Number of US-style pickup trucks on UK roads up 92% in a decade, data shows | Road safety

Data shows the number of US-style vans on UK roads has almost doubled in the last 10 years.

The vehicles are more environmentally damaging and more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists than ordinary cars. Extra-large vehicles, often too large for UK streets and parklands, are built like “rams”, campaigners said.

Analysis by the Department for Transport’s Clean Cities data found that registrations of top-selling pickup trucks have increased by 92% in just over a decade, with the number of pickup trucks now on UK roads close to 600,000 (590,587), up from 308,103 in 2014.

This is a particular problem in urban areas where vehicles are ill-suited to narrow streets, sidewalks, and school environments.

Clean Cities is calling for parking fees to be increased for larger and more dangerous vehicles and for vans to be subject to safety standards, including tests to see if a child can be seen from the driver’s seat.

Oliver Lord, chief executive of Clean Cities UK, said: “This boom in US-style vans is about lifestyle over practicality in exchange for parking chaos and dangerous roads. City leaders must take action to remove these menacing vehicles from our streets. How is it acceptable to have a vehicle so tall that children cannot be seen?”

Hundreds of thousands of these cars are longer than second world war tanks, and the 10 most common pickup models, including the Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux, Mitsubishi L200 and Nissan Navara, account for more than half a million registered vehicles.

The Ford Ranger is the UK’s most popular pickup truck, weighing between 2,200kg and 2,400kg and with a body height of over a metre. Studies conducted in the USA revealed that the large front blind area of ​​the vehicle could hide many children.

It is followed by the Toyota Hilux, whose weight varies between 2,100 kg and 2,300 kg and whose body height is 1.05 meters.

These cars are more dangerous than other vehicles. Due to their height, SUVs and pickup trucks have a higher impact on the body than small cars; This means fatal head and chest injuries are more likely than survivable leg injuries, and international crash data It shows that a pedestrian or cyclist hit by a pickup truck is 90% more likely to be at risk of serious injury than a pedestrian or cyclist hit by a regular car, and almost 200% more likely to be killed.

In most cases, children cannot be seen over the hoods of these extra-large cars; They often exceed 1 meter in height, meaning that an average six-year-old child can stand in front of a car without being noticed.

Jemima Hartshorn, founder of Mums for Lungs, said: “These vans are built like battering rams and pump out pollution like chimneys. For children it’s a deadly combination; invisible at the front of the vehicle and fumes being breathed in from the rear. No parent wants their child to face everyday dangers, but we are allowing these trucks to become the norm on our streets.”