Large, heavy vehicles with high hoods and poor visibility are incredibly dangerous. Even people who drive them will admit that if they hit someone, that person would probably die. At the same time, though, people are selfish and want to look out for their families first. If they’re going to be in a wreck, they want to make sure the people inside their Pedestrian Crusher 9000 are as safe as possible. Except bigger doesn’t actually mean safer, as new research from the Insurance Institute for
I feel like we knew this? I remember that being the counterpoint when the first wave of offroad cars started getting popular with middle class women in particular. The dudes who preferred snappy hatchbacks and overpowered not-quite-sports sedans kept pointing this out as a way to argue for their sleeker rides. I remember that being one of the dampeners to the whole thing that seems to never have quite taken in the US.
I mean, it does stand to reason that if you just keep adding mass to the collision and all participants are equally incentivized to do so you just end up with bigger forces.