The point being that owners are buying these vehicles to be the “winner” in any collision that may happen, and that includes with pedestrians.

I have yet to actually be killed by it yet - so far - but several drivers seem to enjoy getting WITHIN INCHES of my body as I walk through a crosswalk, sometimes in heavy snow in sub-freezing temperatures where I struggle to even walk while they enjoy their climate-controlled cockpit with all the comforts of home, yet still want to shave off a few seconds of their commute. This has happened in both areas that heavily lean Democrat as well as ones that heavily lean Republican. In the former it is usually a smaller Lexus or BMW, while in the latter it is usually a giant vehicle, either truck or SUV. Also from what I have been told, the concept of “soccer mom” is a real one - a tiny person who can barely see over the wheel of a vehicle not made for tiny people, who drives perhaps once a month when their rotation comes up, not bothering to adjust the vehicle better for them, or to practice more often to become a safer driver.

In all of the above, as with the virus, the underlying attitude (whether rich or poor, liberal or conservative, whatever) is the same: I want MY way, the rest of you can deal with it as best you can - or die, whatever.

Somehow this idea of people abusing their vehicles with extreme negligence in the form of literally running over children like they are in a video game offends people’s sensibilities, yet the same identical thought applied elsewhere gets the opposite reaction. e.g. if you knew that you had COVID, and you visit someone anyway (your >80-year-old grandparents?; crucially: before the vaccine existed) over their explicit objection that you only come if you have no symptoms, and then they die, how is that not “murder”, or at least a form of almost murderous negligence? Not only did MANY people die (or get long-term symptoms) from exactly and precisely this scenario (a wedding, a funeral, a party or church service, etc.), but it also spread the pandemic much faster than it would have otherwise, flying in the face of the “flatten the curve” advice from scientists, affecting whole entire schools, churches, hospitals, and entire communities by the actions of just a few.

This is also btw the identical reason why groceries cost so much right now: they want to get THEIR way, so they just… do.

This is why society has rules: to provide a guiding light showing us how we all need to behave, or else experience the consequences (though anyone can be MORE friendly than those mandate, at any time). Hence why we might want an evidence-based policy on vehicles with higher hoods. Because people are literally dying here. We’ll see if anyone cares, more than simply saying platitudes I mean, in the sense of taking any action to help stop it.

The craziest part about that too, is that militaries typically acknowledge these poor sight lines and have procedures in place. I drove a Bison in the Canadian Army, and we had to have either a crew command (up higher on the vehicle with a better view) or a ground guide (literally a personal walking in front of the vehicle).

Interesting, I did not know that.

I hope now that cameras are cheap and common that they will start adding them to busses to cover those blind spots. Not a perfect solution, but better than nothing.

There’s another extreme, when a friend of mine took me for a ride in a two-seat convertible BMW X2 it felt like I was barely above ground. When one of the SUVs was near us at a traffic light it felt like it was going to run over us without even noticing

I mentioned this is another comment, but the crazy thing is that’s the driver’s view from M1 Abrams. Typically, in hatches open operation you’d either have a Crew Commander (and/or gunner) standing with their torso out of the turret for better visibility (and a second set of eyes), or a ground guide watching where you go.