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…
Non-trucks attempting a right-turn-on-red next to trucks are also more likely to hit a pedestrian, though if they are driving in a sane manner, it's unlikely to be fatal. I cannot see a pedestrian over the hood of a truck stopped just short of the crosswalk until my bumper is already well into the crosswalk.
Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
131–140 of 358 posts
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
The cybertruck has not been shown to have lower pedestrian safety than other trucks. Ironically, you’re commenting on an article about higher hoods, and the CT has one of the lowest hoods among trucks on the market.
The Cybetruck's obnoxious hood height[0] and curb weight[1] all but guarantees that it's dangerous for pedestrians. Not that singling out Cybetruck is completely fair, all large EVs are strictly worse for pedestrian safety due to their weight. [0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2023/12/05/with-litt... [1] https://www.autoweek.com/news/a46013576/tesla-cybertruck-spe...
It's also lower than all of them.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a46031051/2024-tesla-cyber...
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#133I honestly do not understand, why regulators have not mandated limits on front dead angles (space occluded from view by the hood) and max vehicle hood hight by now. Well, I understand why it hasn't happened in the U.S. (how could any regulator curtail the manhood of the truck aficionados?), but in the E.U. regulators usually are more on top of these things.
Are you saying that trucks with high hoods are prohibited in the EU?
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#134There are definitely polls that show women find men in trucks more attractive in the US than, say, vans. If you want to signal wealth and refinement get a luxury vehicle. If you want to signal utility and masculinity get a truck.
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#135Earlier 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.
Ease of entry alone, especially for the elderly or with young children, is an incredible advantage. What it sounds like is that crossovers don't offer advantages that appeal to you.
What it sounds like, is that you didn't actually shop very hard for the right vehicle that actually has those advantages.
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
TBF Trucks and SUVs are relatively easier to drive in certain regards. Such as being able to see over parked traffic when making a turn. And I've found driving taller vehicles more comfortable for my back coincidentally.
in no world does having a higher center of gravity, and much higher mass make a car easier to drive. i find them painful to drive because i feel so unstable and slow.
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
Vans are not better for goods as a universal rule, they are better for certain classes of goods. I do not want a yard of manure/dirt/gravel dumped in my van, but thats a common use of a pickup in my neck of the woods. Like extremely common. > Hong Kong Hot take: The Americas just aren't developed to the level of Eurasia, and we should stop pretending like they are.
I think this is an incentives game, Americans have much more land and money to pay for expensive development (like suburbs) that just do not make financial sense in the EU or Asia in general, as they either lack land or it would be too expensive to pay for the infrastructure needed to make it all work. I also haven't met an American that has been to a high quality of life and walkable city in the EU and didn't come b…
Then you haven’t met enough people. Lots of Americans, like me, visit those cities, enjoy our visit, and come back happy to live in suburbia with our big homes and yards. Those cities are great to visit, but I wouldn’t want to try to raise a family there.
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#138Earlier 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?
> is the difference expensive equipment vs human lives? The difference is in safety margins. You really shouldn't drive a vehicle to within 2cm of any object on public streets. Not even while parking. 0.5m (2ft) is about the closest you should ever drive your car to anything really. Whereas for a tractor getting within 2cm is normal operating procedure. You won't be able to grab a 500kg (1100lb) attachment and drag i…
I've lived in several US states and the law has always been to park less than a foot from the curb.
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm commenting on pedestrian safety & regulators absence. Sharp edges and rolled steel instead of crumple zones is absolutely a bad time if you're a pedestrian. High hoods isn't the only possible risk.
1) It seems you are confusing crumple zones (which the ct definitely has lol) with cushioning the impact for a pedestrian. 2) sure, but the only research we have says higher hood = much more deadly. Cybertruck has a lower hood with a better angle. So why single it out when the jury is out on what’s more important for safety
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#140My 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…
I like the spirit, but don't like the unintended consequence that it would create a stigma around sedans -- "oh, those are the cars for the bad drivers". We need to do something that makes SUV drivers feel ridiculous and humiliated. Or, failing that, just make it expensive: Weight and size dependent tolls, say (using the fourth power of weight, possibly, to match road wear equations?). Or just fewer lanes in which th…
1) We need to recognize that there's a wide variety of vehicles in the SUV category. Many of them have replaced (not supplemented, replaced, because they sell better and car companies are hyperoptimizing their profits like everyone else) old standards like station wagons and minivans in manufacturer lineups. Most of them do not have the stupidly-high hoods that this article is actually about: those are primarily on pickup trucks.
2) We need to recognize that, at least for some SUVs, there are genuine, non-overcompensating use cases. Like driving on snowy, icy winter roads in the northern US and all of Canada.
3) Having recognized these things, we need to make sure there is provision in place for the people who have actual needs these vehicles are fulfilling—whether because they fall into the smaller category of people who would always need these things, or because they fall into the much larger category of people who would have bought a minivan or station wagon in the '80s and '90s, but most of those have gone away—before we start treating them all like the worst members of the category.
Full disclosure: I drive a Subaru Outback. I drive it for three main reasons: it's extremely reliable, it has amazing cargo capacity (which I do use regularly), and its AWD is a godsend on the roads in upstate NY in the winter. (Is it possible to drive on these roads without it? Absolutely; I drove a Toyota Corolla for over a decade. But I am much less stressed with the AWD.) I just bought my second one, after shopping around extensively to find something that would fulfill my requirements, but get better gas mileage (which, to be fair, the Outback's is actually shockingly good for an SUV).
The Outback is also basically the shape of a station wagon. It does not have an unhealthily high hood. I honestly don't know how its weight compares to other non-SUVs, but my understanding is that right now, the heaviest cars are electric cars, so using weight alone is also not a great metric.
Ultimately, I think what people like you need to do is consider this question: Are you actually trying to solve a real problem with what cars are on the road? Or are you just looking for a socially-acceptable group of people to bully and be mean to? Because your proposals sound a lot like they're aimed at the latter, and very little like they'd be effective at the former.