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Comment by philshem | Hacker News Reader

Thank you. As a cyclist and pedestrian (who does own a normally-sized car), I was getting pretty frustrated by the lack of safety discussed in the comments.

https://twitter.com/lloydalter/status/1395326192908218371?s=...

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I agree this is less safe for pedestrians, which matters in cities, but it is maybe safer in rural areas? I'd much rather hit a deer or moose going 80 in a tall truck then a short truck. Also, in my experience, people drive much slower in smaller towns, and are therefore less likely to hit a pedestrian or cyclist.

Plus the added visibility is nice and certainly would increase safety, I would think.

I guess suburbs are where these trucks and people most often encounter each other.

> but it is maybe safer in rural areas?

People walk in rural areas, too; and those roads are often not designed for it and these accidents tend to happen at night. There's a significant percentage of pedestrian deaths that happen out of the city under these circumstances.

Sounds like a common sense reasoning about this. Are there stats to back it up? Do trucks pose a significantly greater risk to cyclists and pedestrians? I'm actually a truck owning cyclist myself.

You'd need a study that actually looked at more than just "what happens if you hit a pedestrian at 25 mph" - because it's quite possible that a truck does more damage when it hits, but hits less often because it's higher up and has better visibility.

I feel like I'm much more able to see pedestrians in my Cayman than in my 4Runner. People seem to blend in with the surroundings the higher up I am.

Yes, there are lots of studies on this. If you want info a good place to start is London's upcoming ban on large vehicles with low visibility (I would provide more info, but I'm limited on time right now).

Front visibility issues come up from time to time. Especially with children sometimes hidden from sight.

https://www.wthr.com/mobile/article/news/investigations/13-i...

The commonly cited study (that of course nobody reads) from the Governors Highway Safety Association showed that if you get hit by a truck or SUV you have a higher chance of dying. They also found that if you adjust for how many of each are on the road, you are 15% more likely to be hit by the driver of a car.

Trucks and SUVs are on average newer than cars and at a higher price point, which means more newer safety features like object detection and driver warnings. I also suspect the feeling of mass in driving a larger vehicle makes you take driving more seriously.

Is it that, or is it just that people drive smaller vehicles on average in cities than in rural areas, and that's also where most of the pedestrians are?

It's probably a function of average parking spot size.

>I also suspect the feeling of mass in driving a larger vehicle makes you take driving more seriously.

I think it's the opposite. Also larger vehicles feel slower when you drive them even when you are doing 80.

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