Breaking News for Culpeper and Warrenton Accident Victims

Are Hybrid Cars a Threat to Pedestrians?

Posted on Dec 12, 2011

Hybrid cars are quiet, which at first sight would be considered an advantage. Who wants noisy cars anyway? Yet, when hybrids run on the electric engine, they are so silent that pedestrians, who are used to relying on what they hear to determine approaching danger, are caught… and get hurt.

This is the conclusion of a new study by the Virginia-based Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The same study also concluded that hybrid cars, which generally share the same structure and size with their conventional engine counterparts, offer better protection to occupants from crash injuries. This is because, all other things being equal, hybrids weigh some 10 percent more than standard vehicles, and this extra mass gives occupants added protection in crashes with other vehicles.

A danger for pedestrians?

The HLDI analysts studied data collected over a seven-year period from 2004 to 2010 and over 25,000 bodily injury liability claims for both hybrid and conventional engine vehicles. The study concluded that pedestrians were 20 percent more likely to be injured by hybrid cars than by conventional cars. As Matt Moore, the author of the report, puts it, ”Pedestrians can’t hear them approaching, so they might step out into the roadway without checking first to see what’s coming.”