<story><title>Why are cars killing more pedestrians?</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/03/collision-course-pedestrian-deaths-rising-driverless-cars</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>caconym_</author><text>&amp;gt; From other statistics I&amp;#x27;ve seen, the massive increase in SUV&amp;#x27;s is mentioned as the single largest factor.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve been saying for years that driving a large SUV or truck without a legitimate need for its capabilities is an antisocial act, for precisely this reason and also the fact that, all other things being equal, a vehicle (and its occupants) colliding with another vehicle will fare worse the larger that other vehicle is. Whether my own assumptions were right or wrong, I&amp;#x27;m glad we&amp;#x27;re finally starting to talk about this. For a long time, it seemed to be a huge blind spot in existing analyses of injurious&amp;#x2F;fatal road accidents.&lt;p&gt;It makes me absolutely livid when I walk past a shiny new lifted pickup with an empty bed and my head is just about level with the front of the hood. How have we grown to accept these things driving around on public roads with no higher bar to entry than that required to drive a Geo Metro?</text></item><item><author>crazygringo</author><text>According to the article, your theory is simple yet wrong:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Here is what the frustrated safety experts will tell you: Americans are &lt;i&gt;driving more than ever&lt;/i&gt;, more than residents of any other country. More of them than ever are living in cities and out in urban sprawl; a growing number of pedestrian fatalities occur on the &lt;i&gt;fringes of cities&lt;/i&gt;, where high-volume, high-speed roads exist in close proximity to the places where people live, work, and shop. &lt;i&gt;Speed limits have increased&lt;/i&gt; across the country over the past 20 years, despite robust evidence that even slight increases in speed dramatically increase the likelihood of killing pedestrians (car passengers, too – but the increase is not as steep, thanks to improvements in the design of car frames, airbags and seatbelts). American road engineers tend to assume people will speed, and so &lt;i&gt;design roads to accommodate speeding&lt;/i&gt;; this, in turn, facilitates more speeding, which soon enough makes higher speed limits feel reasonable. And more Americans than ever are zipping around in &lt;i&gt;SUVs and pickup trucks&lt;/i&gt;, which, thanks to their height, weight and shape are &lt;i&gt;between two and three times more likely to kill people they hit&lt;/i&gt;. [emphasis added]&lt;p&gt;From other statistics I&amp;#x27;ve seen, the massive increase in SUV&amp;#x27;s is mentioned as the single largest factor.&lt;p&gt;Indeed, the article directly refutes your theory:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Ask a room full of safety experts about smartphones and you will get a mix of resignation, bemusement and contempt. “I tend not to buy the smartphone distraction stuff,” says Garrick, echoing nearly identical comments from just about everyone I talked to. “To me, it reads as shoving aside actually dealing with the relevant issues.” What particularly bothers him, he says, is &lt;i&gt;how poorly thought out the distraction discourse tends to be. In the UK, Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Austria and Iceland, for example, pedestrian deaths occur at a per capita rate roughly half of America’s, or lower. Are we really to believe that the citizens of these countries are 50% less susceptible than Americans to distraction, by their phones or anything else?&lt;/i&gt; ... “All this talk about pedestrian distraction, driver distraction? It’s such a distraction,” says Ben Welle of the World Resource Institute for Sustainable Cities. “It puts all the responsibility on individuals, and none on the environment they operate in.” [emphasis added]</text></item><item><author>gerbilly</author><text>Texting while driving, that&amp;#x27;s why.&lt;p&gt;From here I sit on the porch, I can see that about 2&amp;#x2F;3 of drivers text while driving.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m convinced that no amount of campaigning, punishment, or scare tactics will suffice to stop it.&lt;p&gt;It is just how driving is done nowadays, and everyone feels they can do it safely (but they can&amp;#x27;t).&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s no going back so if you&amp;#x27;re on a bike, or a pedestrian, watch out!&lt;p&gt;Driving is sacred in our societies.  Whenever a driver kills a pedestrian or a cyclist in my town, there aren&amp;#x27;t even any charges laid 99% of the time.&lt;p&gt;Personally I think smartphones have been a net loss to society, for this and many other reasons.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>JoBrad</author><text>I think we need another license class for vehicles larger than your average 4-door sedan (or saloon, in the UK). An F-150, Highlander, or Suburban drive and handle appreciably different than the Civic or Accord-sized vehicle that most drivers-ed classes use. And it shows when you see how people park or drive these larger vehicles in crowded areas. We’ve essentially discounted the increase in vehicle size to whether you can get financing for it, with no regard to your ability to drive it.</text></comment>
