A warning about blind spots has been issued to ladies who do the school run in 4x4s and other large off road vehicles.
The Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) carried out a number of tests on a range of 4x4s to discover the size of the blind spots of each vehicle.
It was discovered that many 4x4s have blind spots double the size of normal family cars, which increases the risk of causing an accident. The tests found that the Grand Jeep Cherokee, the Hyundai Santa Fe and Land Rover's Discovery and Freelander were the 4x4s with the biggest blind spots.
Women who are involved in a car crash as a result of not noticing something in their blind spot and who need to claim on their car insurance policy as a result are likely to see a substantial increase in the cost of a motor insurance quote.
Autoglass was the company which commissioned the research. A spokesman for the company commented on the reason for the large blind spots: "Because of their size, 4x4 vehicles require thicker A-Pillars than smaller vehicles in order to maintain their structural strength."
Lee-Anne Bass of CoverGirl Car Insurance Services said: "Ladies who use 4x4s to drop off and pick up their children from school need to be particularly aware of this issue. If they have an accident not only could they be looking at inflated motor insurance quotes but also, more importantly, they could cause serious injury."
Since 4x4s became very popular several years ago, concern has been growing about their safety record. Whilst they have a good level of protection for occupants, numerous studies have shown that these large vehicles are likely to injure a pedestrian much more severely than an average small car.