SUV Rollover Accidents
You don’t have to be a physicist to know that a massive SUV careening down the highway at high speeds carries a lot of momentum.
You don’t need to know how Newton’s Third Law works to understand that rolling an SUV can result in massive damage because the road, another vehicle or any other object might be stronger than the vehicle is on impact.
The Raw Data on SUVs
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute have data on SUV rollovers through 2013, when 7,067 people were killed in this specific type of accident. Breaking down that data shows us that:
- 53 percent of the people killed in single-vehicle accidents during 2013 were killed in rollovers.
- 12 percent of the people killed in multiple-vehicle accidents during 2013 were killed in rollovers (head-on collisions usually cause the most fatalities in multiple-vehicle car crashes, including those that do not include SUVs in the data).
Why Sport Utility Vehicles Roll Over
Although most of us picture a rollover accident with a cartwheeling SUV tumbling down the highway, the truth is that a rollover accident is any accident in which one or more cars tips onto its side or roof at any point.
An SUV is more likely to roll than a standard vehicle because they have higher centers of gravity. They don’t handle the way that traditional cars do, either, and they’re heavier than most other vehicles on the road; that translates into more force during a crash.
Some SUVs are more prone than others to rolling, too. Those that have after-market parts, including wheels and tires, are far more likely to roll over in an accident than SUVs outfitted with original factory parts. That’s because every vehicle is designed to work as a system, and when you change one component, you throw the entire machine off.
SUV Safety Features Help, But Don’t Do it All
Side curtain airbags and electronic stability systems can help lessen injuries during a crash, but the fact remains that SUVs are bigger, stronger and heavier than most vehicles on the road. They may protect their own occupants during collisions with smaller cars, but they can wreak havoc on everyone else.
If you’ve been hurt in an SUV rollover accident, whether you were in the sport utility vehicle or in another car, we may be able to help you get compensation for your injuries.
Call us at 877-3D-JUSTICE today for a free case evaluation and phone interview.