As electric vehicles (EV’s) have grown in popularity, they’ve become cheaper, more powerful and faster and easier to charge. Many traffic safety experts also say they’ve become more dangerous. Specifically, the growth of heavier electric trucks in recent years has raised concerns among safety experts fearing their increased speed and weight will lead to deadlier incidents, even as government works to reverse record-setting traffic fatalities and pedestrian deaths in the region. From March 2023 on, half of all new retail registered vehicles in the Bay Area are electric, according to S&P Global Mobility.
“Electric vehicles that are coming to market are very heavy and very, very fast,” said Joseph Young, media relations director for the independent nonprofit Insurance Institute of Highway Safety. Tesla’s Cybertruck can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds; America’s most popular heavy-duty truck, the Ford F-150, takes more than double the time at 6.0 seconds. “The reason that matters is because, in a multi-vehicle crash, physics are at play,” Young said. Specifically, Isaac Newton’s second law of motion: mass times acceleration equals force. The heavier a vehicle is, the bigger the force upon impact in a crash.
The average EV is approximately 25% heavier than its gas-powered counterparts due to the massive metal batteries and this is consistent across makes and models. This disparity has pushed EVs into their own weight class. In comparison, the gas-powered Ford F-150 truck weighs around 4,500 pounds while the electric Ford-150 Lightning weighs more than 6,000 pounds. Fatalities from traffic crashes increased 48% between 2010 and 2020, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
UC Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center Director Julia Griswold says the main culprit of this trend is larger, heavier, and faster vehicles. Julia went on to say that the auto industry’s own view of what defines “safety” is partially to blame, Griswold said. “Historically, the focus has been on the occupants of the vehicle and their safety,” Griswold said. “The general understanding was that being in a bigger car would be safer in a crash.” We have viewed safety through the point of view of the vehicle’s passengers and the auto industry failed to consider how a larger, heavier vehicle could negatively impact the safety of pedestrians or drivers of more compact vehicles.
A 2013 UC Berkeley study titled “Pounds That Kill,” weight was found to be a critical factor in fatal auto crashes. The study found that each 1,000-pound increase in a striking vehicle’s weight increased the probability of a fatality in the struck vehicle by 47%. A Tesla Cybertruck single-car crash in Piedmont in November 2024 resulted in the death of three teenagers and sent a fourth to the hospital after the vehicle crashed into a tree at the intersection of Hampton Road and King Avenue. Both the California Highway Patrol and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are independently reviewing the fatal incident to determine the cause of the crash. The results of the probes have not been released.
Many cities have sought to decrease pedestrian and traffic deaths with the adoption of the Vision Zero program. The policy uses multiple infrastructure strategies from pedestrian walkways and protected bike lanes to restrictions on driving with slower speed limits and enhanced enforcement. Policy solutions that seek to limit larger and faster vehicles are harder to come by, Griswold said. The car-centric infrastructure across the U.S. requires many to own cars or utilize heavy-duty trucks in construction, farm work, and hauling. Downsizing comes with added safety risk as long as heavy vehicles remain on the road.
At the end of the day your case can only be settled one time and you need to know all of the facts beforehand. The reason that insurance companies have paid our clients in excess of $130,000,000.00 is that we get the facts and are not intimidated at the prospect of going to trial when insurance companies fail to offer full compensation. We help with serious injuries that require serious representation. We are the Law Offices of Guenard & Bozarth, LLP. Our attorneys have more than 60 years of experience specializing in only representing injured people. Call GB Legal 24/7/365 at 888-809-1075 or visit www.gblegal.com
