Study: ‘More SUVs in Brussels threaten road safety and quality of life’

Cars in Brussels’ streets are becoming heavier and larger, making traffic more unsafe and contradicting the city’s quality-of-life goals. This is shown by a new study conducted by Brussels Environment and Brussels Mobility, newspapers De Standaard and L’Echo write.

SUVs, Sports Utility Vehicles, accounted for more than half of all new registrations in 2023. The latest study also proposes several measures to discourage car obesity, such as more expensive parking fees or a ban in certain zones.

Most SUVs are company cars

The study commissioned by the responsible ministers – Alain Maron (Ecolo) and Elke Van den Brandt (Groen) – shows that the average weight of newly registered cars in the Brussels Capital Region (BCR) increased by 10% for private cars and 17% for company cars between 2013 and 2023. Recent company cars, at 1,7111 kg, are, on average, even heavier than new private cars (1,463 kg).

This increase in the weight of the car fleet—with more than half a million cars, the Brussels car fleet consists of about 60% private vehicles and 40% company cars—also impacts the BCR’s social and environmental objectives.

Greater risk for vulnerable road users

Indeed, the heavier the car, the greater the risk of serious injury or death for those who are hit. Traffic institute Vias, therefore, calls it “safety at two speeds.” While the chance of being seriously injured or killed decreases for the occupants of a heavier vehicle, it increases for the other party, both vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists, as well as occupants of a lighter vehicle.

Brussels Mobility has repeated Vias’s analysis, focusing on accidents in the BCR in 2021 and 2022. This shows that vehicle weight is an important factor in injury severity in accidents, even in an urban environment where the 30 km/h speed limit is the norm on the vast majority of the road network.

In the BCR, the impact on the occupants of the oncoming car is even greater for Belgium as a whole. The increase in vehicle weight puts the objective of reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries in Brussels to zero by 2030 in jeopardy.

Reducing the energy efficiency

However, heavy cars also put pressure on Brussels’ quality of life. Although fuel cars became more fuel-efficient, the increase in weight virtually offset the decrease in CO2 emissions.

According to the researchers, SUVs are popular partly because CO2 emission standards do not discourage heavier cars. Manufacturers are focusing on more expensive cars, encouraged by the advantageous Belgian tax system for company cars.

Profit margins are simply much higher in the heavier and more luxurious vehicle segments, and the Belgian tax regime for company cars encourages the use of the top range of particularly heavy cars. This specific Belgian policy explains why cars in Belgium are, on average, heavier than in most other European countries. This effect is even more evident for EVs, which are 14% heavier than the EU average.

Nor does this recent electrification help. Registered EVs also weigh, on average, 570 kilos more than new fuel cars, and higher weight reduces energy efficiency. Moreover, even at the production stage, a heavier vehicle emits more CO2 than a lighter vehicle because its manufacture requires more raw materials. In summary, SUVs in Brussels are, on average, heavier (+12%) and more powerful (+14%) and produce more direct (+8%) and indirect CO2 emissions than other car models.

Take more public space

Newly registered cars are also taking up more public space, while the proportion of car ownership per household in Brussels is falling. Since 2018, newly registered vehicles in Belgium have been, on average, more than 180 cm wide. This means they no longer fit within the dimensions of many parking spaces on and off public roads.

Moreover, such wider cars impede the recreational use of public space and its greening, which is necessary for climate adaptation or redistribution of public space in favor of vulnerable road users.

Unjust transition

According to the study, making vehicles heavier also jeopardizes the ambition of a just transition. After all, heavier and larger vehicles are also more expensive to buy and use. The automobile industry specifically favors this market segment to the detriment of the supply of lighter, more affordable EVs.

Therefore, the electrification of the Brussels car fleet threatens to slow down. The trend could eventually affect the second-hand market and consequently weigh heavily on the budgets of low-income households.

Adapted taxation

Consequently, the study recommends adjusting taxation to slow down the increase in heavier cars and promote cars that are better suited to the urban environment.

The heavier the car, the more the taxes will weigh. Cars up to 2,000 kilos, for example, would be better discouraged. According to Brussels researchers, the extra tax could take the form of an intelligent mileage charge to replace the existing tax system, which has also been on the shelf for several years.

A “zone without heavy cars” is also suggested against car obesity, along with a low-emission zone or higher parking fees, as recently decided by several other European cities, such as Paris and Cologne.

A ban on advertising the heaviest and largest cars in the BCR is also one of the suggestions.