Do Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) Cause More Severe Injuries to Pedestrians and Cyclists than Passenger Cars, in the Case of a Crash? Findings from Great Britain, 2004-2023

We used police-reported road crash data from Great Britain, 2004-2023, to examine whether being hit by a sports utility vehicle (SUV) is more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists than being hit by a passenger car. In adjusted analyses, being hit by an SUV increased the odds of fatality by a modest amount in adults (odds ratio 1.14 (95% confidence interval 1.02, 1.28)). In children the odds of fatality increased considerably (odds ratio 1.77 (1.33, 2.35) in children aged 0-18 years), with particularly large effects in young children (odds ratio 3.09 (1.92, 4.97) in children aged 0-9 years). Vehicle weight and height showed strong, dose-response associations with injury severity, but vehicle length showed little association.