More Than Just Bikes has a great video on how US automakers pushed the sale of gigantic trucks onto American consumers and how it's caused a huge increase in vehicle related deaths.

tl;dw Trade wars and efficiency standards caused work trucks to be one of the few vehicles US automakers could make without needing to follow standards or have foreign competition. Automakers were incentivized to sell big inefficient trucks and SUVs to the average person and began to heavily market them as manly/cool/safe. What was once a niche vehicle is now 80% of US auto sales.

Here in Portland it was because police stopped enforcing traffic offenses.

https://bikeportland.org/2023/08/08/portland-police-bureau-officer-admits-no-traffic-enforcement-messaging-was-politically-motivated-377939

Largely it was the Portland cops being petulant babies. Oh, we want oversight? Decrease your increase in funding?

Well, no more traffic enforcement, among other things. Speeding, expired tags, no plates, stolen cars, everything just went nuts.

Still hasn't really recovered.

Since COVID, people really seemed to have stopped giving a fuck. I live in an urban/barely suburban area that is well lit and people drive around with their high beams on constantly now. They also sit through green lights playing on their phones. Fucking infuriating.

Screens. I'm the hand, on the dash, next to the street.

WTF? Seatbelt use is down?? I'd be really curious to see a Venn diagram plotting anti-maskers with the mind-numbingly stupid people who would voluntarily choose not to wear a seatbelt in the face of decades of science and societal pressure.

Seriously, hearing that seatbelt use it down to me is as shocking as when I was watching "Anchorman" and they were walking in the park and just dropped all their trash on the ground. Except that movie was parodying the way people used to think in the 70's. This is real life.

• Speed limits are up.
• Cars are larger and heavier.
• People who can barely drive are given licenses.
• People aren’t retested every seven to ten years to check their cognition and ability, or familiarity with newer regulations like flashing yellow arrows and traffic circles.
• Traffic laws are barely enforced in many areas.
• Many states are getting rid of car inspections, so pieces of automobiles are flying into the road.
• There are far more semi trucks on the road, and many are less regulated with more inexperienced drivers, lack of inspection, and frequently resurfaced tires.

There was a companion The Daily episode about this, and I think it was one of their best in a while.

The Daily: Why Are So Many More Pedestrians Dying in the U.S.?

Episode webpage: https://www.nytimes.com/the-daily

Media file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/chrt.fm/track/8DB4DB/pdst.fm/e/pfx.vpixl.com/6qj4J/nyt.simplecastaudio.com/03d8b493-87fc-4bd1-931f-8a8e9b945d8a/episodes/7fdf4d44-0ff5-44ff-a4a6-b6b297dc196a/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=03d8b493-87fc-4bd1-931f-8a8e9b945d8a&awEpisodeId=7fdf4d44-0ff5-44ff-a4a6-b6b297dc196a&feed=54nAGcIl