Can American Cars Be Made Safer for Pedestrians?
Can American Cars Be Made Safer for Pedestrians?
Let's legislate gigantic SUVs and pickups out of existence.
Can American Cars Be Made Safer for Pedestrians? | Jake Blumgart looks into the dangers inherent in huge SUVs and trucks:
Between 2009 and 2019, total driving miles increased by 10 percent while pedestrian deaths in the U.S. jumped by 50 percent. It’s since only grown worse, with more pedestrians dying in 2020 than 2019 despite a decline in vehicle miles driven. But even before the pandemic-related surge in reckless driving, American roads have been getting more dangerous for non-drivers in part because of the very vehicle type that struck Daniels down.
Numerous studies and investigations have shown that SUVs and other light trucks are far deadlier for those outside the vehicle than sedans. This isn’t a novel finding: Almost 20 years ago, researchers showed that SUVs were more than twice as likely to kill pedestrians as a normal sedan.
For decades, American vehicles have been growing heavier and taller, but the trend has accelerated over the last decade. In 2016, Fiat Chrysler announced they would abandon the sedan market, while in 2020 Ford decided to no longer sell them in the U.S. either. SUVs and trucks have outsold normal passenger vehicles every year since 2018. As Vice News recently showed, American cars are getting almost as big as World War II tanks.
American cars are getting almost as big as World War II tanks.
Unlike the European Union or Japan, the U.S. has no regulations that require automakers to consider the safety of anyone but the consumer. Tucked away in last year’s infrastructure law, however, is a provision that could require a rating system that includes the safety of those outside the vehicle. It also calls for the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to promulgate new, and unspecified, regulations to tweak hoods and bumpers to be safer for pedestrians.
This rare moment of reform at the federal level also gives local and state authorities an opportunity to reflect on what they can do to stem pedestrian crashes. New York City, let alone Ontario County, can’t regulate car companies. But there are changes that can be made to the streets of cities and towns that can stem the carnage.
Otherwise, it will be left to personal responsibility. As more Americans drive vehicles akin to zippy Sherman tanks, transportation experts say that in too many cases that will not be enough._
A rare bit of good news:
Unlike the European Union or Japan, the U.S. has no regulations that require automakers to consider the safety of anyone but the consumer. Tucked away in last year’s infrastructure law, however, is a provision that could require a rating system that includes the safety of those outside the vehicle. It also calls for the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to promulgate new, and unspecified, regulations to tweak hoods and bumpers to be safer for pedestrians.
And the daily realities? Drivers of these ‘tanks’ can’t see pedestrians in crosswalks:
As passenger vehicles have become taller and larger, it also becomes harder for drivers to see people in front of their vehicles. Children, those using wheelchairs, and even average size adults can be obscured by a towering hood.
Jed Weeks, a bicycle advocate in Baltimore, captured an adult man being hit by a slowly turning pickup truck that appeared to have been unable to see him as he used a crosswalk.
Weeks says the driver wasn’t doing anything wrong, but the design of his vehicle made it hard to see what was directly in front of the truck. In this case, the driver was hauling construction equipment and a giant truck was useful for his work. But increasingly, this kind of vehicle is crowding out other, safer vehicles and many people who aren’t in construction or agriculture are using them.
“A lot of these medium to heavy duty pickup trucks are being purchased by people that are not fully using their capabilities and are just driving alone to work,” says Weeks. “That design is obviously super dangerous if those vehicles are increasingly used in urban and suburban areas as commuter vehicles instead of being used as work trucks.”
We need to legislate these monster vehicles out of existence.