5 ms·

I think neither of these statements are true. Car weight has increased (https://www.capitalone.com/cars/learn/finding-the-right-car/are-new-cars-and-trucks-gett

I think neither of these statements are true. Car weight has increased (https://www.capitalone.com/cars/learn/finding-the-right-car/are-new-cars-and-trucks-getting-heavier/1260 https://www.capitalone.com/cars/learn/finding-the-right-car/...) as well as pedestrian deaths which have increased 77% in the last 10 odd years (https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/map-pedestrian-fatalities-reach-four-decade-high-rcna30103 https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/map-pedestrian-fatalit...)

wilg 3y ago
I suppose you are somewhat right, it's a bit muddier than I remembered and I guess I completely mixed up the pedestrian statistics. In this source, the increase in car weight seems quite minor over the last 10 years: https://www.epa.gov/automotive-trends/highlights-automotive-trends-report https://www.epa.gov/automotive-trends/highlights-automotive-... (fig ES-3) https://www.statista.com/statistics/660493/us-light-duty-vehicle-average-curb-weight/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/660493/us-light-duty-veh... Your link does not support your claim of a 77% increase, but this better source pegs it at 80%, so I suppose that's about right: https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/pedestrians https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/pedes... That said, the rate hasn't gone up if you look at a 30-year timeframe, but it's a worrying trend nonetheless. It's a bit confusing though because I think you'd want to look at this per-capita. The absolute numbers show a 10-year upward trend, and the per-capita numbers are only split out by age group and show that same 10-year upward trend except it hasn't gone up at all for people under 20, which seems surprising. But I remain confused because the 10-year weight increase is very small, less than 10% or so, so it is not clear to me that increasing vehicle weight is the most important factor. IIHS mentions road design and front-end design, but not weight as key factors.

wilg 3y ago

I suppose you are somewhat right, it's a bit muddier than I remembered and I guess I completely mixed up the pedestrian statistics. In this source, the increase in car weight seems quite minor over the last 10 years: https://www.epa.gov/automotive-trends/highlights-automotive-trends-report https://www.epa.gov/automotive-trends/highlights-automotive-... (fig ES-3) https://www.statista.com/statistics/660493/us-light-duty-vehicle-average-curb-weight/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/660493/us-light-duty-veh... Your link does not support your claim of a 77% increase, but this better source pegs it at 80%, so I suppose that's about right: https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/pedestrians https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/pedes... That said, the rate hasn't gone up if you look at a 30-year timeframe, but it's a worrying trend nonetheless. It's a bit confusing though because I think you'd want to look at this per-capita. The absolute numbers show a 10-year upward trend, and the per-capita numbers are only split out by age group and show that same 10-year upward trend except it hasn't gone up at all for people under 20, which seems surprising. But I remain confused because the 10-year weight increase is very small, less than 10% or so, so it is not clear to me that increasing vehicle weight is the most important factor. IIHS mentions road design and front-end design, but not weight as key factors.