No, IIHS Would not Suggest Monster Vehicles for New Drivers

When purchasing for a automotive for a teen driver, security is normally the highest concern for fogeys, and the Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security is a strong useful resource. Sadly, some shops assume that publishing crash statistics for small vehicles is the IIHS’s method of claiming mother and father can buy their youngsters an Escalade. Right here’s why that’s a awful conclusion.

In August, the IIHS revealed a report that highlighted the risks of teenagers driving smaller, older vehicles.

Greater than 1 / 4 of adlescent drivers killed in crashes throughout 2013-17 had been driving micro, mini or small vehicles, and practically two-thirds had been driving 6-15-year-old automobiles, indicating nearly no change in contrast with 2008-12. In each durations, fatally injured adults crashed in newer, bigger automobiles far more usually than teenagers.

Knowledge on car miles traveled from the 2017 Nationwide Family Journey Survey additionally counsel teenagers are inclined to drive older vehicles than adults, although the survey doesn’t embody details about car measurement. Teenagers logged greater than half of their miles in automobiles greater than 11 years previous, in contrast with lower than 30 p.c for adults, the survey discovered.

“It’s comprehensible that oldsters don’t wish to shell out massive bucks for his or her teen’s first automotive, they usually most likely don’t notice how a lot safer a more moderen, bigger car is,” says IIHS Analysis Scientist Rebecca Weast, lead creator of the paper. “Small automobiles don’t shield as effectively in a crash, and older automobiles are much less more likely to be geared up with important security tools.”

Naturally, anybody with a fundamental understanding of physics or a modicum of widespread sense would perceive this. The truth is, when two objects collide, the thing with extra mass wins. To present mother and father some pointers, IIHS and Client Reviews teamed up and put collectively an inventory of 65 new and used vehicles (the latter, all accessible underneath $20,000) thought of “secure” based mostly on crash check outcomes and accessible security tools.

In case you scroll the checklist, you’ll observe that IIHS and CR really keep on with reasonably-sized solutions. The largest automobiles you’ll discover on the checklist are giant sedans (like the Toyota Avalon), midsize SUVs (like the Toyota Highlander), or minivans (like the surprisingly giant Honda Odyssey).

However by some means, StreetsBlogUSA interpreted this because the IIHS encouraging mother and father to purchase their teenagers “Megacars.” The picture accompanying StreetsBlog’s article says all of it: Apparently, they’re underneath the impression that the majority mother and father are oligarchs, paying six figures to place their youngsters in a Mercedes G-Wagen.

In response to IIHS knowledge that exhibits larger fatality charges amongst teen drivers in small vehicles, StreetsBlogUSA is underneath the impression that following the recommendation to purchase a secure automotive to your new driver will naturally result in the deaths of pedestrians and cyclists.

“[Small] vehicles, although, are literally among the many most secure on the street … for individuals who stroll and roll. Research have lengthy proven that megacars are two to 3 occasions extra possible than a sedan to kill a walker within the occasion of a crash, and right this moment’s hulking SUVs are a staggering eight occasions extra more likely to kill a toddler who isn’t behind the wheel.”

To start with, “Megacar” just isn’t actually a class of automotive. Second, the big SUVs and pickup vans StreetsBlog is referring to by no means even present up on the IIHS really helpful checklist.

StreetsBlog signifies that the IIHS has “backtracked” the advice for fogeys to decide on larger vehicles, however of their eyes, IIHS didn’t go far sufficient:

“Younger hesitated, although, to withdraw the Institute’s advice outright, emphasizing that the adverse results of placing youngsters in monster vans may very well be offset by different insurance policies….”

At no level in both the IIHS report nor the Client Reviews put up was a “Monster Truck” ever really helpful. In reality, not one pickup truck is on the checklist. The biggest car is a minivan.

America clearly has an issue with pedestrians and cyclists getting killed on our roadways. And far of it has to do with the proliferation of giant SUVs and vans. There’s a method we are able to cut back teen driver fatalities and pedestrian deaths: higher driver coaching. Nevertheless, simply because a guardian chooses a safer car for his or her teen’s first automotive, doesn’t imply they’re detached in regards to the security of individuals round them. We don’t need to make this one other us-versus-them struggle.