4 ms·

A few weeks ago I was nearly killed by a Jeep Grand Cherokee turning left across an intersection I was crossing (as a pedestrian). It was going faster than 25 M

A few weeks ago I was nearly killed by a Jeep Grand Cherokee turning left across an intersection I was crossing (as a pedestrian). It was going faster than 25 MPH and I only had two seconds of leeway to scramble back onto the sidewalk. If I hadn't been vigilant in paying attention I would not be alive today. And I only had that vigilance because I already believed that if I was going to die suddenly, it was probably going to be because of a vehicle. It still gives me anxiety nearly every day, knowing that there's nothing more I can do to address the situation except to keep being vigilant when crossing roads. People are not going to give up their SUVs or stop buying them.

matrix_overload 4y ago
If you look at the top-notch SUVs from Mercedes and other European manufacturers, there's actually a lot done to improve the safety. Like automatic recognition of pedestrians, obstacles, rough road and so on. Give it another decade or so and such technology will be as ubiquitous as airbags or backup cameras.
- anotherboffin 4y ago
  Not saying it’s not a good thing, but this tries to address the symptom and not the cause. It might actually lead to drivers being even less careful since they will just blindly trust the car (as we’ve seen in many Autopilot accidents)
hackeraccount 4y ago
I'm not making light of the situation but any car in that situation - heck probably any motorcycle - would have killed you just a surely as an SUV. Arguably because an SUV driver sits higher up they should have been more likely to see you. That sitting higher up is what really annoys me as a car driver. It's fine when you're the one in the SUV but I've got a car and when I'm on the the road with one of those things in front of me it's impossible to figure out what's going on ahead. If traffic slows or stops is the accident or whatever on the right or the left? Which way should I get over? An invariably the jerk in the car ahead wants to wait until the absolute last moment before merging. I hate driving.

matrix_overload 4y ago

If you look at the top-notch SUVs from Mercedes and other European manufacturers, there's actually a lot done to improve the safety. Like automatic recognition of pedestrians, obstacles, rough road and so on. Give it another decade or so and such technology will be as ubiquitous as airbags or backup cameras.

anotherboffin 4y ago
Not saying it’s not a good thing, but this tries to address the symptom and not the cause. It might actually lead to drivers being even less careful since they will just blindly trust the car (as we’ve seen in many Autopilot accidents)

hackeraccount 4y ago

I'm not making light of the situation but any car in that situation - heck probably any motorcycle - would have killed you just a surely as an SUV. Arguably because an SUV driver sits higher up they should have been more likely to see you. That sitting higher up is what really annoys me as a car driver. It's fine when you're the one in the SUV but I've got a car and when I'm on the the road with one of those things in front of me it's impossible to figure out what's going on ahead. If traffic slows or stops is the accident or whatever on the right or the left? Which way should I get over? An invariably the jerk in the car ahead wants to wait until the absolute last moment before merging. I hate driving.