With the increasing popularity of electric vehicles on our roads as well as the expanding sizes of these vehicles, safety organizations are raising concerns about the risks involving these heavier cars, especially the risks to motorists in other vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is reporting on the under – evaluated risks involving electric vehicles, especially those involving other motorists on the road in car accidents with these vehicles. The report also raises concerns about the risk of these increasingly heavy vehicles when they are involved in auto accidents with more vulnerable users on the road, including pedestrians and bicyclists.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has been evaluating the safety of electric vehicles for more than a decade. The initial concerns with these vehicles were the fire risks involved with the batteries in the vehicles. However, over a period of time as these vehicles have become super-sized — electric vehicles now come in the form of SUVs and pick up trucks — the concerns have expanded to include the risk to other people involved in car accidents with these vehicles.
Electric SUVs are powered by massive batteries that are very heavy. While the fire risks involving damaged batteries are less intense than they use to be, the bigger concerns now involve other motorists involved in auto accidents with these larger vehicles. When a heavier vehicle is involved in a car accident with a lighter passenger vehicle or even a non- electric pickup truck, the laws of physics dictate that the heavier vehicle will simply push the smaller vehicle out of its path, possibly increasing car accident and injury risks involving passengers in the non-electric vehicle.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that the earliest electric vehicles that it used to test weighed around 3300 pounds in weight. However, the new heavier electric SUVs and pickup trucks weigh more than 6000 pounds on an average. An electric GMC Hummer, for instance, can weigh more than 9,000 pounds. It is not hard to imagine the kind of impact that can be generated when a 9000 pound pickup truck crashes into a smaller passenger car that weighs just about 3000 to 4000 pounds. That is how much the average non-electric passenger car weighs.
The risk to pedestrians, motorcyclists and bicyclists from these heavy electric vehicles is even more immense. These vehicles do not have a big stopping distance, which means the risk of hitting bicyclists and pedestrians is very high. In fact, the rising number of electric vehicles on our roads could also be one of the reasons for the spike in the number of pedestrian car accident deaths across the country over the past few years.
The Atlanta car crash attorneys at Katz Personal Injury Lawyers are dedicated to the representation of persons injured in car accidents in the metro Atlanta region and across Georgia. If you or a loved one have suffered injuries in a car accident, talk to a lawyer at our firm and determine if you have legal options to a claim for damages. You may be eligible for compensation that includes medical expenses, lost income and other types of damages. Talk to an attorney at our firm and discuss your case.