Comment by ErroneousBosh
3 hours ago
Well, I know from my own experience of driving some really quite nice modern EVs they are a far bigger risk to pedestrians than my own car, a 30-year-old Range Rover.
It's really simple.
The Range Rover has you quite high up in the air, and has really big windows with nothing that gets in the way.
The Kia Niro EV that I drive most often has you sitting with your shoulders about level with the bottom of the window, a big long bonnet in front of a steeply-raked windscreen, huge A pillars so you can't see for about 15° either side of the car, and most of your view of pedestrian crossings blocked by a giant "blob" in the upper centre of the windscreen for all the cameras and sensors for things like lane assist.
The only vehicle I regularly use with better visibility of other road users - including pedestrians - than the Range Rover is my bicycle.
The Kia with all its sensors and beepers and flashers and things is like driving a Daimler Ferret through its little periscope.
I don't know how people can drive EVs. They're so stressful.
I agree that bigger cars are worse, but this seems like a different issue to me than the beeping.
The Kia is smaller, but worse.
If you drive that then you are far more likely to run over a pedestrian because you will not see them. The blind spots are ridiculous.