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In recent years, smaller vehicles called “Low Speed Vehicles” (LSV) have become more popular. Originally created to tour small areas and neighborhoods, things like modified golf carts and mini-trucks have been seen more and more on roads that have low speed limits. Many communities have created laws that allow these vehicles on urban streets – despite the fact that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has shown that combining LSVs with more traditional cars and trucks on the roads is a very bad and often deadly combination.

Popularity of Smaller Vehicles Explained

So, what is the appeal of the low speed vehicle? The mini-trucks can be used to haul small amounts of cargo around neighborhoods and from business to business, and the modified golf-carts can be used to simply run neighborhood errands. Besides this appeal, they were originally envisioned as a low-emission and inexpensive way to work within complexes, corporate and educational campuses, and gated communities. However, because of their popularity in the sun belt of the United States, use of these LSVs outside of the communities has grown – where they are unlikely to encounter much traffic – and use them on traditional roads.

Where Do LSVs come from and how they work

Most LSVs are electric vehicles that are imported, mostly used, from Japan. Also called Kei-class vehicles, these LSVs often feature the steering apparatus on the right hand side, and are usually sold only after they fail inspections in Japan. LSVs are not legally required to have any safety features beyond seat belts, since they are designed to be used in areas where collisions are unlikely. However, this means that when used on regular roads, they might offer less protection in a crash. The safety standards, established by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, were created long before the explosion in popularity of these vehicles. Today it is estimated that over 45,000 LSVs are on the roads today.

The realities of owning an LSV

Crash tests with LSVs have shown distressing results. Even when tested against today’s smallest cars, test dummies showed evidence of serious and even fatal injuries. States that are permitting and even encouraging the use of LSVs on busy roads because of their low environmental impact are unwittingly putting people at risk of serious injury.

Because of this, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has begun to strongly encourage Congress to take action and adapt the laws and recommendations of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require more safety tools such as airbags in LSVs, and to possible address where and when these vehicles can be used. After all, the best insurance policy in the world is not of much value when a fatality occurs. LSVs should not be on major roads until they offer better protection for the passengers.