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Comment by habitue | Hacker News Reader

Personally, I think the "electric SUVs are bad for pedestrians" is just there to replace "SUVs are bad for the environment". Basically, this isn't a real argument, just a vibes thing, where big trucks are conservative coded and smaller cars are liberal-coded.

In the grand scheme of things the difference in MPG of an SUV vs. a sedan is minimal when it comes to climate change, and the difference in pedestrian danger from large car vs. small car is minimal. That is: all kinds of cars are dangerous to pedestrians! All kinds of ICE vehicles are bad for the environment! People are splitting hairs trying to turn vehicle body type into a shibboleth for good vs. bad person.

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In terms of absolute numbers, pedestrian deaths are low (but increased a lot in the past 15 years), but in terms of percentage, trucks/SUVs have 25-45% increased fatality rate. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tall-trucks-suvs-are-45-dea...

> I think the "electric SUVs are bad for pedestrians" is just there to replace "SUVs are bad for the environment". Basically, this isn't a real argument, just a vibes thing

Actually both of those statements can be true. Trucks have gotten larger and more dangerous for pedestrians and so it has become more common for people to point out vehicle size as a concern in addition to environmental issues.

> the difference in pedestrian danger from large car vs. small car is minimal.

I am not an expert here but from what I have heard, this is false.

> Personally, I think the "electric SUVs are bad for pedestrians" is just there to replace "SUVs are bad for the environment". Basically, this isn't a real argument, just a vibes thing, where big trucks are conservative coded and smaller cars are liberal-coded.

It's not a vibes thing, SUVs are more dangerous to everyone on the road, doesn't matter if it's electric or petrol, they are heavier, causing more road wear, they are taller, killing pedestrians more easily; being heavier also means they carry much more energy at the same speed than a smaller car.

> and the difference in pedestrian danger from large car vs. small car is minimal.

Well, and this is a "vibes thing", all the data shows the opposite, you'll need some supporting data to make this statement.

SUVs are only better for their owners, consuming more space, more road, and more lives than other types of smaller cars...

Not everything is "wokeness" and "muh liberals", there's objectivity in the basics of motion physics, just run the numbers for weight and velocity. Check any study on pedestrian safety regarding cars with much higher ground clearing, it's pretty obvious what the data says.

You may personally think that, but traffic safety data is unambiguous. The higher the front end and the heavier the vehicle, the more likely pedestrians are to die.

Sure, there is a difference, but I'm talking vs. "no car". Driving any car increases chance of killing pedestrians above bike or walking. If you kill 5 pedestrians per million miles in a sedan and an SUV kills 6 pedestrians per million miles, we are splitting hairs.

My point is the people yelling about dangerous SUVs are discounting their own car use as zero harm, rather than considering themselves to be doing something harmful and SUV drivers doing something slightly more harmful.

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