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Why Are American Drivers So Deadly? After decades of declining fatality rates, dangerous driving has surged again. (www.nytimes.com)
submitted 10 months ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
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The cause was easy enough to identify: Data parsed by Kuhls and her colleagues showed that drivers were speeding more, on highways and on surface streets, and plowing through intersections with an alarming frequency. Conversely, seatbelt use was down, resulting in thousands of injuries to unrestrained drivers and passengers. After a decade of steady decline, intoxicated-driving arrests had rebounded to near historic highs.

... The relationship between car size and injury rates is still being studied, but early research on the American appetite for horizon-blotting machinery points in precisely the direction you’d expect: The bigger the vehicle, the less visibility it affords, and the more destruction it can wreak.

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[-] Coreidan@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

The height doesn’t matter nearly as much as the angle they are pointing.

[-] psud@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago

There are already rules about where they may point (for road legal lights, anyway) you shouldn't get dipped headlights in your mirror or from oncoming traffic except briefly as they crest hills

The height is a problem as when a large vehicle is tailgating you the angle doesn't matter much

[-] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

I have a small car and even without being tailgated, excessively high headlights nearly blind me as they are as high or higher than my side mirrors or rear view mirror. Its so bad I'm tempted to wear sunglasses at times.

[-] Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 months ago

If the headlights are higher than another driver's eyes, the light will go straight and downward into their eyes. There's just no way to highlight the ground without blinding drivers in front of you if the headlights are so high.

[-] Coreidan@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago

If the head lights are angled properly then they won’t be shining straight down. They should be offset so they are pointing down and to the right. If you’re in front and you’re being blinded it’s because they aren’t angled.

The key word is “proper” installation. A lot of idiots don’t know how to do this.

this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024
278 points (96.3% liked)

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