The rise of larger vehicles like SUVs and pickup trucks, with their taller hoods and larger blind zones, has contributed to a 75% increase in pedestrian and cyclist deaths since 2009.
Until we design better streets and ban these vehicles, people outside these vehicles will keep dying.
Banning them would be next to impossible given the current government, but insurance companies should charge a lot more for models that have larger blindspots, because they are more likely to cause a crash.
Rise of? Pickup trucks were a thing when I was a kid.
They weren't as big as some of the pickups I see these days, though.
@argv_minus_one @davidho I guess it also wasn't nearly as common to drive a pickup for no reason when a normal car would also do.
(Certainly the case in my European perspective, and the monster SUVs are unfortunately on the rise here too (I have doubts on their road legality))
@callisto @argv_minus_one @davidho
The size difference is exaggerated to those of the 1970s.
I was a ten year old when the K1500 was new.
You also have to remember that large cars like the 1979 Cadillac Deville is almost identical in length to that 2018 Silverado, and that was considerably downsized from earlier models.
The big difference in pickups happened in the late 1950s.
In the 1970s, pickups, vans and off-road machines combined made up 25-30% of the market, with commercial buyers taking the largest chunk of them.
Now they make up well over 60% of the market depending on how CUVs are classified.
@Sir_Osis_of_Liver @argv_minus_one @davidho What year are those trucks? The red one looks 1990s-2000s to me, and the grey one looks like 2010s?
(Also, vehicle length and width have zero to do with the driver's ability to see things shorter than the nose height like children, wheelchair users, bicyclists and dogs.)
@callisto @argv_minus_one @davidho
1977 for the red truck, 2018 for the grey one.
There is a noticeable increase in the hood height between them, but it's not exactly night and day difference.
@davidho any analysis of American pedestrian deaths should include the history that it always has been intentional.
1930s campaigns pushed people into streets wearing clown costumes and then ran them over as a very loud warning to buy big cars or be murdered (e.g. racist jaywalk laws). since the 1970s attempts to disrupt the KKK (e.g. famous Blues Brothers bridge scene), they have campaigned to design/use cars as weapons.
https://www.flyingpenguin.com/pedestrian-kill-bills-are-racist/
@phl @davidho
Um. Let me get this clear, are you saying that safety standards are forcing us all to buy SUV's?
Is this your final answer? It has nothing to do with greed in the auto industry and corruption in congress? Broken vehicle classification rules that evade emissions standards? I could go on...
@davidho Even worse, people buy those higher hood trucks specifically because they want to run people over. Florida says that you can legally run over protesters.
The very definition of a lost nation.
Always carry “grenades”
@Quoidian @davidho But that's any road at all except super limited access highways (and in remote areas, nonmotorized traffic is allowed on those as well, as the only through roads in the area).
Yes limiting motorized vehicles to bicycle speed would dramatically reduce the damage caused in a crash, but I doubt many people would accept such a drastic limitation.
@Quoidian @davidho 40 kph isn't 30 kph (among other things, it's faster than most people can ride a bicycle for very long), & it's also not the only speed limit on surface roads. I've been on public roads in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland & the Netherlands, and they all have a range of speed limits on both surface roads and highways, same as in the USA.
If you told me it's different in Asia, I wouldn't have a basis for disagreement, but I know what it is in western Europe.
@davidho While I was already very aware of the issue, the interactive graphics in the article did a particularly good job at illustrating how the blind spots have really grown compared to earlier versions of pickup trucks.
Those monstrosities shouldn't be allowed anywhere near pedestrians.
We are The Tyre Extinguishers.
We are people from all walks of life with one aim: To make it impossible to own a huge polluting 4x4 in the world’s urban areas. We are defending ourselves against climate change, air pollution and unsafe drivers.
@davidho All I want is a nice, normal sized EV with AWD. There had been public presentation reasons I wanted a US badge, but those have dissipated and I'd take anything now.
But I'm not getting a Tesla, and those aren't UAW built anyway.
I was *this close* to a new Chevy Bolt until a bit of snow reminded me that I don't get to my house and back without AWD when there's snow or mud.
Everything else has a nose that comes up to my chest and I'm not buying one.
@callisto
When I hear AWD and snow in the same sentence, Volvo is the brand that springs to mind.
Who could be better at making cars for snow than Sweden? Well, I guess Canada or Greenland, but as far as I know, they don't make a lot of cars.
@leeloo Just looked, their only EVs are SUVs. No normal sized cars, not even a normal wagon.
A friend just got her first electric Volvo and loves it, but it's much bigger than anything I'd consider. Especially in a whole thread about how personal motorized vehicles have got WAY too big.
My hairstylist has had an electric Mustang for about a year and also loves it. It's about the smallest EV made in the USA excluding Tesla .. .and it's way too big. That's why I was so eager for the Bolt. Sigh.
@leeloo Yikes. Yeah, no.
Also, as expected: "UPDATE 9/24/25: A Volvo spokesperson has confirmed that the ES90 is no longer expected to be sold in the United States as a result of the import tariffs." https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a64037883/2026-volvo-es90-revealed/
@adamek @davidho Thanks - smaller than the ginormous previous Rivians at least, can't find the hood height but with a flat nose I doubt it's much shorter than its big sisters.
I've resigned myself to hanging on to my '19 Prius for the remainder of my life. It's been a long time since I kept a vehicle past 100K (which it already is), but I doubt I have enough remaining time to take it over 130K.
@andyw350 @adamek @davidho I'd hate to spend that kind of money for a vehicle and find out one February that it won't get up my lane in 4" of slush.
And once again ... those vehicles are way too big. I'm 5'3" and I won't drive anything with a nose height higher than mid-chest, I just won't :-/
Same friend's proximity sensors failed a couple of months ago & he backed into another car as a result. I'm not taking that chance when it's a child I can't see.
A quick solution could be to reduce the speed of this vehicles by law to a value which equals the danger to the cars with lower hoods.
How about to zero? Zero is a good number.
Maybe, but unlikely.
As someone with livestock and horses, I need one of these heavy duty pickup trucks. Banning them is not a viable solution.
Better design might work, but raising costs for ranchers and farmers by raising insurance rates just because we drive a truck, regardless of how safe a driver we are (I have never been in any kind of accident with my truck*), is not a good answer.
*When I was much younger, I was in one accident back when I drove a sedan.
I'm assuming that heavy duty trucks (which are different than your average pickup truck) weren't as tall back then (I'm not that old and didn't buy a pickup until Hubby and I needed one).
Why manufacturers decided trucks needed to be as tall as they are now is a mystery. I'm not sure how height relates to hauling/towing capacity.
@davidho Article starts by saying ”The surge in pedestrian deaths has baffled researchers. ”
Actually, researchers are not baffled, because they were the ones behind making cars less dangerous to pedestrians way back in the 1980s. But nice that NYT is educating the public about basic physics and safety.
@davidho “These should be banned.” Look I hate involuntarily being in a monster truck rally as much as the next guy, BUT. The truck on the right exists because its smaller, more efficient precursor on the left effectively *was* banned.
David, thank you for sharing this article. I think its authors do its readers some disservice however by not asking people inside the industry, or just some automotive journalist WHY light-duty trucks have become so much larger since 2011. And far from saying ‘We’re only focusing on the safety implications here,’ they go out of their way to imply that the size increase is a market response to consumer demand.
@davidsudweeks This might possibly influence the manufacturer preference for a larger length and width of a vehicle. Not the height.
Seems like increased size is driven mostly by testosterone based marketing. And then its "But honey, we need a tank to keep our kids safe"
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