Cars' Forward Blind Zones Are Worse Now Than 25 Years Ago, correlates strongly with increase in bike/ped fatalities - Car & Driver
Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:
MoBikeFed comment: The reduction in visibility comes mostly from increase in size of the A pillars, which can completely obscure a pedestrian or cyclist, and increase in hood height, which makes it impossible to directly in front of the vehicle.The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has developed a new way to measure a driver's outward visibility from a vehicle.
DOT researchers used the method to examine the change in what a driver can see out of multiple generations of popular vehicles produced over the past 25 years.
The results show that, for the selected vehicles (Chevrolet Suburban, Ford F-150, Honda Accord and CR-V, Jeep Grand Cherokee, and Toyota Camry), the outward view has decreased. . . .The study also notes that, during the same time period, pedestrian and bicyclist deaths on U.S. roads increased dramatically—37 and 42 percent, respectively. There's likely at least some causation with that correlation, even when you consider the addition of features such as automated emergency braking that are meant to intervene and prevent such collisions.

