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The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has said he would be encouraging the Met to abandon his armoured car in favour of a smaller vehicle as he signalled a clampdown on driving SUVs in London.
Khan and Transport for London are considering options including additional charges on outsize vehicles to tackle the increasing numbers of SUVs on London’s roads, primarily to address road safety but also to address concerns about parking and congestion.
The mayor said: “If you look at what the preliminary evidence is, large SUVs are more likely to kill a child.”
While Khan said he did not own an SUV, he is usually escorted for security on official business by protection officers in a large police vehicle.
The mayor said: “Yes, of course, I have an armoured vehicle. But if that’s the evidence, I think it’s a message I’ll be sending to the police as well, saying actually, you do realise, God forbid, if you hit a child in an SUV, you’re more likely to kill that child.
“It’s worth everyone thinking about that. And not just, you know, ordinary Londoners, but the police as well.”
Speaking in east London at the launch of an updated Vision Zero plan to eliminate road deaths, Khan said any policy would only be proposed after further “detailed analysis” and that he did not want to prejudice the outcome.
But he added: “I know, though, that if you are a child hit by a large SUV, you’re 77% more likely to be killed; if you’re under nine, three times more likely to be killed. That’s a source of concern to me.”
The mayor said he had also instructed TfL to consider the “impact across the piste” from SUVs, particularly in relation to congestion. “There’s been a massive increase in people buying and using these larger SUVs in London. There aren’t many farms in London or off-road driving,” he said.
The consequences of more SUVs could “absolutely” include slowing down London’s bus network, Khan added, with vehicles too wide to pass on narrow streets.
He said: “Parking spaces are smaller than these large SUVs. That causes huge challenges. We know, for example, some of our side roads simply aren’t wide enough to have two vehicles, going past each other, particularly if one of them is a larger SUV.
“In car parks, often a large SUV takes up more than the space allocated to it. So these are real-life consequences. London wasn’t designed for large SUVs.”
TfL’s chief safety, health and environment officer, Lilli Matson, said it was gathering evidence but there was a worrying trend in disproportionately lethal collisions involving SUVs.
Part of the work will be creating a definition for SUVs, with vehicle weight and dimensions likely to be considered. Manufacturers have increased the size of the average car, but it is understood that TfL and city hall will not target smaller SUVs such as the popular Nissan Qashqai, focusing only on the largest models.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), an industry lobby group, said measures could “unfairly penalise” some drivers.
The SMMT chief executive, Mike Hawes, said: “Every car sold in the UK, regardless of size is certified to exacting safety and pedestrian protection standards … Manufacturers also invest billions in advanced safety technology.
“Singling out specific cars based on size restricts consumer choice and would unfairly penalise the many drivers who require a larger vehicle for essential mobility.”
Tackling SUVs is one of 43 measures in the safety plan, and Matson said cutting speed limits would be the most critical. “Reducing speeds on London’s roads and people sticking to speed limits will make a really significant difference not only to saving lives, but also to making it feel safer and feel more like a city where you want to walk and cycle,” she said.
Top speeds on London’s remaining fastest outer roads, such as the North Circular, will be changed to a default 40mph instead of 50mph, on any stretches with side roads, bus stops or residential housing.
