Anti-car advocates call for special SUV licences and truck bans for urban drivers

A collection of anti-driving advocacy groups are calling on the Trudeau Liberals to take action against pickup trucks and SUVs.

The group is calling for strict regulations and requirements for special licences — like ones required to operate semi-trucks or motorcycles — and would put a limited ban on them under certain criteria.

University of Windsor law professor Chris Waters spoke with The Globe and Mail, where he warned that we've been "sleepwalking into an arms race on our streets."

"Drivers of conventional cars are put at risk as well. So this is not a drivers-versus-cyclist type of thing. This is not another chapter in the culture wars. This is a community safety issue, which I think all politicians should get behind," he said. 

The group, who call themselves the Coalition to Reduce Auto Size Hazards (CRASH) believes in the cause so much that they've authored a 106-page report that warns of the supposed reasons large vehicles should be restricted.

We believe everyone should be and should feel safe as they move about on public roads, whether for work, school, shopping, or recreation. In the context of today’s urgent problems—beginning with the climate crisis—this means ensuring people who travel on foot, bicycles, or mass transit can do so safely. Based on current research, the report outlines the safety problems posed by the proliferating number of pickups and large SUVs on our roads and canvasses lessons and approaches from other jurisdictions in dealing with these over-sized and underregulated dangers.

The report outlines 11 recommendations for the government, along with calls for advertising rules that would warn of the dangers of large vehicles.

Among its recommendations is that city governments be granted the power to ban the use of large vehicles on dense urban streets or in community safety zones.

It also says that there should be higher parking fees for those with larger cars.

The report pleads its case by pointing to studies such as this one, which found that children are eight times more likely to die when hit by an SUV than if they are hit by a car.

This isn't new or surprising, as there are inherent risks of a vehicle being larger and heavier, and these known risks have not affected buyers' habits. In fact, light trucks and SUVs now make up about 8-in-10 of all new vehicle sales in Canada.

Manufacturers have noticed that bigger sells better. The US Environmental Protection Agency noted in a report that vehicle weights have increased by about 25 percent since 1980.

In the less car-centric continent of Europe, a proposal by a Parliament committee recommended that special licences for drivers be made for those who operate heavier vehicles.

Vehicle registration fees based on weight already exist in Washington state, and parking costs based on vehicle size are already in place in Paris and one Montreal borough.

CRASH further calls for design requirements that would make large vehicles less dangerous, by forcing manufacturers to abide by new design philosophies altogether.

The group is hosting a virtual event via Zoom on Thursday, April 25. "This panel discussion will be of interest to policy-makers, advocates, the media, academics, and all who care about safe streets," they write.

Prof. Justin Tindall of the University of Hawai'i at Mãnoa will speak, and a panel will be held afterwards.