While reading on car safety issues, I just came across this 2003 study:
Are SUVs safer than cars?
http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/teepa/pdf/TRB_Safety_1-03.pdf
Summary of Findings
•Average midsize and large cars have same risk to drivers as average
SUV
•Safest subcompact and compact cars have same risk to driver as
average SUV
•Pickups and SUVs (and minivans) impose high risks on other drivers
because of their incompatibility with cars
•Average subcompact and compact cars have similar combined risk
as average SUV
•Driver behavior influences what we call risk
—low risk to drivers of minivans and high risk to drivers of sports
cars
•Driver *** and age do not appear to influence our main findings by
vehicle model
•However, other driver characteristics or environmental conditions
(rather than vehicle design) may explain some of our findings
•Quality of vehicle design appears to be a better predictor of risk than
vehicle weight