SUV Safety Guide: Avoiding Rollovers and Rear-End Collisions
And since most relatively normal, average people don’t fully realize that a SUV is a truck and not some car/truck hybrid, there are still an amazingly large number of drivers of these climate changing gas-guzzling vehicles who don’t fully comprehend that driving one requires some special knowledge in order to be as safe as that guy down there below them driving the Prius; that gas-saving hybrid that so many SUV drivers look down upon figuratively as well.
By now we can only hope that every SUV driver has seen a Dateline or 20/20 report on the rollover dangers of their vehicle of peer-pressure, advertising-controlled choice, and even if those dangers were overblown and subsequently corrected in newer models, the fact remains that SUVs are still more prone to rollover accidents than cars or pickup trucks or minivans. SUV safety begins with this still-present rollover danger. Because sports utility vehicles are built with a center of gravity higher than other vehicles, this danger will never fully go away. And so it behooves any driver interested in SUV safety to learn how to handle their vehicle when going around turns, or driving during inclement weather.
The predominant cause of SUV rollovers are that drivers react without thinking and quickly turn the steering wheel before braking when things start to lose control while going around a hard turn. This is the point at which science takes over, referring back to that whole center of gravity thing. SUV safety starts at this point as well; when going too fast around a turn it is advisable to hit the brakes firmly and continue solid pressure without resorting to pumping the pedal. Now is the time to give your attention over to steering, and smoothly ride to SUV safety town.
SUV safety is also of concern during bad weather, whether it be rain, snow or gusty wind. Much more so than a car, bad weather conditions can quickly turn an uneventful ride in a SUV into a nightmare. The problem is worsened because drivers rely on the four-wheel drive ability of most SUVs to protect them against potential traction problems, but that reliability is firmly misplaced. The four-wheel drive is great for taking off on a wet road or in the snow, but once the vehicle is cruising along and things get really slippery, the sad truth is that your precious four-wheel driver is not going to help you much. That trust in the size and handling of a SUV to provide more safety is simply out of touch with all reality. Here’s the skinny on SUVs and precipitation: You are far more likely to lose control of your SUV in snowy, rainy or icy conditions than you are to lose control of a car. In addition, driving in high winds can also be problematic. Once again, it also goes back to the SUVs high center of gravity. You can thank Sir Isaac Newton for explaining why SUV safety during windy weather is significantly lower than car safety. SUVs are much, much more prone to tipping over than cars with their lower center of gravity.
Of course, it’s not just Mother Nature and her ex-husband Old Man Winter who are to blame for SUV accidents. Most people who buy an SUV, even still at this date when they’ve been around for so long, actually learned how to drive in a car and did most of their driving in that car until they bought their first SUV. As a result, and because SUVs simply are not marketed as the trucks that they really are, the average SUV driver is still in the car mindset when it come to handling. Which really isn’t the best place to be in, considering that SUVs are far heavier than most cars. This difference in weight and the car mindset explains why so many SUV accidents are the result of a rear-end collision as a result of driving too close and too fast behind another vehicle.
You probably learned in drivers education class that you need at least a three second gap between you and the car ahead of you in order to reduce the risk of rear end collision. In other words, pick a spot on the road and time how long it takes between the car in front of you passing over it and your passing over it. If it’s less than three seconds, your chances of reacting in time to brake lights going on ahead of you-assuming the vehicle’s brake lights aren’t broken-are reduced significantly. Well, guess what? That three second rule doesn’t apply to SUVs. Because of the heavier weight of most SUVs, you need at least four seconds in order to react quickly enough to avoid getting up in their grill. Or vice versa, as the case may be.
There are a few other tips that can increase your SUV safety and reduce your chances of being another SUV accident casualty. For one thing, those big honking rearview mirrors on SUVs aren’t just there for show. Use them! But use them wisely. Adjust them so that you are no longer able to see the back end of your own vehicle. If you can see your own SUV in your rearview mirror, it probably means you aren’t going to be able see cars hiding in a blind spot. Secondly, and this goes back to the problem of handling an SUV because of gravity: store cargo and passengers centrally. It may seem silly to think that in such a large vehicle the relatively minor weight of a person or suitcase could matter, but the science of SUVs shows that overweighting either the front or rear of the vehicle can reduce your ability to maneuver it. If you’ve got either heavy cargo or heavy people riding with you, your best bet is to even their weight out as closely between the axles as you can. The more centralized the extra weight, the better.
Those climate changing gas-guzzlers aren’t going to suddenly drop in popularity just because gas prices spike up a dollar or two. It will probably take rising gas prices getting closer to five dollars a gallon before the popularity of SUVs significantly drops. So, until next year, count on people buying them. And if you happen to be one of those drivers, do take the time to seriously consider these SUV safety tips. If not for yourself, then at least for the rest of us.
