Pedestrian deaths on American roads have risen by more than 70 percent since 2010, an increase that safe-streets advocates ascribe partly to our national love affair with trucks.
– “There’s this race to the bottom of people buying more large cars because they want to feel safer around all of the other large cars,” said Rebecca Sanders, founder of Safe Streets Research & Consulting, a crash analysis firm. “We are ever more vulnerable, ever more at risk, from these larger vehicles.”
> In 2010, Americans bought and leased cars and trucks in roughly equal numbers. By 2021, nearly 80 percent of sales and leases were trucks. Trucks now outnumber cars in every state. And American trucks have grown “bigger, heavier and more tricked out,”
>> All of this is bad news for the pedestrian, who is more likely to die if struck by a truck than by a car. Trucks weigh more. They also tend to strike pedestrians in the head, neck or chest, the locus of many vital organs. “You think of a typical F-150 now, and it’s six feet tall,” said Nick Ferenchak, assistant professor and director of the Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety at the University of New Mexico.
>>> A United Nations report shows that the United States had more pedestrian deaths in 2019 than any other nation by a nearly 5-to-1 margin. (The analysis did not include China or India.)
European motorists are far more likely than Americans to drive actual cars. Gas prices are generally higher overseas, roads narrower, parking spaces smaller. Europe also enjoys a relative preponderance of bicycles. Cycling is gaining popularity as a mode of transit in America. Sadly, cycling fatalities are also on the rise. Cyclist deaths rose by more than 50 percent between 2010 and 2021, according to federal data collated by The Hill. When a sedan hits a cyclist, the cyclist often lands on the hood. That’s bad, experts say, but what happens when a truck hits a cyclist is worse.
–> Multilane suburban highways often carry cars traveling at great speed. High speeds reduce potential reaction time, especially at night, when most pedestrian fatalities occur. Higher speeds also mean more severe injuries. Doubling the impact speed from 24 mph to 48 mph raises the pedestrian’s risk of death from 10 percent to 75 percent, the hot-spot study noted.
√ Some of the largest trucks and SUVs may need a redesign to eliminate potential blind spots, especially at corners. Research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that taller vehicles may be more likely to hit pedestrians while turning.
