, and encouraging automakers to produce smaller and safer vehicles.
Electrification Exacerbates the Danger
The focus on electric vehicles (EVs) as a solution to greenhouse gas emissions comes with major risks: EVs accelerate much faster than gas-powered vehicles, causing 50% more collisions, and laden with heavy batteries, weigh much more than gas-powered vehicles, crashing with greater impact force — making crashes more likely and more deadly. The Ford’s EV F-150 weighs about 1,600 pounds more than the gas-powered version. The Hummer’s EV weighs over 9,000 pounds, twice the weight of the gas-powered version and too heavy to legally cross the Brooklyn Bridge.
These supersized vehicles also pose a building collapse risk in parking garages built for smaller, lighter-weight vehicles. And even if we set aside these problems, EVs are not a climate change panacea. The manufacturing process for electric SUVs is so resource-intensive that it may not reduce CO2 emissions over gas-powered SUVs. Tire and brake particles can be an even more dangerous pollutant than vehicle exhaust, and SUVs and pickup trucks emit more of this hazard — a 5,800 pound Chevrolet Suburban emits about twice as much particulate matter from brakes and tire wear as a 2,900-pound Nissan Sentra.
Adjusted vehicle registration fees would apply when a personal vehicle exceeds a designated weight, and follow a sliding scale for larger vehicles. By asking the owners of the largest and heaviest vehicles to pay a fee adjusted to the real cost of their impact, New York could mitigate the cost of these vehicles on communities, potentially yielding millions in additional state revenue and creating a pool of funding for lifesaving street redesigns and support services for victims of traffic violence.
Adjusted vehicle registration fee structures would create statewide parity.
Currently, New York State charges registration fees which are weight-differentiated, but the differentiation is far too small to disincentivize the purchase of supersized vehicles and many municipalities, including New York City, simply set their own fees. Adjusting New York State’s fee structure would build upon an existing system, balancing fees to address the real cost of supersized vehicles.
Adjusting vehicle registration fee structures is an equity issue.
In New York State, traffic crashes kill Black, Indigenous, Latino, and Asian pedestrians at a higher rate than white pedestrians. At the same time, SUV and pickup truck owners are more likely to be white, live in the suburbs, and have a median household income significantly higher than the average American. In a crash, women are more likely to be inside a smaller lightweight car while men are four times as likely to be inside a pickup truck, and women are more likely to be inside the vehicle that is struck while men are more likely to be in the striking vehicle. In New York City, 80% of fatal crashes involve a male driver. Those most likely to be killed by a supersized vehicle are least likely to drive one, and disincentivizing these purchasing choices are critical to saving lives.
Similar vehicle registration fee structures are working elsewhere.
Similar programs are in operation around the world. Washington, DC charges $72 per year for vehicles weighing less than 3,500 pounds, $175 for those weighing 3,500 to 5,000 pounds, and $250 for vehicles 5,000 to 6,000 pounds. Hawaii charges a per-pound sliding-scale registration fee. Some municipalities also charge an additional flat fee for the heaviest vehicles, such as Washington, DC’s $500 annual surcharge on vehicles weighing more than 6,000 pounds, which is expected to net $40 million to the city’s general fund over five years.
In the European Union, Norway charges a one-time weight fee of $1.10 for each kilogram over 500 kilograms (approximately 1,000 pounds), so that a 6,000 pound car costs $1,140 more to register than a 4,000 pound car. France charges a registration fee of $10.77 for each kilogram over 1,800 kilograms (around 4,000 pounds), so that a 6,000 pound car costs almost $10,000 more to register than a 4,000 pound car. It is no coincidence that pedestrian fatalities are categorically lower in these countries as compared to the US, and that the average car sold in the EU weighs just 75% of the average American car.
What New York State Can Do Right Now
SUVs and pickup trucks are killing more New Yorkers than ever before, while causing outsize damage to aging roads and bridges. At the same time, these supersized vehicles, which put children, pedestrians, women, and people of color especially at risk, are growing in size and in their share of vehicles on the road.
An immediate and effective solution is to pass S6657. This legislation would adjust New York’s existing biennial vehicle registration fee for passenger vehicles to better reflect the damage caused relative to vehicle weight.
New York’s current vehicle registration fees have not been adjusted to reflect inflation in more than 15 years. Further, as gas tax revenue continues to decline with the rise of electric vehicles, our state must plan for a new funding source to pay for wear and tear on road infrastructure. Municipalities from Hawaii to Washington, DC, have already taken similar steps to both incentivize the purchase of lighter, smaller vehicles and account for the true cost that supersized vehicles currently impose on our communities.
Passing legislation to adjust statewide weight-based vehicle registration fees for passenger vehicles is a first step to save lives and secure our infrastructure. By accounting for the real-cost of vehicle weight, we can disincentivize the purchase of the most dangerous vehicles while investing in lifesaving street redesigns that will mitigate the current risk posed by supersized vehicles.
Join us
Call on the New York State legislature to support Assemblymember Mamdani and State Senator Gounardes' bill to update vehicle weight registration fees in New York!
Take action