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I skimmed through the report, and there doesn't seem to be any data on the drivers involved, only the pedestrians, which can inadvertently lead people to blame
by jerlam 2y ago
I skimmed through the report, and there doesn't seem to be any data on the drivers involved, only the pedestrians, which can inadvertently lead people to blame the victims (how old were they, were they in the crosswalk, etc.) instead of looking at the other party involved.
Some of the more recent high-profile pedestrian deaths in my area have been associated with the elderly (85 years old, 78 years old). That's definitely an age where night vision deteriorates, reflexes are slower, and coordination is poor. We're now putting them in larger and faster cars with worse visibility. They're also more easily confused with many of the proposed changes such as traffic calming and islands, and politically oppose them.
When we have middle-aged people blinded by poorly designed or aimed headlights, do we really want grandma who can barely see in the dark and panics when she makes a wrong turn, driving her new big "safe" SUV around the traffic circle that she's never seen before, around pedestrians?
- robnado 2y agoDon’t forget the A pilar in cars that keep getting bigger for heavier cars (like say, electric cars or SUVs). A lot can be obscured to a driver by a particularly thick A pilar.
- tzs 2y agoHow big are we talking about? I've driven the same car since 2006 (Honda CR-V), and my A pillars block about 10° on the driver side and 6° on the passenger side. I have no idea how that compares to what's currently on the market. That's enough for the apparent width to be bigger than the apparent width of a pedestrian farther than maybe 8 ft or so from the car but because the pillar is at an angle it only blocks then at a specific height. The parts of the body above and below that height remain visible. The particular slice that is blocked varies as their angular position varies.
- autoexec 2y ago> When we have middle-aged people blinded by poorly designed or aimed headlights, headlights are major problem for me and a few people in my family have started to avoid driving at night because of them, not all of them being middle aged. It seems like the sort of thing to impact people of all ages. I'd love to see more being done to restrict the brightness/height of installed headlights and checks/enforcement of the ones that are installed incorrectly.