America's killer cars
Some data journalism from my colleagues on deadly pickup trucks
It turns out I am not that great at continual book promotion. It has been so long since I engaged with this blog that I actually forgot my login.
Anyway I have resurrected it because today at The Economist we have put carmageddon on the cover. Well, sort of anyway. The story inside is about how dangerous larger vehicles are, and it is based on a truly tremendous bit of data research by Doug Dowson, a member of our data team. There is an also an editorial (a “cover leader” in Economist lingo) about what should be done about it that I contributed to.
Go forth and read the story. But to summarise, Doug looked at data from millions of crashes involving two vehicles in America over the past decade. What he found is that, the heavier the vehicle, the safer it is for its occupants in a crash. That makes sense: bigger size means more crumple zones; more metal; more stuff other than flesh and blood to take the energy of a sudden decelleration in a crash. But the catch is that if that big heavy car is crashing into another car (or a pedestrian), rather than into a wall, it is far deadlier, because that greater weight means far more likely to kill the people on the other end. Inside your giant tank, you are a little bit safer than if you were in a smaller car. But everyone else is vastly more at risk. It is simple physics.
If you have read Carmageddon, or just listened to me rant on, the basic thrust will come as no surprise. The argument of the story is the one I make in the book: buying and driving a big heavy car may be individually rational, but for society at large, it is catastrophic. Doug has brought cold hard data to the debate, showing how car weight has become an intensely destructive arms race. But weight and danger is not the only example of this phenomenon. There are many more. If you haven’t read Carmageddon, please do! Buy it here.
In other news:
And also subscribe to The Economist while you’re at it. My story this week is on the return of The Onion to print. Printing out the news on paper and posting it to people is the future of the media. I’ve been saying it for a decade.
I set up this blog to help promote my first book, Carmageddon. It is very well reviewed. The New Yorker said it is “briskly written”. I think everyone should buy it. Everyone. It is available from book stores across the United States and Canada, and from Amazon everywhere else.
Find this interesting and I wonder if there’s something to teasing apart size and weight. Because electric cars are really really heavy so this problem may get worse or not…
Awesome to see this featured in the Economist! I greatly enjoyed Carmageddon. As a cyclist, I pay close attention to the increasingly large trucks with huge grills and aftermarket lifts. As you note in your book, even if a child is ten feet in front of the vehicle, you cannot see them from a vehicle like that. You commented somewhere in the book about vehicles being giant recliners for people to move around in, and that's what they are for most people driving them. As you note on Ford worker said, they are luxury vehicles that happen to have a pickup box.
But as more people buy these vehicles, others will look at the death statistics, and in fear of getting hit by one of these large new trucks, they will want to buy a truck to increase their odds of an accident. That is the main reason I see people where I live buying larger vehicles, for their own safety.
But for us cyclists, pedestrians, and those driving small vehicles, we lose. How do we change this? There's not a chance of regulating this with the current administration. Where will be in 10 years?
Two other topics I would be interested in your opinion on, or perhaps you have written on:
- Noise pollution from vehicles: This also seems to be something that is regulated on paper, but not enforced. I live in Montana, somewhere people imagine as a quiet place, but damn it's noisy. The large trucks noted above are anything but quiet. And it seems it is growing in popularity to modify their exhaust systems so they are intentionally louder. This has a significant impact on the quality of life for anyone living near roads with regular traffic. You can't escape the sound. I am looking forward to the book Clamor by Chris Berdick which is going to go into more detail about the impact of noise pollution.
- Window tints: New vehicles all seem to have window tints dark enough that you cannot see the driver inside. The cars sitting at the car dealerships all have dark front driver and passenger windows, much darker than the same models from 5 years ago. Is this happening across the USA? Are they at the absolute legal minimum for visibility, or disregarding the regulations? I was hit by a vehicle because I thought the person could see me, but I couldn't tell. If I had been able to see the driver was on their phone or not looking at me at all while they turned, I would have been able to take defensive measures. I wrote a bit on this and my experience in my latest post on my Substack.
Thanks for what you are doing and being a voice for the cyclists, pedestrians, and for more livable cities. Vehicles have robbed us of the human element. There are many good things happening with the examples of cities that are making cities more pedestrian-friendly that you outline in your book. I do see an effort where I live to create more bike lanes. That gives us hope! With more people like you, cities can move in the right direction!