James Hrynyshyn is a freelance science journalist based in western North Carolina, where he tries to put degrees in marine biology and journalism to good use.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers has released a radio ad designed to play on soccer mom's fears about road safety, dishonestly arguing that Congressional attempts to increase fuel mileage will make safe cars too expensive to afford. This despite the fact that SUVs tend to be more dangerous -- to both drivers and others -- than smaller vehicles. The New Scientist Environment blog has the details, the ad, and facts, including this graph illustrating the relative risk of a variety of cars and SUVs:
Click on the graph for a full-size version. And then consider the foolishness of a full-size SUV. Their owners are not only wasting money and gas, they're making the roads more dangerous for themselves, their children and everyone else. Of course, all this was known years ago. In his 2002 book High and Mighty: SUVs--The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way, former Detroit NYT correspondent Keith Bradsher laid all this out. Since then the safety concerns of large SUVs only become more clear. Any parent who still thinks SUVs are a good idea needs a wakeup call.
If I was a radio station manager, I'd take the Alliance's money, and be sure to run a disclaimer noting the implication that SUVs are safer than more efficient cars is an outright lie.
