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Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds

arstechnica.com

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

#241

Post by cyckl »

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…

This is one of the reasons I daily drive a 1990 BMW 325i—the visibility is just unparalleled.

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

#242

Post by ryandrake »

Zancarius wrote: post #172
stefan_ wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Great, now everyone in a sedan is being blinded by all sorts of SUVs and trucks. Utter failure. I drive a truck and live in a mountainous area. Trust me, it's not just sedans. Nearly everyone drives around with their brights on and it seems they no longer bother to turn them down when approaching traffic (automatic dimming features don't work well up here). Consequently, night time driving is dangerous. I don't kno…

I rode with a work acquaintance at night once, and noticed he kept his high beams on the whole time, despite oncoming traffic. I eventually said something, like shouldn't you dim your lights when there's someone oncoming? He looked at me like I had antlers growing out of my forehead. "Duh... The high beams are brighter and let me see better." That's the bottom line: Not even a thought about other drivers. And these people are everywhere.

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

#243

Post by porkbeer »

cyckl wrote: post #241
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…

This is one of the reasons I daily drive a 1990 BMW 325i—the visibility is just unparalleled.

Same with most 90s cars. My old honda is practically a greenhouse, and was ctitisized for its c pillar at the time.

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

#244

Post by porkbeer »

dcotter wrote: post #164
burnerburnson wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Know what's already illegal? Passing on the right: > Laws that cover passing when crossing the centerline of the roadway is not required (where there are multiple lanes in the same direction), often say something like this: > The driver of a vehicle overtaking another vehicle proceeding in the same direction shall pass to the left thereof at a safe distance and shall not again drive to the right side of the roadway u…

Passing on the right is legal in Most states, including mine. Goung slow in the left lane however, is a crime.

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

#245

Post by porkbeer »

BobaFloutist wrote: post #109
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.

Why exclude ecars? They are just as dangerous.

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

#246

Post by TacticalCoder »

They're also do not seem aerodynamic. Note that many cars now have features meant to protect pedestrians a bit if there's an impact: the bonnet shall rise with springs, instantly (not unlike an airbag) and then the springs shall absorb the impact a bit. Some bonnet even have airbag outside the car that are supposed to protect pedestrians.

But, yup, these huge, tall, flat hoods don't seem that great.

Drive a Porsche guys, not a RAM ; )

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

#247

Post by porkbeer »

skyyler wrote: post #76
closewith wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone call an SUV a truck? Surely pickups are trucks.

According to chrysler, the PT Cruiser was a "light truck". I do think it's common for people to call large SUVs like the Ford Excursion "trucks".

They were only classed as trucks because they could not pass emmissions otherwise. A great example of the truck laws perverse incentives to automakers.

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

#248

Post by punkybr3wster »

actionfromafar wrote: post #200
punkybr3wster wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the one time I always pull out my “Thanks Obama!” without being ironic.

Yes, clearly the US needed less sedans and more F150s.

Quite the opposite. Getting rid of small truck classifications ballooned the size of suvs and pickup trucks which is partially why we are in the mess we are in. There just aren’t small trucks anymore because of the changes.

Few people need the monster suvs and pickup trucks that are on the roads these days.

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

#249

Post by shiroiuma »

filoleg wrote: post #150
matsemann wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every year, loads of kids die because a family member runs over them by accident in the driveway, a parking lot etc. With these huge cars, you don't properly see around them, and 360 cameras and sensors will not make up for all of that. So yeah, "safety".

A lot of those car manufacturers just don’t care, and it isn’t exclusive to large cars either (though the damage they can do is obviously much higher, making them more dangerous to pedestrians). I like sports cars, so I tried test driving a Camaro about 5 years ago. You would think that visibility on a rather small and fast 2-seater would be at least better than on an average SUV. It was singularly the worst car I’ve…

I got to ride as passenger in someone's new Camaro at about that time, and I fully agree: the visibility was absolutely horrendous. I couldn't believe it. How is such a vehicle legal to drive? Does the US not have any kind of auto regulations governing visibility at all?

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

#250

Post by adamredwoods »

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…

Yes.

I've always wondered if a larger vehicle hit a smaller vehicle, can they sue the larger vehicle for knowing that it could possibly inflict more damage to the smaller car? In other words, more care to avoid collisions?

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