For many years, SUVs have been regarded as the most dangerous vehicles on the road because of their natural tendency to rollover. Well, there is some truth to this, because SUVs indeed have greater tendencies to overturn because of their ride height. But despite these rollover tendencies, it is surprising that SUVs are not the most fatal type of vehicle on the road. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), it is the compact vehicles.

In a report released Monday, NHTSA revealed that compact cars are the most fatal vehicles on the road in 2004, registering a fatality rate of 17.76 per 100,000 vehicles. This is followed by compact pickup trucks at 16.87 and by subcompact cars at 16.85. SUVs, on the other hand, registered some 15 cases per 100,000 vehicles while full-size vans rated the least at 9.34. In cases involving rollovers, however, mid-size SUVs still rated the highest, registering some 10 fatalities per 100,000 registered vehicles.

So what implications do these figures have? Because of skyrocketing fuel prices, many auto manufacturers are cashing more on developing lighter vehicles like compacts and subcompacts while avoiding the heavier ones. This trend was clearly witnessed on the recently concluded North American International Auto Show where various auto manufacturers displayed their new compact and subcompact vehicles.

In recent years, the sales of economy cars have also increased, outmaneuvering that of the SUVs which have been selling well in the ’90s and early 2000s. But with the report just recently released by NHTSA, it makes us think whether our auto manufacturers and car buyers are really making the right decisions.

The NHTSA report, however, is not all bad news because it revealed that fatality rates in vehicles have been declining since the late 1990s. From a fatality rate of 16.9 per 100,000 in 1997, the rate has dropped to 14.2 in 2004.

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