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Comment by pc86 | Hacker News Reader

I mean this is obviously false. The heavier a vehicle is, the slower it needs to be going to cause a certain amount of damage, up to and including death. How many pedestrians are hit every year? If you can lower the average weight of vehicles on the road you're directly saving lives.

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not only that, but the height of the vehicle front also matters A LOT.

A SUV is perfect for killing pedestrians, it has the perfect triple combo:

* Weight * raised front to perfectly shatter a chest * low visibility for the perfect "i didn't saw him" excuse.

The couple drivers I'd have to avoid as a pedestrian explained to me that they were not looking in the direction of travel. So I can't see what height or visibility would matter.

It's in the comment you're replying to

> raised front to perfectly shatter a chest

An SUV, pickup truck etc will hit an adult in the chest, and a child in the head, flinging them into the ground. That's often fatal.

A sedan, station wagon, sports car etc will hit the person in the legs, scooping/rolling them over/around the car. This is less often fatal.

This assumes two vehicles of similar dimensions.

An aerodynamic 3,001lb vehicle would be much preferable to me than a 2,999lb flat-front. The physics imply only a portion of the heavier vehicles energy is imparted to me.

I don't make the comment to argue that weight isn't meaningful, but to say that "lethality" of a vehicle has many factors.

Yes it does, because we're talking about regulations that would cap the size of vehicle classes. You're not going to turn a 6,000lb F-150 into a 2,999lb truck, but you can shave 50 or 60 pounds off a vehicle.

All else being equal, lighter = less deadly. That's all I'm saying.

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