Yes, Your Big Vehicles Are Incredibly Dangerous for Cyclists: IIHS

A new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that SUVs and crossovers are objectively more dangerous for cyclists than sedans because of their tall front ends. Basically, the taller front ends mean bike riders are being struck higher up on their bodies and are also at risk of being thrown under, not on top of, the vehicle hitting them.

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The study found that ground-impact injuries — which are exactly what you think they are — were more than twice as common in SUV crashes than those involving more traditional cars. These ground-impact injuries are also a frequent cause of head injuries, according to the IIHS. Cyclists aren’t alone, though. A previous study by the organization showed that SUVs are also more lethal for pedestrians for similar reasons.

“SUVs tend to knock riders down, where they can also be run over, rather than vaulting them onto the hood of vehicles,” Sam Monfort, the lead for the study by the IIHS said. “That’s probably because the higher front end of an SUV strikes cyclists above their center of gravity.”

According to the IIHS, fatal bicycle crashes have risen dramatically over the past 10 years. In 2023, 932 cyclists were killed on U.S. roads. That’s just from a low of 621 in 2010. The study asserts that a big reason for that is the newfound dominance of trucks and SUVs in the marketplace.

Here’s how the IIHS and Monfort set up the study:

To try to understand why, Monfort looked at detailed crash data from 71 Michigan bicycle crashes compiled by the International Center for Automotive Medicine’s Pedestrian Consortium. Each crash involved a bicyclist age 16 or older and a single SUV or car. The data included police reports, medical records, crash reconstructions and other information. Monfort used the information to analyze how injuries and other aspects of crashes varied for cars and SUVs. Pickups were excluded from the analysis because the data did not include enough pickup crashes to draw firm conclusions.

The study found that overall, lower extremity injuries were common in all 71 SUV and car crashes. Head injuries were common in the most severe crashes but occurred along with other injuries to the torso, abdomen, spine and limbs. Montform then compared the severity of injuries brought on by cars and SUVs using things called the Abbreviated Injury Scale and the Injury Severity Score.

The study found that Abbreviated Injury Scale scores for head injuries caused by SUVs were 63 percent higher than for cars. However, there weren’t any statically significant severity differences between different types of injuries to other regions.

When it comes to the Injury Severity Score, the IIHS found that trauma to the body as a whole was 55 percent higher for SUVs than for cars.

The records for 23 car and 21 SUV crashes also included details about how the cyclists moved after being hit. In those crashes, only cars caused injuries by vaulting cyclists onto hoods and roofs. Meanwhile, only SUVs caused injuries by running cyclists over.

Some of the reports also had details about what part of the vehicle caused injuries. In cars, components spread across the front and top of the vehicle tended to cause the most injuries. When you look at SUVs, it’s a much different story. The parts that tended to cause the injuries were the wheels or “undercarriage” that knocked cyclists to the ground.

The study goes on to say that the ground, wheels or undercarriage of SUVs caused 82 percent of the head injuries detailed in eight SUV crashes. In a stark contrast, the roof, roof rails and windshield cause all of the head injuries sustained in 10 car crashes.

So, what does this tell us? Well, the study clearly shows that if you’re hit by an SUV, you’ve got a much greater chance of being knocked to the ground and run over by a vehicle as the driver tries to stop, and even when the cyclist isn’t run over by a wheel, SUV crashes are far more likely to result in injuries caused by the cyclist hitting the ground.

While getting hit by a regular car isn’t a fun thing for anyone, you’ve got a much better chance of not getting brain trauma on a roof than on the blacktop.