<story><title>Why are cars killing more pedestrians?</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/03/collision-course-pedestrian-deaths-rising-driverless-cars</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>caconym_</author><text>&amp;gt; From other statistics I&amp;#x27;ve seen, the massive increase in SUV&amp;#x27;s is mentioned as the single largest factor.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve been saying for years that driving a large SUV or truck without a legitimate need for its capabilities is an antisocial act, for precisely this reason and also the fact that, all other things being equal, a vehicle (and its occupants) colliding with another vehicle will fare worse the larger that other vehicle is. Whether my own assumptions were right or wrong, I&amp;#x27;m glad we&amp;#x27;re finally starting to talk about this. For a long time, it seemed to be a huge blind spot in existing analyses of injurious&amp;#x2F;fatal road accidents.&lt;p&gt;It makes me absolutely livid when I walk past a shiny new lifted pickup with an empty bed and my head is just about level with the front of the hood. How have we grown to accept these things driving around on public roads with no higher bar to entry than that required to drive a Geo Metro?</text></item><item><author>crazygringo</author><text>According to the article, your theory is simple yet wrong:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Here is what the frustrated safety experts will tell you: Americans are &lt;i&gt;driving more than ever&lt;/i&gt;, more than residents of any other country. More of them than ever are living in cities and out in urban sprawl; a growing number of pedestrian fatalities occur on the &lt;i&gt;fringes of cities&lt;/i&gt;, where high-volume, high-speed roads exist in close proximity to the places where people live, work, and shop. &lt;i&gt;Speed limits have increased&lt;/i&gt; across the country over the past 20 years, despite robust evidence that even slight increases in speed dramatically increase the likelihood of killing pedestrians (car passengers, too – but the increase is not as steep, thanks to improvements in the design of car frames, airbags and seatbelts). American road engineers tend to assume people will speed, and so &lt;i&gt;design roads to accommodate speeding&lt;/i&gt;; this, in turn, facilitates more speeding, which soon enough makes higher speed limits feel reasonable. And more Americans than ever are zipping around in &lt;i&gt;SUVs and pickup trucks&lt;/i&gt;, which, thanks to their height, weight and shape are &lt;i&gt;between two and three times more likely to kill people they hit&lt;/i&gt;. [emphasis added]&lt;p&gt;From other statistics I&amp;#x27;ve seen, the massive increase in SUV&amp;#x27;s is mentioned as the single largest factor.&lt;p&gt;Indeed, the article directly refutes your theory:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Ask a room full of safety experts about smartphones and you will get a mix of resignation, bemusement and contempt. “I tend not to buy the smartphone distraction stuff,” says Garrick, echoing nearly identical comments from just about everyone I talked to. “To me, it reads as shoving aside actually dealing with the relevant issues.” What particularly bothers him, he says, is &lt;i&gt;how poorly thought out the distraction discourse tends to be. In the UK, Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Austria and Iceland, for example, pedestrian deaths occur at a per capita rate roughly half of America’s, or lower. Are we really to believe that the citizens of these countries are 50% less susceptible than Americans to distraction, by their phones or anything else?&lt;/i&gt; ... “All this talk about pedestrian distraction, driver distraction? It’s such a distraction,” says Ben Welle of the World Resource Institute for Sustainable Cities. “It puts all the responsibility on individuals, and none on the environment they operate in.” [emphasis added]</text></item><item><author>gerbilly</author><text>Texting while driving, that&amp;#x27;s why.&lt;p&gt;From here I sit on the porch, I can see that about 2&amp;#x2F;3 of drivers text while driving.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m convinced that no amount of campaigning, punishment, or scare tactics will suffice to stop it.&lt;p&gt;It is just how driving is done nowadays, and everyone feels they can do it safely (but they can&amp;#x27;t).&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s no going back so if you&amp;#x27;re on a bike, or a pedestrian, watch out!&lt;p&gt;Driving is sacred in our societies.  Whenever a driver kills a pedestrian or a cyclist in my town, there aren&amp;#x27;t even any charges laid 99% of the time.&lt;p&gt;Personally I think smartphones have been a net loss to society, for this and many other reasons.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>black6</author><text>I see this all the time where I live, and it drives me insane. Truck culture is a waste of resources. What causes someone to pay $$$$ to decrease the efficiency of their vehicle? And don’t even get me started on soft rubber mud tires that only see pavement...&lt;p&gt;Obligatory MMM article:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.mrmoneymustache.com&amp;#x2F;2015&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;28&amp;#x2F;what-does-your-work-truck-say-about-you&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.mrmoneymustache.com&amp;#x2F;2015&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;28&amp;#x2F;what-does-your-wor...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>