Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 358 posts

Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds

#101

Post by silisili »

somerandomqaguy wrote: post #86
olyjohn wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't ignore that every other person also has moved from driving cars to crossovers that offer no actual advantages over a regular car. Most people want to sit high, and that's what sells crossovers. The hoods are higher in them too and we can't discount this and blame it all on big trucks.

...what? If you've got back, hip, knee, or ankle problems, then trying to bend down into a low car is an undignified exercise at best, a struggle at worst. A CUV doesn't have that problem, you just sit into it like a chair. For a family with young children, securing child seats into a CUV involves a lot less bending over then in lower car. Bear in mind that many child seats are 40 lbs. If you live in a snowy area, th…

First thing I thought of. I had to move from a sedans to crossover/small SUV when my knees couldn't take getting in and out anymore.

I'm sure that's not the case for everyone, or even most people, but who am I to gatekeep.

Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds

#102

Post by [deleted] »

sickofparadox wrote: post #36
baggachipz wrote: post #6

Yeah but the drivers get to cosplay as Rugged Men™. The only thing that'll reverse the trend and stop this from getting worse will be government regulation. Then come the cries of "Now they're taking our trucks!"

It's government regulations that made trucks get this big, most people simply buy what is available in the form factor they like. Trucks are the most popular form factor in the United States (with pickups a close second)[1], and the manufacturers keep making the cars bigger because of the poorly written CAFE laws[2]. I, and I suspect most Americans with pickups, would prefer to purchase one the size of a '90s F-150 a…

[deleted]

Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds

#103

Post by burnerburnson »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #68
beretguy wrote: post #28

Whoever injures - or knock on wood kills - somebody with a truck with such a high hood should serve a mandatory prison sentence.

I think it should depend on the circumstances. If the pedestrian is at fault, I think the individual, or their estate, should have to pay for the truck repairs and therapy for the driver.

I'd guess the majority of pedestrians who are at fault for accidents are vagrants who can't or won't pay for any damage they cause.

I don't see well-to-do businessmen jumping into the road all that often, but I do see deadbeat beggars do it every day.

Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds

#104

Post by Jayakumark »

stefan_ wrote: post #73
tasty_freeze wrote: post #55

There is another angle here besides the immediate impact (pun intended) of getting hit by a big truck. I'm nearly 60, but I can remember what it was like learning to drive back in 1980. Before SUVs and huge pickup trucks became common, and before tinting windows to near opacity became a thing, it was possible to see road conditions three cars ahead -- you simply looked through the windows of the car or cars in front…

Streets haven't gotten wider since then either. Maybe less of a problem in the US where everything is planned around humongous fire trucks, but in the EU if you had a street that could easily accommodate two moving lanes with parking on either side, that has basically narrowed down to one moving lane. Also reminds me of all the regulation around car lights - you literally specified the beam pattern light intensity co…

To add to it, they should put a limit on Lumens on Headlight something like not to exceed 2000 lumens, Also its temperature should be 3000k range like old cars but new ones are like 8000k. yesterday night - saw a light that must be atleast 20000 lumens its like watching sun, cant see anything for a few seconds.

Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds

#105

Post by axus »

alan-hn wrote: post #19
Swizec wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Could that be because for these machines, the pedestrian deaths are usually members of the tractor drivers' family I have a different guess after seeing tractors in use as a kid: Driving tractors is a high precision affair. You're moving around expensive equipment that you don't want to bump. You're plowing next to all sorts of hazards you don't want to fall into. You have to park within an inch of attachments befo…

One could say that navigating a large vehicle through streets populated by humans should be considered a high precision affair, or is the difference expensive equipment vs human lives?

I try not to get within 6 feet of a human in my car, let alone 6 inches.

Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds

#106

Post by wharvle »

hwillis wrote: post #92
wharvle wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows and front/back windshields are way smaller now, too. It's like we're all driving around looking out of tank-viewport-slits. (I'm sure there are exceptions in some models—I drove a buddy's Jeep-truck the other day and the unusually-good-by-modern-standards visibility nearly turned me into a Jeep guy on the spot—but that's the trend)

Hmm. I'm not sure how true that is, but that might be a perception thing because hoods have gotten longer and windshields have gotten more slanted. Being farther from the front of the car/windshield makes your view angle smaller even if the height of the window hasn't changed. Surprisingly, sloped windows are more of a safety thing than a fuel efficiency or aerodynamics thing. If the windshield is too sloped, it acts…

OK, the glass may or may not be smaller on the windshield and rear (I haven't measured, and yeah, a greater slant could be the mechanism, not less glass) but the viewable area is smaller.

Side windows are 100% for-sure smaller, because all the structures around them have gotten much thicker.

Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds

#107

Post by BobaFloutist »

burnerburnson wrote: post #90
tasty_freeze wrote: post #55

There is another angle here besides the immediate impact (pun intended) of getting hit by a big truck. I'm nearly 60, but I can remember what it was like learning to drive back in 1980. Before SUVs and huge pickup trucks became common, and before tinting windows to near opacity became a thing, it was possible to see road conditions three cars ahead -- you simply looked through the windows of the car or cars in front…

I regularly pass people on the right and then cut them off getting back into the left lane just so that I don't have to be stuck behind someone I can't see around. The tinted front/rear windows really piss me off because they make my drive more dangerous for very little reason. I'd make them illegal if it were up to me.

>I'd make them illegal if it were up to me.

They mostly are (at least the front windshield is), it's just not really enforced.

Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds

#108

Post by mensetmanusman »

alistairSH wrote: post #64
cbondurant wrote: post #34

the current pavement princess trends have left me doubting that any more regulation of any kind will happen in the US.

Not just the pavement princess stuff - Congress is simply doing less period.[1] Through most of the 20th century, 1000+ laws/year was common. Since 2000, that's dropped to 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_...

Pages of laws passed is a better metric as the laws have become more bundled due to partisanship.

Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds

#109

Post by BobaFloutist »

jetrink wrote: post #54

My proposed regulation is to introduce a hazardous vehicle license for large trucks and SUVs. Everyone is automatically granted one alongside their normal drivers license, but if you're caught driving recklessly (weaving through traffic on the highway, aggressively tailgating, speeding through residential or urban areas), you lose it and you have to drive a normal-sized car. Perhaps there's a way to earn it back thro…

Just require a class A/B license to drive anything above...I don't know, 4000lbs? Exclude batteries from the weight if that becomes a problem for electric cars.

Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds

#110

Post by alan-hn »

axus wrote: post #105
alan-hn wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One could say that navigating a large vehicle through streets populated by humans should be considered a high precision affair, or is the difference expensive equipment vs human lives?

I try not to get within 6 feet of a human in my car, let alone 6 inches.

It can be difficult to manage when you can't see them over your hood
Post reply on HN