The growing danger on U.S. roads may have less to do with rough pavement or traffic jams than with the rising size of the vehicles themselves.
Findings from a investigation point to booming sales of large pickups and SUVs as a major factor in the country's worsening pedestrian safety record.
Since about 2009, pedestrian fatalities nationwide have risen 75%, a jump that coincided with bigger pickups and SUVs taking over the market, according to 's coverage of the New York Times investigation.
In the Times analysis, that move toward taller vehicles was linked to about 3,000 pedestrian deaths between 2016 and 2024.
One reason is vehicle height. The average hood now stands above 3 feet, and some common trucks are much taller. A 2021 Chevy Silverado has a 47-inch hood, while a Ford F-250 reaches 55 inches. Researchers said those dimensions, along with larger blind spots, create two major hazards and can place the front of the vehicle near many adults' center of gravity.
Crash tests conducted for the Times investigation illustrate why even slower impacts can be catastrophic.
Shawn Harrington, founder of Forensic Rock, told Futurism, "We see a lot of devastating collisions even at lower speeds because the pedestrian gets punted forward."
He added, "Before the driver knows what's happened, the pedestrian's head is under the wheel."
For decades, roads in the U.S. had generally been getting safer, thanks to improved vehicle design and stronger attention to issues such as seat belts and drunk driving.
However, automakers' shift away from smaller sedans in favor of larger vehicles is eating away at those safety gains.
By 2010, SUVs and trucks had overtaken traditional passenger cars, and some major automakers, including Ford, had exited the standard four-door sedan market in the U.S.
That market shift did not just change what people drive; it also changed how dangerous everyday streets, intersections, and parking lots became for everyone outside a vehicle.
According to the Times' analysis, each additional inch of hood height raised the risk of a pedestrian death by 2.8%.
The design of modern vehicles can make a routine walk, a school drop-off, or a trip through a grocery store parking lot far riskier for families, older adults, cyclists, and children.
Warnings from federal researchers are not new. In 2022, researchers at the Transportation Department's Volpe Center said taller vehicles and larger blind zones were linked to hundreds of pedestrian and cyclist deaths each year, as Futurism observed.
Even so, the issue has not received the same level of public attention or policy urgency as other road-safety concerns.
Angie Byrne, a former Volpe Center employee involved in that research, told the New York Times, "There was just zero acknowledgement of the problem."
Changes in vehicle design, regulation, and what automakers choose to put on the road might be the only way to reduce these increasing risks.
