Why the reign of SUVs on Irish roads should end

And yet the amazing fact is that we had way more road deaths back then including pedestrians and I presume cyclist's. This when traffic volumes are multiples of back then.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_road_traffic_accidents_deaths_in_Republic_of_Ireland_by_year&ved=2ahUKEwi-6Pzg9Pn1AhVOhlwKHYAIBmcQFnoECDkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0OpSAW8OJAX4eHIajU-nvO

Pedestrians and cyclists are much safer than 30 or 40 years ago considering we have more of them on the road. Every accident or fatality on a road has horrific conquences, However we will never be able to completely eliminate them.

Over the last twenty years we targeted, speed , drink and accident blackspots which has had tremendous effect on reducing numbers of accidents and fatalities. Now we need to target visibility. It's interesting that Tractors now have to have a working beacon if on the road. This is not because they cause accident by there speed but rather that other traffic hit them because they are slow.

Visibility of pedestrians and cyclists during time of poor visibility need to be addressed as a priority.

We don't have SUVs here, not in the original sense of the term which was passenger bodied trucks in the US that sidestepped emissions regulations by being heavy enough to be classified as light trucks rather than cars.

For the most part we have hatchback crossovers, they're slightly taller and heavier than, have much the same footprint and have the exact same front wheel drive drivetrain as the hatchbacks they're based on. Manufacturers love them because by adding little more than some extra air inside, they charge a hefty markup on the retail price compared to the hatchback they're based on.

Crossovers based on c segment hatchbacks are flagships of most mainstream brands these days. E segment saloons and hatchback lines that were decades in production such as the Ford Scorpio / Granada, Opel Omega / Rekord / Senator, Peugeot 607/605, Citroen C6 / XM / CX Renault Safrane / 25, Nissan Maxima / Datsun Laurel, Saab 95/9000, Rover 800/SD1/P6, Honda Legend, etc... all gone without replacement.

Many D segment saloon and hatchback lines such as Nissan Primera / Bluebird, Renault Laguna / 21 / 18, Honda Accord, Citroen C5 / Xantia / BX / GS, Saab 9-3/900, Fiat Croma etc... already gone without replacement with the Ford Mondeo / Sierra / Cortina, Opel Insignia / Vectra / Ascona and others on the way out without a replacement in the segment.

I don't really get the whole crossover thing myself but they’re clearly very popular. They seem to trigger desire in some and hatred in others but I have to say I'm indifferent to them. At the end of the day they're just slightly taller hatchbacks that have canabalised sales of saloons and hatchbacks that would have been a segment or two larger so they take up less road space if anything and don't weigh anymore than the models that they have displaced.

My biggest problem with their popularity is that they've such a dominant share of the market, it has massively eroded choice in the second hand market, I don't want one and there's very little else available.

Feck sake. Even if we all drove hummers it would only be a rounding error. There is no destruction that can be directly attributed to a particular shape of car. Find something else to be worrying about

Agreed.

Just to add another point re. the market, our tiny in World terms car market will never be able to dictate the type of vehicle offered by manufacturers.

For good or bad we are stuck with what we have on the second hand market due to Brexit and they will have to work their way through until they are scrapped.

You have given a great analysis of the advent of Crossover/ SUV's. It interesting that you highlighted that they have replaced D and E type saloons. My better half used to drive an Avensis and I got here an IX35 a few years back. The emission on it would be similar or less than a D type saloons.

It interesting as well because when I went trading the Avensis had deprecated significantly from its purchase. Salespeople were saying there was very limited demand for them. Friend bought an 2014 Insignia for sub 5k before Christmas. An SUV the same age would be double the price at least.

People actually go down a chassis spec when buying an SUV.