12 ms·
> car safety has drastically improved Safety between cars, and within cars, has improved. However, due to the increasing size of the average vehicle on the roa
by yaomtc 3y ago
> car safety has drastically improved
Safety between cars, and within cars, has improved. However, due to the increasing size of the average vehicle on the road, among other factors, car safety for pedestrians/cyclists has decreased.
https://www.npr.org/2023/06/26/1184034017/us-pedestrian-deaths-high-traffic-car https://www.npr.org/2023/06/26/1184034017/us-pedestrian-deat...
- selcuka 3y agoNever mind, misread the comment. I somehow assumed that the driver safety has decreased because of the increasing number of vehicles on roads.
- doubled112 3y ago"I'd like to hurt people worse if I hit them with my car" is a strange and brutal take.
- selcuka 3y agoAbsolutely right. Sorry, that wasn't my intention. I misread the comment.
- hackernewds 3y agoyou're very kind for apologizing
- Racing0461 3y agodon't apologise. this thread is filled with urbanists that aren't "debating" in good faith. Do not give an inch on the car debate because that won't be all they will take.
- vondur 3y agoPeople drive horrible now. Running lights, crazy lane changes, excessive speeding etc. Here in the US is started during the pandemic and hasn’t improved.
- Mountain_Skies 3y agoReplacing old style headlight bulbs with LEDs in housings not designed for them is an increasing problem too, making driving at night often something that is best done with a pair of sunglasses.
- HPsquared 3y agoAlso headlights are simply higher on average than they used to be (larger vehicles). Very noticeable if you drive a low car. Yet another "arms race" dynamic.
- stjohnswarts 3y ago99% of it is people not adjusting the pitch of their headlights or turning on their brights and leaving them on. I had a truck and it was fine, because I cared enough to watch a 5 minute video on how to adjust the angle after a new install of bulbs
- twothamendment 3y agoWe have a newer Subaru and were getting flashed like it was Mardi Gras. I started looking into adjusting the lights and found several places talking about how the Subarus are to high right from the dealer and their service department. That was enough to convince me to just do it. I don't have a level spot with the recommended distance so we went with some tape on the garage door as a reference. We got them a tad low the first time and raised them up a bit. I can still see and apparently everyone else can too because nobody is flashing their lights at us. Our other vehicle is a 2014 3/4 ton Ram pickup. Nobody ever flashes me in it.
- fingerlocks 3y agoNot sure if it’s still a thing, but the STI in the mid-00s had a physical slider wheel on the driver side console that changed the pitch of headlights. It was probably a geeky race thing, adjust the pitch when you add weight to the rear maybe? Either way, it’s genius. I don’t know why that isn’t offered in more vehicles.
- kyrra 3y agoAs a reminder, the increase of vehicle size has little to do with consumer choice but rather fuel efficiency standards. https://www.resources.org/common-resources/how-much-do-regulations-for-fuel-economy-and-emissions-incentivize-the-production-of-larger-vehicles/ https://www.resources.org/common-resources/how-much-do-regul... Increasing fuel efficiency standards has outsized impact on the price of small cars, so fewer of them are made.
- lotsofpulp 3y agoIf consumers wanted smaller cars, they would buy more of them. A car is still much less expensive than a larger vehicle. The data clearly indicates people want bigger vehicles. Anecdotally, I have personally heard many people say they want to sit up higher, or have a bigger vehicle because it is safer for them.
- eru 3y ago> If consumers wanted smaller cars, they would buy more of them. A car is still much less expensive than a larger vehicle. The data clearly indicates people want bigger vehicles. That's true to a point. In the US there are regulatory loopholes for SUVs, so that's impacting what vehicles people choose. I agree that fuel efficiency standards are pretty silly. Especially CAFE standards. They should just tax CO2 emissions (or fuel) directly, and let the market sort it out. Perhaps also have a tax on the weight of the vehicle, because that's a negative externality: heavier cars are worse for other people in a crash. But the US is a country that has effectively legalised running over cyclists, so I don't have much hope for them. See https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/is-it-ok-to-kill-cyclists.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/is-it-ok-t...
- kjkjadksj 3y agoThe cheapest car to buy and insure from any manufacturer is going to be their subcompact hatch or sedan. No, people don’t care about price now that I see a bright yellow Urus doing 70 down a local road once a week.
- 3y ago
- userbinator 3y agoVisibility has also decreased, which is likely a factor in that. Modern cars with huge pillars feel absolutely claustrophobic especially compared to those with wraparound windshields which were common mid-century.
