The one thing that wasn’t mentioned is stopping distance of heavier vehicles is longer than lighter vehicles. So if a driver sees a pedestrian and brakes from the same speed and distance is a heavier vehicle they will strike the pedestrian at a higher speed with more mass. This trends up as the average weight of the vehicles trend up over time, which includes both SUVs/trucks and EVs. That would explain the increase in sedan deaths alongside other types of vehicles.
Vehicles aren’t actually much heavier than they have been for some time. If you look back through the most popular cars in the US by year, you’ll see a lot of land yachts. Every once in a while, you’ll see something actually small, like a VW Bug, but then it’s right back to big ass metal box.
The 1980s did see a lot of smaller cars, but it didn’t take long before the US went back to heft.
Conversely, tires and brakes have improved substantially over the years. The stopping distance of modern cars is actually very, very good. This is somewhat negated by a move towards low rolling resistance tires, particularly on hybrids and EVs.
The height issue on trucks is a way bigger problem. Easy for an adult to be hidden in front of it, to say nothing of kids.
Yeah even sedans have gotten substantially larger and heavier with time. So that could help explain that aspect of it.
i have a hybrid sedan. it weighs 5k lb. this is heavier than any of the 2500 and 3500 trucks i’ve owned (which, granted, are old, but still)
For some specific models like the Camry they did not significantly increase in weight but massively increased in lethality so it isn’t only weight, but weight is likely to be a part of it.
The other thing I would blame is how distracting so many car features are distracting now, and a lot of people become reliant on automated warnings that are going to alert them a lot later than if they were just paying attention. The screen in the console being flashy plus not really paying attention is quite the combo but if I understand correctly it wouldn’t get counted as distracted driving like with a phone.
The sidewalk is dangerous! Its much safer to walk in the road where the drivers can see you, so they can avoid you. /s
The real answer is people not paying attention or big truck didn’t see.
Because our entire lives are built around cars and not humans. Nobody gives a fuck about people in the US there is profit to be made.
I have some family that lives in Louisiana and every time I go I’m just horrified by the lack of public amenities. There are just no sidewalks in huge portions of that state. Just huge stretches of long winding two lane roads 45 mph weaving erratically through heavily forested areas with sharp turns and no visibility. No sidewalks on the side just steep drainage ditches. It’s a death trap. If you tried to walk on that road, especially at night, you’re asking to die. Nobody walks anywhere if they can avoid it. Every time I visit I am just blown away.
Despite this, the article suggests that nearly all of the increase in deadly accidents has come from urban roads.
If the roads are just as poorly designed as before, the increase has to originate elsewhere.
Which doesn’t mean that road design shouldn’t improve. :)
Specifically it looks like the biggest increases are on urban principal arterial and and urban minor arterial. I suspect larger vehicle sizes impact the trend on a broad scale, but consideration should be kept for increasing demand for urban arterial roads, and widening existing ones as metro areas continue to sprawl at more local scales.
I’d be very interested to see the data on pedestrian deaths by road type contrasted to road infrastructure growth by type. The fact that Rural Principal arterial deaths practically disappeared around the same time that urban arterial deaths started significantly increasing could speak to a change in road classification or area designation between rural and suburban.
Specifically Rural Arterial deaths decreased by 229 from 2014 to 2015. In the same year urban principal arterial increased by 231 Urban Minor Arterial increased by 136, and rural minor collector increased by 155. While it doesn’t account for the entirety of the increase, I think there’s enough there to look at how urban arterial roads are designed.
Edit: Added specificity.
I’m a european who has driven a lot in Texas plus some more around the gulf states.
Hoboy, where do I begin… Just to name a few off the top of my head:
- Headlights are lame. Even at night.
- TRUCKS
- Awful roads. Even Houston, a very car centric city, has roads made from a blend of 80% concrete and 20% potholes
- Speed limits seem to be more of a suggestion
- Tailgating culture
- Zipper merge, motherfuckers. Ever heard about it?
- Average vehicle standard is pretty shoddy. I’ve seen so much that wouldn’t be allowed on the road in Europe.
- Infrastructure and options for non-motorists is pretty much missing, leading to people walking around the feeders
- Police seem more concerned with enforcing stop signs than anything else traffic related. On that note, build some fucking roundabouts!
Because in a shock between the two steel will often be stronger than muscle and bones? /s… says I, a pedestrian that has not owned a car since the early 00s.
I know it’s sarcastic, but that is true universally and thus wouldn’t explain a local trend that deviates from the trends on a broader scale.
That said, I believe there was a study recently that looked at the trend in pedestrian/car fatalities, compared that to the percentage of vehicles on the road classified as trucks, and the relative size and mass of trucks over the years and found some striking correlations. I’ll see if I can dig up the study.
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