> Crosswalks at intersections are nearly obsolete due to the thick A-pillars in modern cars.
What?
What?
https://chi.streetsblog.org/2022/06/08/pickups-suvs-are-driv....
Like it's a place where you (usually) stop and when you are stopped, pedestrians can go.
I don't see how jaywalking would be better than a dedicated place where pedestrians are expected to be. Thick a-frames or not.
The posted article mentioned accidents specifically at cross walks.
> The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that drivers of SUVs, pickups, vans, and minivans are “substantially more likely” than car drivers to hit pedestrians when making turns,
The reasoning though is mainly speculation. I've found that minivans offer exceptional visibility. So it could be as simple as people who buy SUVs, minivans, and pickups are just worse drivers than those in coupes and sedans.
My theory is that people just don't consider pedestrians when making left turns at intersections with cross walks. Instead, they focus on oncoming traffic and commit to a turn before looking at where they are going.
> “They are larger, heavier and higher up from the road than smaller cars and create blind spots that make it challenging for drivers to see vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists,”
I drive a car with enormous A pillars (coupe version of a convertible) and never have issues seeing the children playing in the street because of it. Likely because most 8 year olds would be at eye level with me.
A modern F150 however, an entire car could be obscured by the long, high hood of those.