Road safety, where are we? The data six months after the introduction of the new highway code and an independent investigation on the danger of cars

On the one hand there are i data of the first six months from the entry into force of the new highway codecollected by the traffic police and carabinieri: -8.7% of deaths (55 less, from 634 to 579), -5.6% of injured people (1,115 less, from 20,075 to 18,960). The general drop in accidents is 4% between 14 December 2024 and 14 June 2025 compared to the same period to the previous year.

On the other there is a new study of Transport & Environment (T&E), the main independent European organization for the decarbonisation of transport that tells of cars with the front of cars increasingly higher: the average height increases by half a centimeter a year.

In the tests conducted by T& and for the study, car drivers with the highest front part could not see children, up to nine years of age, positioned in front of the vehicle. The trend is part of the recent phenomenon of carspreading – the progressive increase in the size of the cars – linked to the spread of large SUVs, which occupy more and more space in the cities and are more dangerous in the event of an accident.

According to the research, which concerns the EU, the United Kingdom and Norway and it is the first to study this phenomenon at European level, in 2024 the average height of the front of the cars was 83.8 cm, against 76.9 cm of 2010. This increase is linked to the growth of SUV sales, which went from 12% of the European market in 2010 to over half, 56%, last year. In Italy there was the most significant increase: from 76.3 cm of 2010 to almost 85 in 2024. The increase is linked in particular to the expansion of the sales of Jeep (FCA group), which in 2024 in Italy were 5% of the total, against 1% of the European average. At the moment, there are no EU nor national rules that limit the height of the front of a car.

In road collisions, cars with the high front typically affect adult pedestrians above their center of gravity, often impacting the vital organs first. At speed up to 50 km/h, the higher the front of the vehicle, the more likely it is likely that the person is pushed under the car rather than laterally, increasing the risk of serious and death injuries. A studybased on road collisions that involved 300,000 road users in Belgium, suggests that A growth of 10 cm of the height of the front of the car (from 80 to 90 cm) increases by 27% the risk of death for pedestrians, cyclists and other users of the vulnerable road. When the front of the car is higher, the visibility of other road users also reduces.

Esther Marchetti, Clean Transport Advocacy Manager of T&I Italia explained: «High co -fingers put in serious danger pedestrians, cyclists and lower cars. In many cases, children who are in front of these vehicles are completely invisible to the driver. With the car manufacturers concentrated more and more on large SUVs and cars – where the highest profit margins are recorded, at the expense of road safety – the problem is destined to worsen, unless you introduce clear limits as soon as possible ».

T & E and Clean Cities Campaign asked the EU and the United Kingdom to fix a limit to the front of the cars by 2035, as part of a pack of reforms to contain the constant growth of the cars. The study suggests adopting a maximum height of 85 cm for the front of the cars, to be deepened with further research. In addition, the national and city authorities should make taxes and parking rates more equally, connecting them to the weight, size and CO2 emissions of the vehicles.