Your intuition is correct.

Americans’ Love Affair with Big Cars is Killing Them (https://www.economist.com/interactive/united-states/2024/08/...) - The Economist.

> In a crash, the fatality rate of the occupants of the heavy pickup truck is about half that of the compact car. But they are also far more dangerous to the fatality rate of people in other cars.

> The fatality rate is roughly seven times higher when colliding with a heavy pickup truck than with a compact car. As the weight of your car increases, the risk of killing others increases dramatically. For every life that the heaviest 1% of SUVs and trucks save, there are more than a dozen lives lost in other vehicles.

Unfortunately car safety is only evaluated in terms of safety for the occupants. Not safety of society.

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hinkley 3 days ago | parent [-]

Well, hood and grill shapes are mandated for pedestrian safety but everyone else is fucked.

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tetha 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Well, for an about 1 meter tall obstacle (like a kid), some of these large SUV shapes have ~10 - 12 meters of a blind spot to spot this obstacle.

There is another small vehicle around, which usually has a lower stopping distance, and a smaller blind spot in front of the vehicle at around 7-9 meters under somewhat more adverse conditions than regular highway traffic. That's the Leopard 2 tank.

That vehicle also has less problems to find a parking spot.

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paulryanrogers 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Then how is the Cybertruck legal on US roads? It's got sharp edges both front and rear

	▲	zipy124 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		There's a reason it isn't legal in basically any other countries and this is a big part of it.

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lunias 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

If a pedestrian gets hit by a tall vehicle, where the bumper is at waist level or above, then the pedestrian goes under the vehicle. This is what causes most of the fatalities these days. Breaking your legs is bad, but getting run over is the end.