Letters to the Editor: How to make SUV and truck drivers pay for the damage they cause

To the editor: In response to the excellent editorial regarding the threat to pedestrians posed by supersized sport utility vehicles and trucks, I would also like to mention the same regarding oversized vehicles versus sedans in crashes.

As in the terrible injuries inflicted on pedestrians by SUVs and trucks, the drivers of small to mid-sized cars are being unfairly injured in crashes involving oversized vehicles. The insurance industry needs to dramatically increase the personal injury and liability requirements on all oversized automobiles.

It’s time for the drivers of these huge vehicles to pay a price for the human suffering they cause.

Craig Fisher, Toluca Lake

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To the editor: You ask why the federal government is not trying to do anything about the size of new vehicles. Isn’t it likely because of the economic consequences?

Slowing the manufacture and take rate of these products would have an immense downstream effect.

Like The Times’ editorial board, I’d like to see things change, but it may take a very long time.

Lynn Balsamo, Santa Monica

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To the editor: I drive a Mazda Miata. As a single, childless person, it’s all the car I want or need, and it’s a joy to drive.

But not in this city.

I’ve been nearly t-boned by drivers who speed through red lights. I was recently hit by someone who insanely tried to speed around me on my left while I was making a left turn. If he had been in one of those SUVs, it wouldn’t have simply been a smashed fender and axle — it would have landed me in the hospital or worse.

No one needs a vehicle the size of a military tank.

Mickey Fielding, Baldwin Hills

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To the editor: I know many people who have upsized their vehicles. They are not thinking of pedestrians; their motivation is their own safety.

Everyone sees drivers speeding, running red lights or engaging in other dangerous behavior every time we venture out. If hit, being in a larger vehicle adds an element of protection, or so it is thought.

Maybe mandatory warning sensors on the front of high-profile vehicles for objects below the driver’s line of sight might help prevent some pedestrian crashes.

Alan H. Simon, Sherman Oaks