Contrary to popular belief, biggest isn’t always best when it comes to safety on the road, as new research shows that the increase of utes and large cars on roads is contributing to a rising road toll. 

Stuart Newstead led the research from the Monash University Accident Research Centre, and said that the structure and weight of utes makes drivers particularly vulnerable. 

“The average Hilux or Ranger type is around 2.2 tonnes before you start loading it up. They’re very heavy, but they’re also very high and stiff,” Professor Newstead said. 

“They don’t tend to interact as kindly with other vehicles.”

On country roads, the force of hitting fixed objects like trees can also be much greater in a bigger car. 

The research centre reported that the death toll has risen five per cent purely from people choosing to drive 4WDs, utes and large SUVs.

So what does it mean for country drivers?

For a lot of Western Plains locals, choosing a 4WD or ute is based out of necessity rather than extravagance. 

“What you want to do in those circumstances is make sure that you have crash avoidance technology like stability control, roll stability control for high riding vehicles, and it’s really important to try and stop those sort of out of control situations happening.”

Newer features like lane keeping assist also help in avoiding incidents.

“Just be aware you’re driving a commercial vehicle and it just doesn’t have the same characteristics as a larger car. They are a compromise.”

While Professor Newstead can understand the reasoning behind larger cars in rural areas, he’s less generous for more urban areas. 

“I think the risk perspective is more the city slicker who thinks that that’s a cool thing to have and drive around to a Coles supermarket…a suburban cowboy.”