Fatal Road Accident Claim Solicitors

A recent report by Transport & Environment (T&E) has found that the average bonnet height of new vehicles in the UK and across Europe has increased from 77 cm in 2010 to 84 cm in 2024. This design trend, largely driven by the surge in SUV sales, is now being linked to a growing risk of fatal road accidents — particularly those involving young children.

The Hidden Danger of Higher Bonnet Designs

The report, titled Ever-higher: the rise of bonnet height, and the case to cap it, explains how high-fronted SUVs can obscure children from the driver’s view. Tests by Loughborough University found that drivers of some large vehicles — such as the Ram TRX and the Land Rover Defender — are unable to see children standing directly in front of the car. In the case of the Ram TRX, children as old as nine were completely hidden from the driver’s line of sight.

The issue is particularly pressing in the UK, where demand for large luxury vehicles is disproportionately high. Land Rover models made up 85 percent of all cars sold in the UK in 2023 with bonnets over one metre high. These taller vehicles pose a unique threat, as collisions often strike pedestrians in the head or chest — areas far more vulnerable than the legs.

Bonnet Height and Fatal Accident Risk

In a previous Belgian study analysing over 300,000 pedestrian and cyclist casualties, researchers found that increasing bonnet height from 80 cm to 90 cm led to a 27 percent increase in the risk of death. Taller bonnets are not only more likely to hit vital organs, but also increase the chances of knocking a pedestrian down and running them over.

Children are particularly at risk. Their lower height makes them far more likely to be hidden from view and struck at the most vulnerable part of their body. With no current legal limit on bonnet height in the UK or EU, the risk continues to rise.

Road Fatalities and the Call for Reform

Road traffic collisions remain a leading cause of death for children in the UK. This is not only a design issue, but a policy failure. The T&E report calls for:

A legal bonnet height limit of 85 cm by 2035
Mandatory child visibility tests for new cars
Design transparency, including bonnet height listed on vehicle documents
Local authority powers to impose higher parking charges on oversized vehicles

Cities such as Paris, Lyon, and Aachen already apply size-based parking charges, and UK councils in Cardiff, Bristol, Oxford, and Haringey are now considering similar measures.

Preventable Losses on UK Roads

The rise in SUV popularity may be understandable from a consumer comfort perspective, but the consequences are devastating. Families who lose children in fatal road accidents face a lifetime of grief — often for accidents that could have been prevented with safer vehicle design and stronger regulation.

Bonnet height is not a niche technical detail. It is a matter of life and death, especially for our youngest and most vulnerable road users.

Rise in fatal road accident claims?

This report should serve as a wake-up call to the automotive industry and UK policymakers. By failing to regulate vehicle dimensions that are known to increase the severity of pedestrian injuries, we risk perpetuating a system where larger vehicles take precedence over human life.

If steps are not taken now, the rising trend in high-bonnet vehicle design could see fatal accident rates amongst children increase further in the years ahead.

To read the full report, visit:

Ever-higher: the rise of bonnet height, and the case to cap it

If you have lost a loved one due to a pedestrian road accident involving an SUV or other high-fronted vehicle, you can learn more about your legal rights generally about fatal road collisions see our article page below:

Fatal road accident compensation solicitors

Scene of an accident between two cars.