Block SUVs when they see them. There is an anti-SUV movement in Germany. Why?

At this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany, protest groups entered popular booths during the public open day, jumped on exhibit vehicles and held up banners with slogans reading "Klimakiller" or "Climate Killer" to convey their demands. Ban SUVs to slow negative impacts on climate change. This was just an episode at the auto show and did not attract much attention. However, there has indeed been opposition to SUVs in Germany recently.

As far as the automobile market is concerned, SUV products are currently very popular. The reason why they are causing opposition in Germany mainly comes from two different groups of people. One of them is, not surprisingly, environmental groups, but another party chose to speak out against SUVs because of a serious car accident in Berlin's downtown area in early September this year.

In early September this year, a Porsche SUV lost control and crashed onto the sidewalk in Berlin, Germany, causing a tragic accident that killed four people and injured five people. One of the dead was a 3-year-old child. After the news came out, it immediately aroused shock and anger in German society. Not only did many people come forward to express their dissatisfaction, but politicians and transportation experts also expressed doubts about the traffic safety of SUVs.

Since SUV models are generally larger in size and heavier in weight, they need to be equipped with a power system with stronger output. The visual blind spots caused by the height of the vehicle are also a problem. Of course, the core of the ultimate problem still lies with the driver. How to operate the vehicle safely is the inevitable responsibility of every car user. However, if you consider the traffic conditions in urban areas, especially in many European cities with narrow roads or small and densely populated Asian cities, SUVs will indeed have an impact on other passers-by to some extent.

The hot sales of SUVs have had an impact on traffic safety. Not only in European countries, traffic accident statistics in the United States in recent years have confirmed that the proportion of SUV sales has continued to increase, and pedestrian fatalities have also increased. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), crashes involving SUVs striking pedestrians increased by 81 between 2009 and 2016. In addition, the American State Highway Safety Association GHSA recorded an overall increase of 30 fatal accidents between passenger cars and pedestrians from 2013 to 2017, of which the number of SUV-related cases increased by as much as 50.

The argument put forward by those who support SUVs is that in addition to the driver being responsible, the safety of SUV products is another advantage. However, according to a survey conducted by the British Guardian, statistics show that the passenger fatality rate in SUVs is actually 11 times higher than that of other passenger vehicles. This means that the so-called SUV is safer is not reliable.