Horse 1155 - Get A Wagon - or Four Wheel Drives Kill Small Children

I've long hated Four Wheel Drives and have argued that they don't belong in cities because they're incompatible with other traffic and road furniture and that they're ironically more unsafe than other vehicles on the road.

This report which I was emailed, produced by the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit paints a dark picture indeed:
http://www.qisu.org.au/MODCORE/PREVIOUSBULLITEN/BACKEND/UPLOAD_FILE/ISSUE076.PDF

In Australia pedestrian crashes are responsible for half of all transport related deaths of children aged under five years. Of these fatalities half are the result of a low speed driveway run-over.

A recent study examining driveway run-over deaths of young children in Australia found that most fatalities involved toddlers being reversed over by a large

4WD vehicle in the driveway of their own home by a member of their immediate family.

Nearly 80% of the cases were described as occurring at home with 60% taking place in the driveway or garage/carport. Forty per cent of runovers occurred on a Saturday or Sunday while 40% took place between 3pm and 6pm in the afternoon and 32% between 8am and 12pm in the morning.

The argument usually given by people who buy 4WDs is that they've bought the vehicle because of their concern for the safety of their children. Admittedly 4WDs have on the whole become a lot safer in the past 5 years. In 2005 the average NCAP safety rating for Small Off-Road vehicles was 3.2 stars, and for Large Off-Road vehicles 2.9 stars. This in recent years has risen to an average for both classes of above 3.8 stars.
It is all very well for a car to perform better in a crash, but that describes a vehicle suffering a heavy impact and usually at speed. It is quite a different story in the land of car vs small child.

Let's be honest here, a Four Wheel Drive or the hideously stupid name of SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) is in reality little more than a jacked up station wagon in most circumstance. Most Four Wheel Drives have never left the tarmac and would be totally unsuited to driving on an unsealed road let alone proper off-road work; because they are jacked up station wagons their line of sight is higher than an equivalent car.

I seriously wonder about the logic behind having a car in which the window lines are significantly higher than that of a small child. If you can't see something or more importantly someone darting behind your car, then how pray tell can you insist that it's safer to own the stupid car in the first place.
In Mosman last year, a Year 1 student was killed when she came out from between some parked cars on the street and was run over by a Range Rover. The Range Rover's bonnet line was higher than the poor girl, and the driver of the vehicle never actually saw the girl.
It therefore doesn't surprise me that statistics such as those produced by Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit point to the fact that large Four Wheel Drives kill small children.

Of course I am prejudiced; I admit that, but I have never even seen a single rational reason why people in the cities actually need a Four Wheel Drive. If it's to do with space, get a wagon!