Alyssa Milligan had a natural talent for sensing when others needed support and kindness. At 23 years old, she had already built strong connections in Tennessee, particularly in the close-knit cycling community of Nashville. Tragically, Alyssa, known affectionately as “Sweet Alyssa” by her mother, lost her life this month when she was struck by a pickup truck while cycling with a friend.
Despite advancements in vehicle safety, road fatalities in the U.S. continue to rise. This concerning trend is not limited to all car-related deaths but is most alarming for pedestrians and cyclists, who have experienced a shocking 60% increase in fatalities between 2011 and 2022.
This surge in road fatalities coincides with a significant spike in the sales of SUVs, pickup trucks, and vans, which made up 78% of new vehicle sales in the U.S. in 2022, as reported by Motorintelligence.com.
Currently, safety ratings in the U.S. only consider the well-being of individuals inside vehicles. The National Association of City Transportation Officials is leading an initiative to urge U.S. transportation authorities to include the safety of people outside of vehicles in their 5-star safety ratings.
“We’re not entirely sure why pedestrian fatalities are on the rise, but it does appear that the growing number of larger vehicles is playing a role,” explained Jessica Cicchino, who serves as the vice president of research at the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
She pointed out that multiple studies have highlighted the increased danger posed by larger vehicles like SUVs and pickups in pedestrian and cyclist accidents. These vehicles are more likely to cause severe injuries or fatalities because they tend to strike people in vital areas like the head and organs, rather than the legs.
Additionally, the design of these larger vehicles can create visibility challenges. Research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety discovered that SUVs and pickups were frequently involved in left-turn accidents with pedestrians at intersections. This suggests that these larger vehicles may struggle to spot pedestrians effectively.
Subaru, known for its strong performance in IIHS pedestrian crash avoidance tests, prioritizes visibility as a key safety feature, as explained by spokesperson Todd Hill. However, meeting rollover safety standards, which require stronger roof-supporting pillars, has made maintaining visibility more difficult.
Hill explained, “When you reduce the size of the windows, you gain design flexibility, but it often comes at the expense of outward visibility.”
Although there hasn’t been as much research on blind spots right in front of passenger vehicles, Consumer Reports discovered in 2021 that tall hoods can make it hard for drivers to see pedestrians. Furthermore, a report from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe Center in January 2023 found that the growing blind spots in SUVs and pickups are linked to fatal “frontover” accidents, where slow-moving vehicles accidentally run over people.
The Volpe Center, an organization tackling significant transportation issues, has collaborated on a web application called VIEW. It uses information from the public to create a database of blind spots in vehicles. For example, this app reveals that in front of a 2016 Chevrolet Silverado, as many as eight elementary school children could stand shoulder-to-shoulder without being visible to the driver.
The U.S. began crash testing cars back in the 1970s and introduced the 5-star rating system in 1993. In 2006, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration started requiring new vehicles to have window labels displaying these ratings.
For many years, thanks to vehicle improvements, seatbelt laws, and other changes, the number of fatal crashes in the U.S. had been decreasing, hitting a low of 29,867 in 2011. However, this positive trend has taken a turn for the worse. Government estimates for fatal crashes in 2022 show a significant 43% increase, reaching 42,795, partly due to more speeding and drunk driving and less seatbelt usage. Fatal crashes also increased as a percentage of total miles driven, and pedestrian and cyclist deaths have surged by 64% since 2011, reaching an estimated 8,413 in 2022.
The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has suggested introducing new tests to evaluate how well vehicles protect pedestrians from accidents. However, these tests would be voluntary and wouldn’t factor into the agency’s 5-star rating system, according to Billy Richling, a spokesperson for the National Association of City Transportation Officials. They are advocating for mandatory pedestrian safety testing.
In the current system, a vehicle could fail the pedestrian crash-worthiness test and still receive a top 5-star rating, which Richling finds problematic.
For Jessica Hart, whose 5-year-old daughter Allie tragically lost her life in a pedestrian accident in Washington, D.C. in 2021, voluntary testing isn’t sufficient. Her Change.org petition, which calls for NHTSA to include a vehicle’s risk of causing harm to pedestrians in its 5-star rating system, has garnered over 28,000 signatures.
Describing the tragic incident, Hart said, “She had just started kindergarten, riding her bike in the crosswalk, a block from our house in the school zone. She was with her dad. And a Ford Transit van came up to the 4-way intersection, didn’t see her, and just proceeded through the stop sign, and hit and killed her.”
John Capp, who leads vehicle safety technology, strategy, and regulation at General Motors, emphasized the lack of sufficient data on pedestrian traffic fatalities and the challenges of balancing vehicle design. He acknowledged that historically, safety efforts have mainly focused on protecting people inside vehicles. However, he emphasized the growing importance of pedestrian crash avoidance measures.
Most new GM vehicles now have a feature called automatic emergency braking. These systems are becoming better at detecting pedestrians, especially during the nighttime when many fatal accidents happen.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has proposed a rule that would make it mandatory for new cars and light trucks to have automatic emergency braking systems capable of spotting pedestrians, even at night. This rule could come into effect within three years.
These technological improvements are a step in the right direction, helping to address blind spots, but experts agree it’s just one part of the solution. They believe that solving this problem requires changes to our roads, better enforcement of speed limits, and even changes to how vehicles are designed.
As Jessica Cicchino, a safety expert, explains, “You want to tackle this issue from all angles. You aim to prevent accidents from happening, but if they do happen, you want them to be less harmful.”
Jessica Hart, who tragically lost her daughter in a traffic accident, is now an advocate with the Washington chapter of Families for Safe Streets, a nonprofit working to reduce fatal crashes. She’s been actively raising awareness and advocating for safer streets, vehicles, and alternative transportation options. She hopes that by speaking out and pushing for change, other families won’t have to experience the same devastating loss she did.
