Higher vehicle hoods significantly increase pedestrian deaths, study finds
Single-vehicle, single-pedestrian crash data for 2016-2021 finds hoods a problem.
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What about school busses? They have very high hoods and many danger areas where the driver cannot see, right?
Nice graphic here: https://www.drivergent.com/safety/bus-safety/danger-zones/
Yeah; but you also need a special license to operate a bus that requires more training than driving an 18-wheeler for logistics. You also still have much more visibility over the hood in a bus.
Source: Was a school bus driver.
Interesting, I did not know that.
I hope now that cameras are cheap and common that they will start adding them to busses to cover those blind spots. Not a perfect solution, but better than nothing.
It's been a few years since I was doing that, so I didn't get to drive them, but newer school busses my company was in the process of aquiring before I left did have blind spot camera systems.
Buses actually have better sight lines than modern trucks because the driver is much higher and the hood is sloped. This is also why they have a bar on the front that extends when unloading kids, to make them walk outside that zone.
The craziest part about that too, is that militaries typically acknowledge these poor sight lines and have procedures in place. I drove a Bison in the Canadian Army, and we had to have either a crew command (up higher on the vehicle with a better view) or a ground guide (literally a personal walking in front of the vehicle).
Schools buses usually require a CDL to drive, and there are even more stringent checks required if you actually drive children around.
There is nothing stopping a just licensed 16 year old, or a repeat drunk driver from jumping behind the wheel of a huge truck or SUV and operating it in pedestrian-rich areas, with no oversight.
There's also like 30 adults outside the school looking out for children who are being dumbasses. And when they're not in the school they have those swingy arms to push them out of the way/give them a hint.
I believe they also have mirrors to see in front of the hood.
Most of the buses around me (both school and other buses) have flat fronts, which give essentially zero front blind spot. I don't think I've seen a long bus that was shaped like that in a long time (at least around where I live)