Pedestrian fatalities reach 17-year-high. This trend could be why

[canetoad]

The number of pedestrians killed in Victoria in 2025 is at a 17-year-high, with concerns the growing dominance of large SUVs and utes is reversing years of road safety gains.

Fifty-one pedestrians had been killed on the state’s roads this year as of Saturday – the most in any calendar year since 2008, according to Transport Accident Commission data.

Based on a four-year rolling average, pedestrian deaths have increased 27 per cent since 2015, while driver and vehicle passenger deaths have fallen 10 per cent.

Fatalities across all road users sit at 285 so far this year, which is one more than in 2024 and continues an upward trend since the COVID-19 pandemic.



https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/pedestrian-fatalities-reach-17-year-high-this-trend-could-be-why-20251227-p5nq8x.html

https://archive.md/3sYNL

These are the vehicles of choice for younger tradesmen. In a country town our wildlife is suffering because of speed and inattention on bush roads. Also, Standards (ISO) have not kept up with the minimum parking space size. I can often barely get in or out of my Hyundai.

[UpInArms]

1. Stupid giant vehicles

Are not people friendly …

I prefer not to need a stepladder to get into a car

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Nor planet friendly. nt

[GiqueCee]

3. Here in rural Vermont...

... where weather conditions in winter pretty much demand 4-wheel drive, or at least all-wheel drive, there is always a frothing-at-the-mouth competition among the Mr.-Macho-Jockstrap-I-gots-da-IQ-uvva-turnip crowd, for who has the most ridiculously oversized pickup graced with trailer-hitch gonads the size of cantaloups. The guys who pilot an $80-grand duallie usually win that pissin' contest. Until he runs up against the guy with a 10-WHEEL DOUBLE DUALLIE 3500 RAM! There actually is such a beast available. A fellow in Mendon has one.

Art is how I make my living, but I love to build stuff around our nearly 200-year-old house, so I drive a rusty 15-year-old 4-WD Dodge Dakota pickup with over quarter of a million miles on her. It gets me where I gotta go, and carries what I need to carry. My wife drives the '22 Honda CRV.