Pedestrian Safety

More distractions, walkers, SUVs — 'The alarm bells continue to sound'

Out of 11 crossovers tested, one model flunked every simulation.

They tried a UFO sound, which had an unintended consequence.

A new report from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety finds that hit-and-run crashes killed 2,049 people in the U.S. in 2016, a record high and a 60 percent increase since 2009. Unsurprisingly, most of the victims — nearly 65 percent — were pedestrians or bicyclists.

Now here's a genuine novelty: In San Francisco, a motorcycle cop pulled over an autonomous vehicle and issued it a ticket. The future has arrived.

It'd be located behind a "discrete door" just underneath the hood and forward of the door jam.

The spike in car crashes went away when the Pokemon craze faded.

When sensing it's about to hit a pedestrian, the car would change the rigidity of its body panels, bumpers and the hood using underlying cables, rods or springs.

You'll finally be able to hear hybrids and electric cars coming.

Semcon's Smiling Car lets pedestrians know it sees them, and that it's safe to cross the street.

In a move to maker pedestrians safer, NHTSA finally intends to release its rules governing the sound from EVs and hybrids in November. They don't go into effect until 2018, though.

A Volvo salesperson recently attempted to demonstrate the XC60 City Safety system to a group of prospective car buyers. What the dealer didn't understand was the safety system, which helps avoid or mitigate collisions, doesn't detect pedestrians.

The Governors Highway Safety Association has released an analysis of preliminary pedestrian fatality traffic data for the first six months of 2014. The study indicates deaths for the year are likely be be about the same as 2013, indicating slow progress with pedestrian safety efforts.

Ben Woolf, a star of American Horror Story: Freak Show, died this week in Los Angeles after being struck by an SUV. His death highlighted efforts by regulators and automakers to ramp up pedestrian safety efforts, though fatalities remain high.

The NHTSA delays the final ruling of the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, meaning it won't come into compliance until 2018. The move has upset the National Federation for the Blind, which has been lobbying for more than a decade for built-in automated alerts for EVs and hybrids moving at low speeds.

Recently elected New York City mayor Bill de Blasio inaugurated his "Vision Zero" plan last year to reduce traffic deaths in The Big Apple to zero by 2024. The numbers for 2014 show the initiative is headed in the right direction: pedestrian deaths dropped to an all-time low of 132, down from 179 in 2013.

A new report ranked the most dangerous cities in America for pedestrians, and things are not looking too bright in the Sunshine State.

For the first time in four years, the number of pedestrians killed on American roads has fallen.

For decades, engineers have worked diligently to make people safer inside their vehicles. But more recently, safety engineers and designers have begun to make people safer outside of vehicles in the event of a collision.

As proof of just how quickly automotive technology can advance, just check out the Volvo V40. Developed with an external airbag aimed at better protecting pedestrians in the event of a collision, this innovative safety device could be phased out soon in place of more advanced active safety technologies like pedestrian detection a