The US government is completely MIA on this issue. There’s no reason people need these monster trucks to drive to and from their job every day or to and from the grocery store.
Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
261–270 of 358 posts
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#262Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
Trucks have a 25% import tax in the US and cars don't since the 1960. US domestic vehicle manufacturers have spent many decades to convince people to buy trucks and SUVs because of this fact. Google "chicken tax". Large station wagons used to be quite popular in the 1960's
It's not just because of this fact. It's also because trucks and SUVs are exempted from fuel efficiency standards that apply to sedans. So out sedans go, Ford doesn't even bother with them at all anymore. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/04/07/trucks-ou...
That is another reason. But the smallest trucks were put in the car efficiency standards. There used to be a Ford F100. Full size truck but lighter load capacity. RIP. Tax gas if you want people to burn less of it.
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Trucks sure are popular, but gov't regulations didn't "make" them big. Given the popularity of F-250s / 2500s, which hardly meet any CAFE standard, the truckers don't yearn for the Ranger. They like 12mpg turbo diesel. We could repeal CAFE, get Ford to make them, but they still wouldn't sell. Tacoma loyalists keep the mid-size truck alive, but they're just a small fraction of 1500/2500 buyers. People like big trucks,…
Why do people like big trucks? Marketing works. Since there has been a 25% import tax on trucks (and SUVs) since the 1960's and not on cars, domestic manufacturers have been trying to get more and more people to buy them instead of cars. Seems to have worked.
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you’re short, you prefer a vehicle which elevates your view.
If you're short, you can't see a damn thing over the hood of those vehicles. An entire class of schoolchildren could be standing right in front of your vehicle and you wouldn't even notice.
>An entire class of schoolchildren could be standing right in front of your vehicle and you wouldn't even notice.
This sounds like hyperbole but is actually not hyperbole - https://youtu.be/NDH3FDfVQl0?t=180
I'm a short woman and drive a sedan.
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
With my previous car, I never remember having visibility issues. I then got a 2013. The pillars aie ierfect pedestian blockerr, especially when making turns. I don't see how me doing better in a roll over is better than me running someone over.
I've noticed this in the cars I've had over the past 15 years or so too. We hit a deer two years ago because it was moving perfectly in time with the side curtain airbag laden support column in my field of view. I barely saw it when I hit it even! I understand that rillover accidents have lead to these supports being thicker, but why was the solution not to lower the center of gravity on cars so they are less prone t…
FWIW that phenomenon is a geometry thing, not just a fluke. If you are on a collision course with an obstacle at constant speed, than the angle remains constant (as the configuration preserves congruent triangles until impact) and the obstacle can easily remain invisible for a long time, until impact, hiding behind the pillars or even just hidden by the blind spot in your eye if you haven’t moved your head
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#267Earlier 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.
Tinted front windshields are illegal in California, among other states, fwiw. The law just isn’t enforced, just like modded exhaust, and residential speed limits … and passing on the right.
I hate this so much around me in Massachusetts. Makes it impossible to know what the driver is going to do at an intersection when I can’t seem them. Often they resort to rolling down their window to be able to politely gesture at me, which would not be necessary if I could see them in the first place as should be legally required
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
If we're going to try to "punish" SUV drivers for driving those vehicles, then I think we need to both recognize and do some things: 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 i…
> We need to recognize that, at least for some SUVs, there are genuine, non-overcompensating use cases. For the things I think of as SUVs, I don't think there is any legitimate use case to be honest. Big SUVs often have less interior room than a sedan or station wagon so interior room is not a use case. They have way less cargo capacity than a pickup so that's not a use case either. They fit less people than a van, s…
A friend has a recent model outback. Compared the the outbacks of 20 years ago it seems huge. I didn’t believe him at first that it was an outback.
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
Liability already exists. what next?
No, not effectively. Drivers are given extreme deference by law enforcement and in lawsuits where it’s usually assumed that the victim was at fault unless video evidence exists and is immediately available, and concepts like contributory negligence are often used to reduce legal responsibility without regard for the relative damage levels. Insurance is required, but the coverage levels are low so it’s common for the…
But contributory negligence should never depend on the relative damage level.
If an accident had 10 or 1 million in damages, and was 80-20% why would the total ever matter?
I think your points about insurance are worth thinking about, minimum liability is lower than most expected earnings.
Re: Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
#270After the cybertruck my working assumption had been that US regulators had just given up on pedestrian safety.
I thought there were regulations against sharp angles on hoods. I assume cybertruck geometry does not violate, but those chamfers still look dangerous as hell.