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75% More Pedestrians Have Been Killed Since 2009. Giant Trucks and SUVs Are Why (www.thedrive.com)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 2 points 2 months ago (4 children)

The kinetic energy difference between a 180 pound person and a 3,000 pound vehicle or a 6,000 pound vehicle is completely irrelevant. The height of impact from a truck or suv is what makes it worse.

Either way, it's surely more like 90% cell phones distracting drivers than it is vehicle type.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    A 3,000 punt vehicle will have a lot less braking distance than a 6,000 pound one.

    A big vehicle like that has a lot more horizontal blind spot, it's been a major thing with drivers of those monstrosities literally not seeing kids, people in wheelchairs etc.

    Most people are out of their depths with such big vehicles in many ways, they should require a specific license because it's such a different thing compared to a normal sized car in so many ways.

    It's a real bad combination of way to big cars with all the negatives + phone and in car touch screen use. It's absolutely not 90% either of them, it's a combination.

    This is also mostly American, no other country has cars like that in those numbers (per capita), and Americans also have a higher phone usage while driving percentage than most of the world.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (2 children)

    I've been an EMT and firefighter for nearly 20 years, buddy. I'm on scene at these vehicle crashes. The drivers are usually so shaken by what's happened that they usually just straight up tell the truth if it to me. It's cell phones. It's almost always cell phones. "Texting spouse. Reading a text. Dropped my phone and was reaching for it. Changing songs on my phone. Just looked down at my phone for a moment. ".

    I'm literally there and have seen the change for 20 years. Personally watched it. It's cell phones. Not your little opinion based on nothing but your flawed thoughts.

    It's also almost never braking distance. All the bad wrecks and fatalities tend to never have much distance at all showing they applied brakes before contact. Bigger issue with suvs and trucks (aside from higher impact point I mentioned to begin with) in crashes is that they aren't as stable. Easier to roll over or lose control of them after jerking the steering wheel.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    I completely agree about the cause of the accident, but there is actually a big correlation between vehicle height and accident mortality, the NYT published this report recently about it.

    So it seems @9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works was actually correct and it's both.

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