Hundreds of families are set to cycle through central London this Sunday to protest the dangers posed by SUVs on city streets with Labour urged to act to growing criticism of the vehicle type.
The Kidical Mass Ride will draw attention to research which found that SUVs cause 30 per cent more deaths to vulnerable road users.
The move hopes to push Labour into creating fairer parking charges and taxes on the new cars based on their size as well as acknowledge the risk they pose to pedestrians.
The event comes as evidence found that year-on-year, cars are getting heavier and larger, with a Europe-wide study confirming the increased danger to pedestrians and cyclists.
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The campaign called on Labour to introduce more restrictions and taxes for larger vehicles
CRISPIN HUGHES / CLEAN CITIES
Cyclists will meet outside the National Theatre on Sunday, March 23 at 10.15am for an 11am start. The route will take riders from South Bank to Brunswick Square, passing landmarks including Big Ben, Downing Street and Trafalgar Square.The family-friendly ride is expected to finish around 1pm.
This London event is part of the global Kidical Mass movement, which last year saw over 200,000 participants in mass bike rides across Europe, the US, Africa and Australia.
The call for action follows research which found that SUVs have become approximately 400kg heavier over the past seven years, according to Autocar with experts warning that this increase in size and weight directly correlates with greater danger on the roads.
According to a study by the Belgian Road Safety Institute, when vehicles are 300kg heavier, the risk of fatal injuries is 30 per cent higher for vulnerable road users.
The same research found pedestrians and cyclists are 30 per cent more likely to be killed if hit by a car with a bonnet that's 10cm higher than average.
Oliver Lord, UK Head of Clean Cities, said: "We know that SUVs lead to more fatal crashes, cause more potholes and crowd out parking spaces. No one would want to buy a car thinking it would be more dangerous for a child.
"We're calling for central and local government to work on a plan that would save taxpayer money and generate revenue that can be invested in public transport, walking and cycling."
Lord suggested that local councils could implement "a system of parking charges where bigger or heavier SUVs pay a fairer share, or a review of vehicle tax to account for the damage that oversized SUVs do."
Nicola Pastore, a parent from Lambeth who plans to attend with her three children, said: "We know that SUVs are getting bigger and heavier every year and that children hit by larger cars when walking and cycling are far less likely to survive," she said.
“As the parent of a highly active nine-year-old who is desperate to start to navigate the streets on his own, this is terrifying to me.
"As these cars get bigger, our children's worlds are getting smaller as parents become too scared to let their children walk or cycle around on their own. Nobody wins."
The SUV Alliance, a coalition of 16 organisations, has been campaigning for measures to stop "car spreading" in urban areas. More than half of new cars in the UK are now too wide for urban parking spaces, leaving cities crowded and congested.
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SUVs are 30 per cent more likely to kill pedestrians than other vehicle types
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The alliance has called for maximum width, length and height limits for new cars, noting that current regulations allow cars to be built as wide as a truck.
They also advocated for parking policies that vary costs based on vehicle size and adjusting taxes to favour lighter, more appropriately sized cars. The theme of this year's ride is 'SPACE', highlighting how children, cyclists and pedestrians are being crowded out by super-sized SUVs.
