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Why so many cars turning turtle? NEXT time you speed, remember these pictures. Over the past year alone, The Straits Times' online interactive portal, Stomp, received more than 20 MMSes which showed flipped vehicles on local roads. They included cars, vans, lorries and even gas trailers. The accidents occurred on highways and other roads. There were no deaths. The latest incident happened on 28 Dec, when a Mitsubishi Lancer overturned along the Braddell slip road. Ten mechanics my paper spoke to said that on average, each of them deal with more than five cases of cars turning turtle each year. So, why do cars overturn? Vehicle size and its centre of gravity are two factors. But the speed of the car is the primary factor, mechanics say. Said Mr Chua Sek Juay, the owner of Tan Cheng Motor Vehicle Spray Painting in Ang Mo Kio: "All the overturned cars that I've dealt with had drivers who were going too fast." The 50-year-old, who has tended to more than 50 cases of overturned cars in the 30 years as mechanic, said: "When they go too fast and hit the kerb, the balance of weight of the car suddenly shifts and the driver loses control. This can cause the car to turn turtle." Furthermore, certain cars - like sports-utility vehicles (SUVs) - are more prone to flipping over. That's because SUVs have a higher centre of gravity, Mr Chua said. "Motorists must remember they are not driving sports cars which have a lower centre of gravity and hence, are more resistant to turning over," he explained. Khairil Salim, 27, a mechanic from Hussein and Sons Workshop in Paya Lebar, also pointed out that drivers of smaller cars are also at risk of turning turtle if they go too fast. He said: "Because smaller cars are lighter, when they go too fast the wind can force the car to overturn if the driver hits the brakes too suddenly." While mechanics argue that speed is the main factor, sports car drivers say that a car's design plays a part in the tendency for it to flip. Cars turning turtle has been a controversial subject in the US in recent years. Last month, USA Today reported that Ford Motors settled out of court a class action suit, which was brought against earlier models of its Explorer SUV- which were prone to flipping. Over one million drivers of the SUV claimed the car was prone to turning turtle due to its high centre of gravity, coupled with the tread separation of the car's tyres. Tread separation is the result of the plies of a tyre - which is built with different layers - separating from one another. More than 250 people were killed and hundreds more injured in accidents involving the damaged tyres.