Big trucks dominate in Salt Lake as traffic deaths rise
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The affection for big trucks appears to be driven by image, with owners increasingly using words like "rugged" and "powerful" to describe them rather than "functional" or "reliable."
The vast majority of Salt Lake's bestselling vehicles are trucks — a trend that could raise safety concerns after a spike in pedestrian deaths in traffic last year.
Driving the news: Seven of the top-selling models in the Salt Lake market are pickups or truck-sized SUVs, according to registration data collected from January through November 2022 by S&P Global Mobility.
- Of nearly 43,000 top 10 models registered, trucks accounted for more than 75%.
Catch up quick: As trucks transitioned from gravel-bearing workhorses to family cruisers in the past 40 years, their size and weight have ballooned, according to a new Axios Visuals special project.
- Cabs expanded, beds shrank and full-size trucks picked up a heftier share of the market.
Why it matters: Road safety advocates say today's huge trucks are a hazard for pedestrians and other drivers.
- Their tall front ends create blind spots and strike pedestrians in the upper body rather than the legs, making them deadlier.
- Pickups' weight increased 32% from 1990 to 2021, so they hit with more force.
Context: As the number of trucks rises, risks to others on Utah's roads have spiked.
- More pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists were killed in traffic in 2022 than any other year since 2014, the earliest year recorded by ZeroFatalities.com.
The intrigue: Salt Lake City and state police provide an array of traffic fatality data, from location and time of day to the ages and sleepiness of drivers and victims.
- But law enforcement isn’t tracking the type or size of vehicles on their public databases.
By the numbers: In Salt Lake City, more than 9,800 Ford F-Series pickups were registered last year — the most popular model.
- The Ram 1500, Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra filled out the top four.
- Of 26 cities for which Axios obtained data, only Phoenix had a higher share of trucks among its top-selling vehicles.
Of note: Although trucks have grown in popularity and size, surveys show most truck owners never use their pickups for towing and a third don't even use the bed for hauling.
- Instead, the affection for big trucks appears to be driven by image, with owners increasingly using words like "rugged" and "powerful" to describe them rather than "functional" or "reliable."