Your car choice may have deadly consequences

A 6 year old died on tuesday (20.06.2017) in Dortmund (Germany) after she got hit by a car. According to first evaluations by investigators the driver was not at fault, as the child ran unexpectedly onto the road.

A (german) article about this shows a photo of the involved car:
http://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/ruhrgebiet/maedchen-nach-unfall-tot-100.html

Here comes the bitter taste: The car was an SUV. And SUVs are known to be twice as deadly as a normal car to pedestrians. If I were the driver I would partially feel guilty for the death of that child, even if I had behaved correctly on the road. You don't have to feel like me, but using an SUV in a city as your main car is reckless. And just because you were not the perpetrator of the accident, doesn't give you a moral pass, as - just statistically speaking - the drivers taste in cars heavily reduced the childs survival chances.

So next time you get a car, please not only think about your own safety! You may end up saving yourself from a feeling of guilt. And most importantly: a child could end up surviving a mistake instead of paying with its life.

Here are some reasons (beyond the typical pollution-argument), why you shouldn't get an SUV:

• death rates of pedestrian are more than double when colliding with SUVs (https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4462-suvs-double-pedestrians-risk-of-death/)
• SUV drivers are 11% more likely to die due to an increased sense of security (https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/17/business/safety-gap-grows-wider-between-suv-s-and-cars.html)
• they are a waste of money (http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/08/cost-car-ownership.asp)

Check out this Wikipedia summary about common criticism of SUVs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_sport_utility_vehicles
I also recommend this classic article about cars by the legendary MMM: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/04/22/curing-your-clown-like-car-habit/