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Blame for killing falls on the driver of the vehicle, not on the company designing it or the shape of the front of the vehicle. Don't hit anyone with your vehi

Blame for killing falls on the driver of the vehicle, not on the company designing it or the shape of the front of the vehicle. Don't hit anyone with your vehicle and you won't kill anyone. I've been hit by a truck bicycling, thankfully not too hard. But I don't really think it would have been better to have been hit by a low slung sleek car. It would have put all the force through my legs.

pm90 5y ago
Please no more of the personal responsibility bullcrap. “Don’t make a mistake and you won’t make a mistake” is a pretty useless statement. When designing mass manufactured items, it is a responsibility of manufacturers to ensure that their products are as safe as they can be.
- aeharding 5y ago
  Indeed. Even HN cannot see past the perverse dangers and flaws of modern auto design responsible for the current vulnerable road user epidemic in America. [1] When it comes to cars - it's "personal responsibility". When it comes to treadmills - it's a "manufacturing flaw" [2] [1] https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2018/06/28/suvs-killing-americas-pedestrians/646139002/ https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2018/06/28/suvs-killi... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26846641 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26846641
- nradov 5y ago
  Should manufacturers also install governors that limit maximum speed to 55 mph? That would make them as safe as they can be, right?
  - DHPersonal 5y ago
    You're actually really on to something there.
  - Tiktaalik 5y ago
    yes
xxpor 5y ago
The problem is the high front makes it such that there's a huge blind spot.
- codyswann 5y ago
  A blind spot that wasn't a blind spot five feet back. Like, when does this come into play? Describe a scenario.
  - hannasanarion 5y ago
    Ever heard of crosswalks? They're these things that people use to travel in front of cars while they're standing still. Ford trucks are the #1 killer of children and adults at crosswalks because drivers can't see what they're about to run over, vehicles of that front-end design account for 40% of all pedestrian traffic deaths.
    - codyswann 5y ago
      So, you're trying to tell me, it's the truck's fault that a driver doesn't know they're at a crosswalk? Do you own a truck? I do. I've owned a truck for 15 years. Some of them lifted, and unless you are pretty much parked on top of a crosswalk, there is no problem seeing the crosswalk. Especially 3-4 foot objects in said crosswalk. Edit: F150 is the most popular vehicle in the US. So, yeah, it stands to reason it will kill more people than any other vehicle, too
      - hannasanarion 5y ago
        I'm telling you it's the truck's fault that the driver can't see the crosswalk. There is a such thing as good and bad design. If I sell a hammer that shoots a bullet whenever you swing it for no good reason, I'm responsible for people getting shot.
        codyswann 5y ago
        That analogy doesn't hold water. A hammer isn't meant to shoot bullets. So shooting bullets would be something the hammer was never intended to do. What I'm telling you is that you have an opinion that is different from mine and also probably an ignorant one since you didn't answer my question about whether you have ever owned a truck.
ajross 5y ago
"Blame" is something you argue in a civil suit. Vehicle safety regulations aren't about "blame", ever. They're designed to save lives. If you can do that with better driver behavior, great. If you can do it with assistive technology, great. If you can do it with different vehicle designs, great. You do what you can, based on the techniques available and the costs involved. To wit: if you start your safety analysis with "fuck the pedestrians, that's the driver's fault, not Ford's", then you're doing it wrong.
- syshum 5y ago
  How about we start with banning Cyclist and Pedestrians, that would save the most lives?
buzzy_hacker 5y ago
That’s why I wish car manufacturers would affix big metal spikes to the front of cars for the aesthetic value. After all, they’d be blameless for any casualties.
- arwhatever 5y ago
  Judging the appearance of some late model vehicles, I'll joke that we might as well skip a few small steps and go straight to mounting Hellfire missiles on the front. :-)
zip1234 5y ago
Blame for killing almost never falls on drivers. Look at news headlines--"Car runs over person" and not "Driver runs over person" and you can see how this is viewed. There is a term to describe this--"windshield bias." Auto safety takes multiple approaches and not just saying the drivers are responsible because they are currently not, at least in the US. Does the person that hit you with a truck still have their driving license?

