Clarence Hayes is a former Representative Town Meeting member, and an ardent environmentalist. He says:
At school pickup and shopping center parking lots, oversized SUVs are hard to miss.
Many owners buy them to protect their families. But what if they offer little extra protection to the people inside, while endangering everyone outside?
And what if their emissions overwhelm the reductions from the more than 1,000 Westport households who have switched to electric cars?
My third annual analysis of Westport’s motor vehicles has the answers.
SUVs are not safer for your family. But they are much deadlier for your neighbor.
When a vehicle is heavy, extra bulk adds little protection. The latest Insurance Institute for Highway Safety data show that moving from a midsize SUV to a very large one lowers its driver’s death rate by just 4 per million registered vehicle years.
But it raises the death rate of drivers it hits by 18 to 24.
The 4ppm decrease is not statistically significant. But the 18-24ppm increase is. That means real danger to others, for no personal safety benefit.
IIHS President David Harkey says, “The conventional wisdom is that if bigger
is safer, even bigger must be safer still. These results show that isn’t true today. Not for people in other cars. And … not for the occupants of the large vehicles themselves.”
An Audi Q5 — one of Westport’s most common midsize luxury SUVs — weighs about 4,000 pounds; an Escalade, Suburban or Yukon, well over 5,500. The benefit of increased weight largely disappears above 4,000 lbs.
Their towering front ends also endanger pedestrians. Vehicles with hood edges above 40 inches are 44% more likely to kill a pedestrian than those with low, sloped fronts.
A 2-ton SUV is a net-negative safety choice, significantly raising the risk to everyone else on the road – driving, walking or cycling.
The average EV in Westport emits 82 grams per mile – the power plant emissions to charge it. The average large SUV emits nearly 700.
Westport has 917 of these behemoths. At 12,500 miles a year, each emits nearly 9 tons of CO₂ — almost 2 tons more than the annual footprint of the average European from all sources.
Just 162 of these SUVs emit as much as all 1,665 EVs in Westport combined. A small number of drivers can undo the efforts of many.
On a per-person basis, Westport is among the worst climate polluters on the planet.
Westport’s footprint reflects everyday choices, including the vehicles we drive.
EV and plug-in hybrid registrations grew by an average of only 450 a year over the past two years – a mere 2% of the town’s 22,000-plus vehicles.
Last year, only 1 in 9 people acquiring a car in Westport chose an EV, even though there are comparably priced options for every common type of car driven here.
Meanwhile, our vehicles keep getting bigger. Average emissions of our gas, diesel and non-plug-in hybrid fleet fell only 4.5% in seven years, even as hybrids grew from 4% to 14% of all vehicles.
Had our Priuses not grown into Lexus RX450Hs, the drop would have been closer to 7%.
The planet keeps heating. 2023, 2024 and 2025 were the three hottest years ever recorded, and atmospheric CO2 hit an all-time high of 432 parts per million in May.
We cannot solve climate change in one town, but we can stop making it unnecessarily worse.
If you drive an Escalade, Suburban, Tahoe, Yukon, Range Rover or similar, consider a different choice next time. These vehicles combine enormous weight, high front ends and very high emissions.
And let’s be honest: these vehicles are big, conspicuous and expensive. I doubt safety research is why most Westporters choose them. I
f safety and family practicality are your priorities, there are cleaner alternatives that don’t endanger your neighbors.
Nor should we simply swap gas status symbols for electric ones. The Rivian R1S cuts emissions, but it is heavier than an Escalade and has a blunt high hood.
Electrification is not a free pass on size, weight or pedestrian safety.
Choose the lightest vehicle that genuinely meets your family’s needs – and go electric where practical. You can have space, comfort and lower emissions without buying the biggest vehicle you can afford.
Need 7 seats for long road trips? Consider the Mercedes EQS SUV, Tesla Model X, Volkswagen ID Buzz, Volvo EX90 or Lucid Gravity.
Can live with 5 seats? There are many lighter SUV EVs: Hyundai Ioniq 5, VW ID 4, Kia EV6, Nissan Ariya.
Westport’s choices add up. Our neighbors, and their children, share the roads with us. They deserve to be part of the calculation, too.
(Questions, or interested in the data? Email emissions@westportct.town)
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