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The sudden reversal in reduction in pedestrian deaths coincides not only with increase in vehicle size, but the prevalence of the smartphone.

Anybody who drives and gives the remotest shit about being a safe driver will have noticed how many other folks are holding their phones and looking at them while driving 40+ miles per hour, and I really feel like this can't be dismissed as a factor. But seemingly nobody talks about this as meaningful.

I'd like to see someone suss out the data on the number of pedestrian collisions that are occurring over time, but I can't find it easily.

Deaths are obviously going up, and I'm not arguing that a larger car isn't more dangerous to pedestrians and other road users (they most certainly are).

But... I'm almost certain pedestrian impacts have gone up, making you more likely to be hit in the first place. That's important and that matters to the discussion.

That's what I really want to know.

Are people getting *hit* more often? I'm almost certain the answer is yes.

There are plenty of other things we're uniquely bad at, too - road design, licensing requirements, lack of regulations. So by no means am I saying that I feel smartphones are the primary issue here, and I also don't want to make this a personal responsibility thing.

But I'm really weirded out by how this one very much so personal responsibility aspect is just... completely ignored.

@TechConnectify international comparisons make me think it's not about phones, given that smartphones are just as prevalent in Europe. Americans could use phones more while they're driving of course, but I can't think of an obvious reason that would be - it's not like phone use is easy to enforce by camera (though some European countries have tried this)