- eru 3y agoI wonder if that's just an American thing, or more global?
- orwin 3y agoIt's a US thing, pedestrian safety continued to improve in France (mainly caused by infrastructure improvements), but we are starting to have the same sized cars, with the same issues)
- digdugdirk 3y agoI've always understood the US's giant car problem was an unintended consequence of the CAFE fuel efficiency legislation, why is Europe getting caught up in the giant car fad? I'd imagine that'd be much more obvious of a terrible idea when the streets are half the size.
- eru 3y agoCAFE standards have a loophole for SUVs, don't they? Those standards are pretty silly, even without the loopholes. They should just tax CO2 emissions (or petrol), and let the market sort it out.
- digdugdirk 3y agoYep, that's the legislation I was referring to that's the cause of the massive rise of gigantic trucks in the past decade. There's some formula between overall car area (the literal length x width of the vehicle) and the allowed mpg for the automaker's corporate fuel economy. Yay for second order effects...
- eru 3y ago> There's some formula between overall car area (the literal length x width of the vehicle) and the allowed mpg for the automaker's corporate fuel economy. Yay for second order effects... Well, every economist (or anyone with half-a-brain) could have predicted these effects.
- mortify 3y agoPeople always drive, not to within certain parameters of the law, but to within their risk tolerance. As cars become more safe, the risk factor reduces which allow people to increase risky behavior. If you want people to drive better, don't put airbags in their steering wheel, put a 6" metal spike pointed at their chest.
- PierceJoy 3y agoYep. Studies on helmet usage in skiing and snowboarding showed that as helmet usage became more common, brain injuries increased. People felt more protected and thus took more risks.
- happymellon 3y agoYou see this on sports too. You still get concussions, and plenty of blood in rugby, but more serious amounts of concussions in grid iron because of all the excess padding. People are more likely to charge head first with a helmet, and the helmet doesn't protect your brain from rattling about.
- kjkjadksj 3y agoThe head first tackle is illegal anyhow in American football, but they tackle differently to begin with because you want to down the runner as soon as you can and stop the play more than anything.
- happymellon 3y agoThis feels like you are arguing a point that is irrelevant. Are you saying that in Grid Iron there are no concussions? Hate to break it to you, but they are fairly common even before they broadened the definition last year. Or are you saying that no player ever does a foul, or an illegal tackle? If so, I'll link you to YouTube clips that disagrees with you. They are constantly researching helmets and trying to reduce the chances of concussion, but ultimately wearing of a helmet introduces a risk factor, in the same way that that bigger cars make people feel safer so drive more dangerously.
- Racing0461 3y ago[flagged]
- numlock86 3y agoCan you please just stay on Reddit then? Or in your words: "hurr durr, reddit is that way ->>> smh"
- t0bia_s 3y agoAlso with increasing size of vehicles, fuel consumption raise as well. We just pretend, that we care about environment untill we start speaking about our safety.
- culi 3y ago> car safety for pedestrians/cyclists has decreased It's also decreased for anyone NOT willing to buy a "light truck" (e.g. a modern SUV). There's a loophole that makes it so that light trucks don't have to be tested against the same safety standards as other vehicles. Basically they just have to prove they're safe to crash into other light trucks but do not have to be tested against regular passenger vehicles. This loophole is credited as one of the main reasons car fatalities have been rapidly growing in the US but falling in most other nations. And also for the massive recent explosion in size (again, mainly observed in the US). But size is just one factor that's reduced safety. Another one is reduced visibility. One of the contributors to the rise in fatalities has been due to parents literally running over their own children in their driveways. These are low-speed, suburban vehicle fatalities that are not happening in other countries
- DrThunder 3y agoMost modern SUV's aren't trucks in any sense. They crossovers built on car frames.
- sulam 3y agoLegally they are light trucks. Obviously that's not how they're used or designed.
- culi 3y agoyes, but I'm speaking about the legal classification. They are always light trucks in the US https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_truck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_truck Side note, the Wikipedia page has a section about how SUVs get away with less stringent emissions standards
- soulofmischief 3y agoI agree with what you're saying but as a counterpoint, I was literally run over in my driveway by a guardian and almost died, and he was in a '90s Tacoma. My saving grace was that the truck was so light that even at age five I managed to survive being crushed under one of the wheels thanks to my aluminum frame bike wrapping around my ribcage. Even a modern-day Tacoma is much larger and probably would have killed me.