SUVs

Cartoonist Bill Roundy didn't need the DOT to tell him what his own damn eyes have shown him for years.

A pickup truck driver ran over and killed a little boy, and injured his mother, as she pushed the tot in a stroller on a Harlem street on Monday morning.

"By the end of this year, we will be able to provide by year the comparative numbers of fatal collisions where SUVs were involved," the agency said in a statement.

An excellent investigative report by the Detroit Free Press and USA Today reveals how the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration knew about the risks of SUVs for years - and did nothing.

The same design features that kill and maim pedestrians are what automakers rely on to appeal to consumers.

A camera phone tipster sends this shot of wreckage on a residential street in Boerum Hill. This morning, a speeding SUV managed to build up enough force to plow through parked cars, take out the iron gate, and demolish a good chunk of the ground floor. FDNY, fearing a cave-in, has propped up the front of the building. Mercifully, no one was hurt. We're told that the driver lost control due to a seizure, though our source says that traffic engineering has also made this block more susceptible to crashes.

Flickr pool contributor Mazaev has posted photos of the aftermath of a Monday vehicle-pedestrian collision on Ocean Parkway at Brighton Beach Avenue in Brooklyn. According to Mazaev, the victim, a woman, was hit and killed by an SUV. We could find no media reports of the incident -- though there was a hit-and-run on Ocean Parkway last night. If anyone knows anything, please share in comments.

On Tuesday, August 5, at approximately 1:28 a.m., cyclist Rasha Shamoon was struck by a Range Rover SUV at the intersection of Delancey St. and the Bowery in Manhattan. According to friends, she was not breathing when paramedics arrived at the scene. Shamoon was revived and taken to New York Downtown hospital in critical condition. She was transferred to New York Presbyterian, where she was declared brain dead. She was removed from life support on Monday, August 11.