Finally

The NHTSA is finally getting off of its ass and proposing rules to make the popular "Murder Mobile" SUVs less dangerous.

It's about f%$#ing time.

These vehicles are ridiculously heavy, but there is no reason that the design has to express a level of hostility that is literally getting people killed:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing new regulations for vehicle design intended to reduce the number of pedestrians killed and seriously injured in crashes on U.S. roads.

The proposal announced Monday comes as the number of annual pedestrian deaths is up more than 75% since reaching its lowest point in 2009.

“We have a crisis of roadway deaths, and it’s even worse among vulnerable road users like pedestrians,” said Sophie Shulman, NHTSA’s deputy administrator, in a statement announcing the proposed regulation. “This proposed rule will ensure that vehicles will be designed to protect those inside and outside from serious injury or death.”

Regulators say their proposal would establish new test procedures that simulate a head-to-hood impact, along with performance requirements to minimize the risk of head injury. The agency estimates that could save 67 lives each year.

………

“It will bring American standards more in line with global leaders in Europe and Asia, who in many cases have traffic fatality rates that are a fraction of ours,” said Angie Schmitt, the author of Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America.

Lawmakers in Congress introduced a bill last month that would require federal standards for hood height and visibility to protect pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.

Traffic and pedestrian fatalities in the U.S. climbed sharply for over a decade before leveling off last year. The reasons for that rise are complicated, and likely include road and sidewalk design, an increase in speeding and a corresponding decline in law enforcement, as well as the growing size and weight of vehicles.

Safety advocates argue that vehicle design also plays an important role. Vehicles with higher front ends and blunt profiles are 45% more likely to cause fatalities in crashes with pedestrians than smaller cars and trucks, according to a study of real-world crashes by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

There is absolutely no reason that the hoods are so long and so high that manufacturers are starting to equip these monstrosities with FRONT cameras.

These designs are not about anything beyond intimidating the people around them.  It needs to stop.