If you live outside of dense urban areas, there are usually NO sidewalks for pedestrians. Intersections often lack crosswalks, and the timing of traffic lights don't actually give people enough time to even cross the street. On top of that, with the advent of cell phones, people are more distracted while they are driving than ever before.

Correlate that with truck size.

Edit: can’t find a “size” chart, google and the rest are force feeding me “market share” as a size, not GVW or height. Height of hood could probably be part of the reason for increase in deaths, both driver visibility issues and more likely to cause head injury. However, a generic weight chart shows trucks growing in size more rapidly and overall weiging more than cars for quite a while.

Correlation != causation, but yeah. Might be a thing.

Terrible infrastructure decisions combined with massive tank sized vehicles going 40 mph down side streets while many are stressed out working 2 jobs looking down at their smart phone to see if they're going to be late. Surprised?

As a Miata driver in the deep south - it has never been more dangerous.

Feel like this will not be a popular take here, but hear me out: I blame safety regs. Crash test standards ensconce drivers deep within a dense cage of beefy reinforced pillars and crumple zones, while "driver assists" make them complacent and disengaged. Modern people movers have worse visibility than an old farm truck and massive touchscreens you have to use to operate the windshield wipers. Peak car was like a quarter century ago, bring back the 1994 Honda Civic. The hatch specifically, that thing was dope. At least you'd notice if you hit someone in one of those

"I don't care! I need bigger pickup truck regardless of the cost to society. Make 'em bigger, boys!! Fuck standards and fuck regulations! Human life is cheap anyways.".

I wonder why

But why increasing over the prior period? I have a theory you're not going to like.

Demands for safer (for vehicle occupants), and more aerodynamic profiles, lead to giant angled framing in the cabin that sits exactly in the worst place to create a blind spot for pedestrians.

If it's going to increase you have to blame something that changed.

There are still too many people who forgot how to drive during pandemic.

For example, just the other day my dog was almost murdered because some idiot came zooming around the bend and “stopped” well past the crosswalk we were in. At an all-way stop sign. With cars already stopped.

The US is de-civilizing itself out of frustration

Well according to the numbers its clear that instead of dying overseas they are coming to the US to get run over /s

It's insane how terrible our oversized suvs and trucks have gotten. There is a 12 foot blind spot in front of many of them now where you can't see someone sitting down or a small child.

Absolutely insanity.

Not only have the vehicles gotten bigger, but the conservatives have purposely pushed vehicular homicide as something that is acceptable for groups like protesters. Just mention a "liberal" blocking the road to any conservative to have them quickly quip that they would run them over.

Normalizing vehicular homicide is totally a reflection of our safe and sane car culture in the US.

Who is the genius that choose to make a gray scale instead of different colors

I went to America for the first time a year and a half ago. The biggest culture shock was definitely the horrible infrastructure. Second to that was the amount of dogs that weren't trained at all.

People talk a lot about feeling unsafe in areas like Tenderloin in SF, but being near any of the dumb, giant car traffic made me feel way more unsafe.

i mean, those plebs pedestrians and kids just walking around are basically asking for it /s

Terrible street design which prioritizes speed of cars over the safety of the community. The rich and selfish get to kill everyone else so they don't have to wait a bit longer crossing town.

Added bonus: the cars also pollute the fuck out of your home in the process.

Between the rise of SUVs, and the increase in distracted driving, I'm not surprised in the slightest.

We really need to treat driving offenses with way more scrutiny.

I found out recently that operating a boat while intoxicated is a mandatory jail sentence. Meanwhile there are people out driving drunk right now who are 3+ DUIs.

I think it should be 1 and done. After that, you should have to choose between being legally allowed to purchase alcohol, or being legally allowed to drive, and if you blow over 0.00 on a breathalyzer after that, it's an automatic 10 year sentence.

Sidebar, what's up with the data unavailable and then the data on the graph?

I think its about time we stop talking about the US as a developed nation. It really isn't for a majority of americans, and it does appear to be steadily devolving. It's maybe not yet a fully fledged 'poor country" but it is way more of a shithole than I would suppose 80% of countries in the developing world. And the fact that do many Americans think they're the greatest country since sliced bread came around is something I find bemusing