[mojosam]

In addition to bad use of statistics, this article really buries the lead, making the identification of solutions difficult. US pedestrian deaths steadily declined over 20 years from 2.6 per 100K in 1990 to 1.4 per 100K in 2010 -- a 46% decrease -- but then in the following 10 years increased to 1.96 per 100K -- a 40% increase in half the time.

Furthermore, the curve is V-shaped, with the best year in 2009; it seems like some thing or things happened around 2010 that suddenly changed a long-term downward trend into a much more rapid upward trend. It's hard to see how a change in human behavior would cause such an abrupt turnaround or such a steady increase.

I think what fits the data best is that this is due to a technological change, and I suspect it might be tied to sales of hybrids and EVs, which are quieter vehicles that pedestrians are less likely to be aware of, and sales of which really ramped up starting in the late 2000s. Every year, we add more of these vehicles to the roads -- which is a very good thing overall -- and that would explain why the pedestrian death rate is steadily increasing.

In other words, it may be that this is not due to a change in human behavior, but rather that human behavior hasn't caught up to a technology change. In addition, it looks like NHTSA's "2015 Pedestrian and Bicyclist Data Analysis" suggests that pedestrian deaths for kids continued to decrease between 2010-2015, but that adults 50+ suffered the largest increases. In other words, the demographic that is both hardest of hearing and had the hardest time to adapt to hybrids/EVs was hit the hardest.

[paulnpace]

I had a 2008 version of a vehicle that I replaced just this year with a 2017 version of the same vehicle.

I have several times found pedestrians walking right in front of me and I slam on my brakes and the pedestrians yell at me as if I'm a negligent driver, yet previously I don't think I did such a thing more often than once every few years, if that.

What I have come to discover is that the front frame rail of the 2017 is so huge it blocks my view exactly where pedestrians step off of a curb into traffic, especially because the pedestrian is elevated on the curb and completely behind the frame rail.

I recognize that drivers should of course carefully inspect every intersection, but reality is that they cannot, and what pedestrians really need to do with these newer vehicles making up a larger percentage of the vehicles is make sure they can see the eyes of the driver, else the driver likely cannot see the pedestrian, at all.

[bombcar]

In all countries and ever since I can remember I treat every vehicle as a death machine out to kill me - the idea of doing a maneuver that requires the death machine to react correctly to me is as foreign to my thought as expecting a train to stop for me.

Still doesn’t mean we should ignore things like a pillars growing.

[acdha]

I agree with the problem but to me that sounds like those vehicles should have mandatory automatic braking systems to be considered street legal. There’s an arms race building them stronger to withstand impacts from large SUVs and trucks but that shouldn’t be used to justify making them less safe for everyone else. IIRC, the last figure for the SUV safety “improvement” had it at 4.3 additional lives outside the vehicle lost for every life inside saved.

[sagarm]

It's SUVs, not EVs. There's an arms race amongst drivers to have the largest vehicle to push the consequences of collisions onto other people. Pedestrians are just collateral damage.

SUV/truck drivers kill 4x more of the pedestrians they hit.

[h2odragon]

this example of "bad use of statistics" is so common, especially in journalism, that it is now just "use of statistics". If you don't squeeze every last gram of hype and horror out of your numbers, you're obviously not a serious advocate fo whatever cause.

> some thing or things happened around 2010

My first suspicion is another weight bump to meet safety mandates. The heaviest car sold in 1992 was lighter than the lightest car sold in 2012. F = mv^2, v hasn't changed in most of those accidents.