Recently, four-year-old Arisa Ahmed and her seven-year-old sister, Ayra, were struck by a Mercedes SUV while crossing the street in front of their school in a residential neighbourhood of Markham, a northeastern suburb of Toronto. Arisa was killed and Ayra was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Every aspect of this collision will be investigated. But as traffic authorities consider installing the speed bumps and stop sign that residents say they have been requesting for years, one factor will escape scrutiny: the vehicle that did it.
We in the land of cheap gas and vast geography like our cars big and powerful.
A combination of psychological and design factors make large passenger vehicles such as SUVs much more of a threat to pedestrians and cyclists than standard passenger cars, a fact that deserves attention as a larger class of vehicle comes to dominate our roads.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/why-the-suv-mentality-needs-to-change/article27172486/