With Cars Getting Bigger, Pedestrian Deaths Are On The Rise

Pedestrian deaths are connected nan emergence successful nan U.S., and experts are informing that larger cars could beryllium to blame.

Annual pedestrian deaths person risen by astir 75 percent since 2009, successful portion acknowledgment to nan increasing fame of ample trucks and SUVS, according to a caller study by The New York Times. The study recovered that these vehicles travel pinch bigger hoods, which are more lethal to pedestrians, and larger unsighted spots that make it harder for drivers to spot group stepping nearby.

The study estimates that 200 to 400 pedestrians would not person been killed each twelvemonth if vehicles had stayed astir nan aforesaid size complete nan past 25 years. The NYT’s study besides recovered that nan displacement toward cars pinch taller hoods caused astir 3,000 pedestrian fatalities from 2016 to 2024.

Shawn Harrington, laminitis of Forensic Rock, a patient that specializes successful mishap reconstruction, told nan newspaper that experts person seen “a batch of devastating collisions moreover astatine little speeds because nan pedestrian gets punted forward.”

“Before nan driver knows what’s happened, nan pedestrian’s caput is nether nan wheel,” he added.

It seems these monolithic trucks and SUVs are present to stay, pinch ample vehicles accounting for 48 percent of world car income arsenic of 2023, according to nan Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

Now, experts are calling connected automakers to see pedestrians’ information erstwhile designing their ample vehicles.

SUVs and vans pinch hoods taller than 40 inches are astir 45 percent much apt to termination a pedestrian during a clang compared to cars pinch hood heights nether 30 inches, according to a 2023 analysis by nan Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

“It’s clear that nan expanding size of nan vehicles successful nan U.S. fleet is costing pedestrians their lives. We promote automakers to see these findings and return a difficult look astatine nan tallness and style of their SUVs and pickups,” David Harkey, nan organization’s president, said successful a release.

Large unsighted spots tin beryllium particularly dangerous, too. A “large driver-side unsighted zone” tin raise nan consequence of hitting a pedestrian while making a near move by 70 percent, a 2025 study by nan Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found.

Experts person besides warned that larger vehicles are associated pinch higher CO2 emissions. If each SUVs were grouped together and treated arsenic a country, they would beryllium “the world’s 5th largest emitter of CO2,” according to a 2024 study by nan International Energy Agency.