pm90 5y ago

Please no more of the personal responsibility bullcrap. “Don’t make a mistake and you won’t make a mistake” is a pretty useless statement. When designing mass manufactured items, it is a responsibility of manufacturers to ensure that their products are as safe as they can be.

aeharding 5y ago
Indeed. Even HN cannot see past the perverse dangers and flaws of modern auto design responsible for the current vulnerable road user epidemic in America. [1] When it comes to cars - it's "personal responsibility". When it comes to treadmills - it's a "manufacturing flaw" [2] [1] https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2018/06/28/suvs-killing-americas-pedestrians/646139002/ https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2018/06/28/suvs-killi... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26846641 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26846641
nradov 5y ago
Should manufacturers also install governors that limit maximum speed to 55 mph? That would make them as safe as they can be, right?
- DHPersonal 5y ago
  You're actually really on to something there.
- Tiktaalik 5y ago
  yes

xxpor 5y ago

The problem is the high front makes it such that there's a huge blind spot.

codyswann 5y ago
A blind spot that wasn't a blind spot five feet back. Like, when does this come into play? Describe a scenario.
- hannasanarion 5y ago
  Ever heard of crosswalks? They're these things that people use to travel in front of cars while they're standing still. Ford trucks are the #1 killer of children and adults at crosswalks because drivers can't see what they're about to run over, vehicles of that front-end design account for 40% of all pedestrian traffic deaths.
  - codyswann 5y ago
    So, you're trying to tell me, it's the truck's fault that a driver doesn't know they're at a crosswalk? Do you own a truck? I do. I've owned a truck for 15 years. Some of them lifted, and unless you are pretty much parked on top of a crosswalk, there is no problem seeing the crosswalk. Especially 3-4 foot objects in said crosswalk. Edit: F150 is the most popular vehicle in the US. So, yeah, it stands to reason it will kill more people than any other vehicle, too
    - hannasanarion 5y ago
      I'm telling you it's the truck's fault that the driver can't see the crosswalk. There is a such thing as good and bad design. If I sell a hammer that shoots a bullet whenever you swing it for no good reason, I'm responsible for people getting shot.
      - codyswann 5y ago
        That analogy doesn't hold water. A hammer isn't meant to shoot bullets. So shooting bullets would be something the hammer was never intended to do. What I'm telling you is that you have an opinion that is different from mine and also probably an ignorant one since you didn't answer my question about whether you have ever owned a truck.

ajross 5y ago

"Blame" is something you argue in a civil suit. Vehicle safety regulations aren't about "blame", ever. They're designed to save lives. If you can do that with better driver behavior, great. If you can do it with assistive technology, great. If you can do it with different vehicle designs, great. You do what you can, based on the techniques available and the costs involved. To wit: if you start your safety analysis with "fuck the pedestrians, that's the driver's fault, not Ford's", then you're doing it wrong.

syshum 5y ago
How about we start with banning Cyclist and Pedestrians, that would save the most lives?

buzzy_hacker 5y ago

That’s why I wish car manufacturers would affix big metal spikes to the front of cars for the aesthetic value. After all, they’d be blameless for any casualties.

arwhatever 5y ago
Judging the appearance of some late model vehicles, I'll joke that we might as well skip a few small steps and go straight to mounting Hellfire missiles on the front. :-)

zip1234 5y ago

Blame for killing almost never falls on drivers. Look at news headlines--"Car runs over person" and not "Driver runs over person" and you can see how this is viewed. There is a term to describe this--"windshield bias." Auto safety takes multiple approaches and not just saying the drivers are responsible because they are currently not, at least in the US. Does the person that hit you with a truck still have their driving license?