What upsets me most about life in London today? The endless proliferation of “luxury flats” marketed abroad while ordinary Londoners can’t afford to rent a basic home? Yes, that upsets me. The fact that so many young people in the capital are so utterly devoid of manners that they see nothing wrong with listening to their phones on public transport without headphones? Deeply upsetting on an existential, future-of-mankind level. How about grown men often nearly knocking me or my children over on the pavement with their giant-man-baby electric scooters? Yup. Pretty upsetting.
But there’s one more thing about modern life in London that I really, really can’t stand. And it’s that, increasingly, everyone — even people I otherwise genuinely like — drives a massive SUV.
Firstly, we should discuss what SUVs signify. They’re brash, ugly, unnecessarily large and those who drive them are often vulgarians whose sole purpose in life is trying to show they’re richer than other people while charging around London leaving normal cars clinging to the edge of the road. When you drive a massive SUV you’re saying three things: I don’t care about the environment. I don’t care that I’m more likely to kill pedestrians in my car. I don’t care that there isn’t room for my car and others to co-habit smoothly on London’s streets.
Simply owning an SUV in London is, in my opinion, an act of aggression. I’m certain that in 100 years, when we’ve all been melted in our beds by climate change, we will realise that, far from being a status symbol, driving an SUV is an unconscionable act of ignorance.
Those who drive SUVs are often vulgarians whose sole purpose in life is trying to show they’re richer than other people
The 330 million sport utility vehicles on the world’s roads produced emissions last year equivalent to the combined national emissions of the UK and Germany. If SUVs were a country, they would rank as the sixth most-polluting in the world. In 2022, the amount of planet-heating carbon produced by these cars rose to almost one billion tons. The sight of Sadiq Khan being driven to work in a £300,000 five-litre armoured Range Rover while campaigning against mega-emitting cars was something I found truly agonising.
The proportion of cars sold in the UK which come under the heading SUV has risen to nearly a third. While they are supposed to be cars which cover rough terrain or tow heavy loads, three-quarters of SUVs bought now are registered to people living in urban areas, particularly in wealthy areas of London such as Kensington and Chelsea. Last year, SUVs accounted for nearly half of all cars sold in the US. For every electric vehicle sold in 2019, 37 new SUVs hit the roads. The surge in popularity of SUVs is actually reversing the progress made in carbon pollution from new cars.
Bigger and heavier cars are quite simply incompatible with our goal of reducing global emissions. The majority of SUVs are petrol-powered and consume about 20 per cent more fuel than the average car. Even if the car is electric or part electric the same sums apply as heavier cars require more energy.
Bigger cars don’t just emit more, their tyres produce more particulate pollution.
And, to make matters worse, 4x4s cause significantly more pedestrian fatalities than other cars. One recent US study found that if between 2000 and 2019 all drivers of SUVs had been driving normal cars, more than 3,000 pedestrian deaths would have been avoided. You’re far more likely to kill a child in your car while driving an SUV.
So what am I suggesting? Ban all SUVs in London, or tax them to the max. Unlike taxes on cigarettes and junk food which, while laudable, are unquestionably regressive, the people paying can definitely afford it. We should apply taxes on vehicles based on their size. We should introduce carbon-based parking tariffs. But mainly, let’s unite in showing SUV drivers in London that far from being something to shout about, driving an SUV in London is shameful.
