The Deadly Rise of Giant Trucks and S.U.V.s

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/06/21/us/trucks-suv-pedestrian-crashes.html

The Deadly Rise of Giant Trucks and S.U.V.s
By Michael H. Keller, Eli Murray, Danielle Ivory and Irineo Cabreros
June 21, 2026

For decades, American roads were steadily getting safer for pedestrians. But around 2009, the trend reversed. Since then, the number of pedestrians killed each year has risen by about 75 percent.

The surge in pedestrian deaths has baffled researchers. Most other wealthy countries haven’t seen similar increases, suggesting that possible culprits like smartphones don’t tell the whole story.

Other likely causes of deadly crashes, such as drunken and distracted driving, have attracted immense attention from the public and policymakers. But the trend toward ever-larger vehicles has received much less scrutiny, even after federal researchers in 2022 cautioned regulators that it was endangering pedestrians.

After analyzing federal and industry records, including never-before-examined data on vehicle dimensions, we found that the rise of large pickups and S.U.V.s is an important factor.

There are two reasons bigger vehicles are deadlier: They have taller hoods. And they tend to have larger blind zones.





















....