By way of Ben I came across this excellent article about the ever growing popularity of SUVs.

It discusses the false perception of SUV drivers that they’re safer than they would be in another car:

Being high and heavy, SUVs handle like light trucks, take longer to stop and, given the same reaction time, will hit a wall or a pole with greater force. But SUV drivers are also less safe precisely because they think they are secure. … As European studies have shown time and again, owners of small cars drive more safely because they sense they’re vulnerable.

SUVs are safer in multiple car accidents, in fact “an SUV occupant is 3.5 times as likely to survive as the other driver”. However something I didn’t realise is that multiple car accidents account for only a minority of road fatalities.

That being the case makes SUVs propensity to roll much more of a worry.

If you’re in a car and you get yourself in an awkward position and you give yourself a fistful of steering wheel, your car’s going to spin round and slide sideways,” explains Richardson. “If you do that in your 4WD, it’s very likely you’ll end up on your roof.”

And as it turns out, when you do roll you’re “almost 50 per cent more likely to be seriously injured than had [you] rolled a wagon or a sports car”.

Good reading if you’ve got 10 minutes.