Summarised by Centrist
Pedestrians are twice as likely to be hit by an electric/hybrid car than by a petrol vehicle, a study from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has found. The reason?
The noiseless movement of EVs – plus high pedestrian density in the areas where they are found.
The study lead by Dr Phil J. Edwards at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has found a pedestrian casualty rate of 5.16 per 100 million miles driven for hybrids and EVs.
This is more than twice the 2.4 per 100 million miles petrol-powered cars recorded.
The study’s researchers caution that current crash statistics aren’t yet reliable enough to reach scientific conclusions, but the stats seem to indicate younger, less experienced drivers – more likely to own an electric car – are more often responsible for crashes.
EVs could make up almost 70% of the US fleet by 2050. For now, the Biden administration wants half of all new vehicle sales electric by the year 2030.
Meanwhile, Google’s Waymo (the world’s first autonomous ride-hailing service) reports that their driverless cars were nearly 7 times less likely than human drivers to be involved in a crash resulting in an injury.
