Study: Electric Vehicle Drivers Are Twice as Likely to Hit Pedestrians as Gas Powered Cars

A recent study has found that electric and hybrid cars are twice as likely to hit pedestrians compared to their petrol and diesel counterparts, particularly in urban areas.

The Guardian reports that researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine have analyzed British road traffic accident data spanning 32 billion miles of battery-powered car travel and three trillion miles of gas and diesel-powered car trips. The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, reveals that electric and hybrid cars are twice as likely to strike pedestrians than fossil fuel-powered cars, with the risk increasing threefold in urban areas.

The exact reasons behind this increased hazard are not entirely clear, but researchers suspect several factors may be at play. Electric car drivers tend to be younger and less experienced, and the vehicles themselves are significantly quieter than combustion engine cars, making them harder to hear, especially in bustling towns and cities.

Professor Phil Edwards, the study’s lead author, emphasizes the need for the government to address these risks as the UK moves towards phasing out the sale of petrol and diesel cars. “Electric cars are a hazard to pedestrians because they are less likely to be heard than petrol or diesel cars,” he stated. “Drivers of these vehicles need to be extra cautious.”

Road traffic accidents are the primary cause of death among children and young adults in the UK, with pedestrians accounting for a quarter of all road fatalities. The US Department of Transportation had previously reported in 2017 that electric and hybrid cars posed a 20 percent higher risk to pedestrians compared to petrol and diesel cars, with the risk increasing to 50 percent during low-speed maneuvers such as turning, reversing, and starting into traffic.

The study analyzed UK travel and road accident data from 2013 to 2017, which included 916,713 casualties, of which 120,197 were pedestrians. While most vehicles on the road are petrol or diesel, and these were involved in three-quarters of pedestrian collisions, battery-powered cars were found to be more dangerous for the same distance travelled. The average annual pedestrian casualty rate per 100 million miles travelled was 5.16 for electric and hybrid cars, compared to 2.4 for petrol and diesel cars.

Read more at the Guardian here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.