UHERO Working Papers
The Effect of Front-end Vehicle Height on Pedestrian Death Risk
WORKING PAPERS ARE PRELIMINARY MATERIALS CIRCULATED TO STIMULATE DISCUSSION AND CRITICAL COMMENT. WHILE WORKING PAPERS BENEFIT FROM ACTIVE UHERO DISCUSSION, THEY HAVE NOT UNDERGONE FORMAL ACADEMIC PEER REVIEW.
The findings and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views or official positions of UHERO, the University of Hawai’i, or any funding or supporting organization.
Pedestrian deaths in the US have risen in recent years. Concurrently, US vehicles have increased in size, which may pose a safety risk for pedestrians. In particular, the increased height of vehicle front-ends may present a danger for pedestrians in a crash, as the point of vehicle contact is more likely to occur at the pedestrian’s chest or head. I merge US crash data with a public data set on vehicle dimensions to test for the impact of vehicle height on the likelihood that a struck pedestrian dies. After controlling for crash characteristics, I estimate a 10 cm increase in the vehicle’s front-end height is associated with a 22% increase in fatality risk. I estimate that a cap on front-end vehicle heights of 1.25 meters would reduce annual US pedestrian deaths by 509.
Published: Tyndall, J. (2024). The effect of front-end vehicle height on pedestrian death risk. Economics of Transportation, 37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecotra.2024.100342