The bigger the vehicle, the less fatalities overall for passengers/drivers of that vehicle in car accidents in the US. This has lots of compounded factors, but the increase in size is easily a survival factor against other large vehicles. I'll take the trade for the pedestrian death increase, which is a fraction of total car-related fatalities. I also feel that the number of pedestrians has increased due to various factors, which has led to a predictable increase in accidents and fatalities.

This study feels like a lot of hand waving on a slow news cycle, when those numbers aren't alarming in the slightest.