Does Size Really Matter?

Road safety organizations in Alberta are urging the province’s chief medical examiner to examine whether pickup trucks and large SUVs present a greater risk of fatal injury to pedestrians and cyclists in collisions.

This brings up a relevant question - Does Size Matter? In this context, does size play a factor in the amount of damage, injuries and fatalities on Alberta roads?

Several groups, including Bike Calgary and Youth en Route, called for a review of crashes involving these larger vehicles under the Fatalities Inquiries Act. The organizations are members of the Coalition to Reduce Auto Size Hazards (C.R.A.S.H.), a national initiative focused on addressing safety concerns associated with increasingly large vehicles.

It isn’t exactly something new, nor is it something we think about everyday, but for those of us who live in North America, vehicles have been getting slightly larger over the years and in Alberta specifically, there seems to be an uptick in large, lifted suspension trucks.

The coalition contends that the increasing size and popularity of pickup trucks and large SUVs may pose a significant and avoidable danger to vulnerable road users. Supporters say a formal examination would help determine the scale of the problem and identify evidence-based solutions. Among the measures being proposed are federal standards for safer vehicle front-end design, mandatory safety warnings in vehicle advertisements, enhanced licensing requirements for drivers of large vehicles, and registration fees tied to a vehicle’s potential risk to pedestrians and cyclists.

Fun Fact: you cannot rent a car until the age of 25, which includes small cars, SUV’s and trucks. You can, however, rent a half-ton U-Haul truck as soon as you are 18 years old!

United States Research on this Topic

Advocates say a growing body of U.S. research highlights the potential safety risks associated with larger vehicles and suggests Canada should examine whether similar patterns are emerging here, where the issue has received less attention.

One study, published in Economics of Transportation in March 2024, examined how vehicle front-end height affects the likelihood of pedestrian fatalities. Using U.S. crash data from 2016 to 2021 alongside vehicle-dimension data from Transport Canada, researchers found that taller front ends were linked to a significantly higher risk of death for pedestrians and cyclists involved in collisions.

According to the study, every 10-centimetre increase in front-end height was associated with a 22 per cent rise in fatality risk. Those are concerning numbers, especially with the number of these style trucks are on Alberta’s roads.

Concerns about larger vehicles have also drawn attention in the media. A June investigation by The New York Times connected the growing popularity of large pickup trucks and SUVs with rising pedestrian death rates in the United States. The report concluded that these vehicles can be particularly dangerous for pedestrians because of their higher front ends and larger blind spots, which can increase both the likelihood and severity of crashes.

Where Alberta’s Concerns Come In

The call for action comes amid growing concerns about road safety in Calgary, where 15 pedestrians lost their lives in traffic collisions in 2025, representing a 225 per cent increase over the previous year.

One of the most high-profile incidents occurred in February, when a two-year-old child was fatally struck by a Jeep while being pushed in a stroller by their parents in a marked crosswalk. The vehicle involved appeared to have been modified to sit higher off the ground than its original factory specifications. This tragedy highlights the importance of understanding how vehicle size and ride height may influence the severity of crashes involving vulnerable road users.

The Calgary Police Service has also acknowledged that vehicle modifications can affect collision outcomes. In a statement, police noted that changes to a vehicle’s ride height are of particular concern because they can significantly influence the severity of crashes, especially those involving pedestrians.

Next Steps

It seems that there is some consideration on what should be done next, if there is indeed a correlation between higher rates of collision, injuries and fatalities tied to larger vehicles - and that could mean additional licensing required to own and drive these vehicles. Around the world, many countries don’t have as many of these larger trucks on the road for personal use, and some may charge additional fees, taxes and licensing costs to bring a Dodge RAM 1500 sized truck over.

The European Union refer to the same United States study showing a correlation in larger trucks or SUVs and higher pedestrian deaths - in fact, with current data, the Annual Pedestrian Road Deaths rate is three times higher in the USA than in Europe. They also cite that higher ride heights and taller hoods are a contributing factor to this, as they increase the amount of blind spots for the driver.

Now Alberta is asking the same questions about this possible correlation and a study is being conducted on this topic and possible next steps in our Province on what can or should be done to reduce the amount of injuries and fatalities caused by these larger vehicles.

To read more on this, check out this article here.