We have pedestrian friendly infrastructure and we don’t drive penis size compensating trucks. Cars close to pedestrians are forced to go slow and if they would swivel off the road, the curbs and other stuff like trees are there to stop cars before they hit anyone, or force the wheels away from the sidewalks to steer the car back on the road. So even when people are dumb enough to be on their phone, the risk of a fatal accident with a pedestrian is limited. Giant trucks just ram over and through everything, splashing any pedestrian in their path. Especially if there aren’t any sidewalks and cars are allowed to drive really fast. Contrary to the US we actually value human lives so we built our cities to be safe for bikes and pedestrians.
All fair points and true, but those trucks are still a sizable minority on the road. I think the infrastructure and low speeds are the main reasons
I think the number of large trucks on the road is very dependent on location. I’m in the Deep South, and they are everywhere. I’m actually one of only two people at my job who don’t have a giant truck. The other is my boss. Coincidentally, we are also the only two women who work here. She’s got an older minivan, and my car is 15 years old. Oh wait, one guy drives his girlfriend’s Jeep. I forgot about him.
Tl;dr
USA:
- Terrible drivers
- Big ass trucks
- Minor punishments
- No sidewalks
- Texting while driving
Europe:
- Reasonably decent drivers
- Moderately big vehicles
- More or less severe punishments (still too low)
- Sidewalks everywhere
- Texting while driving
Road design also matters. European roads with heavy pedestrian traffic are often too narrow for speeding or have obstacles. American roads often look like a high way and only the signaling may suggest otherwise.
Ok so the thing is, when you get hit by small car you usually tend to roll over the top w some injuries. You can’t really do that when its a giant truck/SUV the height of you and you end up rolling under their BIGASS SUSPENDED VEHICLE
fun fact there’s a standard bumper height that all cars have to respect exactly for this reason, AND such that cars always collide bumper to bumper, not bumper to hood, or bumper to windshield
GUESS WHAT FUCKING VEHICLE CLASS IS EXEMPT FROM THAT FUCKING GUESS
also guess what EVEN FUCKING SEMITRUCKS ARENT EXEMPT FROM THAT IN EUROPE. SEMI TRUCKS HAVE TO HAVE A CERTAIN HEIGHT ON THEIR BUMPER TO MATCH CARS, WHILE AMERICAN SUV’S DON’T
I’m sorry but this is fucking infuriating to me. I gotta log off now bye
Yeah I’m pretty sure this is why https://vger.to/lemmy.today/post/55397665
Screenshot for compatibility reasons on fedi. So that it’s loud and fucking clear
