Taller vehicles are more dangerous to pedestrians, even at low speeds, research finds

"We looked at how speed and the height of the vehicle converge to really increase the danger to pedestrians even more," said Jessica Cicchino, senior vice president for research at the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

"We looked at how the risk of a serious injury or fatality increased as the speed in a crash went up," Cicchino said in an interview. "And we saw that it increased much faster for taller vehicles than it did for shorter vehicles."

"We've seen these standards over time improve vehicle safety with a focus on the people in the vehicle. But this would sort of expand that to pedestrians, bicyclists and people outside the vehicle," Scanlon told NPR in August.

"We have a crisis of roadway deaths, and it's even worse among vulnerable road users like pedestrians," Sophie Shulman, an advocate for pedestrian safety, stated.

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