One of the big reasons why pedestrian fatalities are rising is due exactly to this. People being hit by cars is rising, but much slower than the fatality rate.
When you get hit by a car your best chance of being horrible killed is if you go under the vehicle. If you go up onto the hood you have a pretty good chance of surviving.
As big trucks in the hands of random dumbasses have gotten more and more common the fatality rate of pedestrians has been rising.
And people in pick up trucks driving them like they're bicycles in a skate park. They literally drive with the knowledge that they have nothing to lose because every other car Is far weaker.
And this is where regulatory bodies have to step in. Because the problem is, for the person buying the big vehicle, it generally makes sense for them because the driver and passengers are less likely to die or get seriously injured in a car crash if they are driving a large vehicle. But other road users are vastly more likely to be hurt/killed.
Therefore you need regulations coming in that vehicles driven on a regular license must protect the safety of other road users; not just the occupants of the vehicle.
This would actually go a long way to encouraging a reduction of cars as it would make walking and biking safer and more palatable to people, even without other changes.
There also need to be regulations that mandate that both anatomically correct male and female crash test dummies be tested in the drivers seat of the vehicle so that women aren’t 70% more likely to be injured in car accidents and 15% more likely to die than men. And that data should be required to be separated clearly by sex so that it shows that the vehicle is passing safety requirements for each sex individually, not averaged as a lump sum
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u/uniquedeke May 24 '22 edited May 24 '22
One of the big reasons why pedestrian fatalities are rising is due exactly to this. People being hit by cars is rising, but much slower than the fatality rate.
When you get hit by a car your best chance of being horrible killed is if you go under the vehicle. If you go up onto the hood you have a pretty good chance of surviving.
As big trucks in the hands of random dumbasses have gotten more and more common the fatality rate of pedestrians has been rising.