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A bit off track from the main thrust of the article, but this caught my eye: After falling for decades, annual pedestrian deaths in the US surged 70% from 2010
by sowbug 6mo ago
A bit off track from the main thrust of the article, but this caught my eye:
After falling for decades, annual pedestrian deaths in the US surged 70% from 2010 to 2023
That aligns suspiciously with the rise in smartphones.
- lotsofpulp 6mo agoEasily fixed with a cheap camera that records the inside of the car to a device similar to an airplane flight recorder. If we cared about people outside of cars more than people inside of cars. Funnily enough, the political will does not exist to even video record airplane pilots to the flight recorder, even after the numerous suicidal pilots in the last 30 years. Another funny thing is to notice which people are politically acceptable to record, such as store clerks, warehouse workers, call center workers, basically anyone being paid on the lower end. But the higher up the socioeconomic ladder you go, the less politically acceptable it is have your actions recorded, even just for scrutiny after an incident.
- khuey 6mo agoIt also aligns suspiciously with the decline of the sedan and the near-total victory of SUVs and pickup trucks in the American passenger vehicle market.
- sowbug 6mo agoGood point. The missing statistic in this thread is the number of injuries, which you'd expect would help tease apart big cars (mass) from phones (attention).
- pandaman 6mo agoSUVs and pickups did not win anything in 2010, F-series trucks had been number one best seller through the entire 21st century, and the top 10 selling cars were half and half Camry/Civic/Accord and trucks and SUVs.
- khuey 6mo agoSeven out of the top ten best selling vehicles in 2010 were sedans (https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/top-10/top-10-best-selling-vehicles-for-2010.html https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/top-10/top-10-best-selli...) In 2025 only one out of the top ten is a sedan (https://www.edmunds.com/most-popular-cars/ https://www.edmunds.com/most-popular-cars/).
- pandaman 6mo ago>Seven out of the top ten best selling vehicles in 2010 were sedans I only see six sedans in your link. But regardless if you count CR-V or Fusion as a sedan, you are arguing for me. 2010 being a recession year is prominent for drop of trucks and SUVs in sales, not "near-total victory of SUVs and pickup trucks". >In 2025 And how does this align with increase of pedestrian deaths from 2010 to 2023?
- johanvts 6mo agoAnd with SUVs, great combination.