Auto Industry Urges Congress to Raise Pedestrian Heights
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A group of automakers today called on lawmakers to address a surge in injuries and fatalities involving walkers and runners, citing “dangerously low pedestrian heights on our streets and roads.”
“It is time for Congress to take action,” said Hank Canyonero, a spokesperson for the American Association of Truck and SUV Buyers, an industry lobbying group. “People are being hurt and even killed, every single day, simply because they are too short to be seen over the hoods of our enormous vehicles and because, when collisions occur, they are hit in the head and torso, due to our vehicles’ ludicrously tall and brutal grills.”
“We need taller pedestrians, and we need them now,” he said.
In the U.S., the average height of an American man is 5’9”; for women, 5’4”. But many pedestrians are significantly shorter, said Canyonero.
“Some call these small humans children,” he said. “We call them hazards. Whatever you call them, they’re much too short to be safe.”
The numbers back him up.
According to a recent report, “millions of popular vehicles have a hidden blind spot that puts children at an increased risk of being injured or killed,” thanks to the vehicles’ size and driver height. The Cadillac Escalade, for example, has a frontal blind spot of 10 feet when the driver is sitting in “a traditional, relaxed position.”
As that report notes,
Some larger SUVs and pickups have grills and hoods that measure more than four feet off the ground, which is taller than an average 7-year-old child.
Last year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drivers killed 6,283 pedestrians—“the highest such number since 1990.”
Canyonero’s proposal got a lukewarm reception on Capitol Hill.
“We’ll look into it,” said Joseph Quimby, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Auto Industry Donations. “But frankly, I’m afraid this is just another case of people expecting Big Government to do everything for them.”
“If pedestrians don’t want to be hit,” he said, “maybe they should grow taller on their own.”
