A 75" hood height is stupid.

Are all your mechanics Swedish volleyball players and where is the shop?

75 is roof height not hood height.

They certainly don't help but according to this, the spike is related to smartphones not trucks/SUVs

This is absolute bullshit, I am just over 6' and there is not a stock car on the market in America that I cannot see over the hood.

The fact that it's more difficult to see someone in front of you when your hood is 6 feet up probably has a lot to do with it too. Takes longer to stop a heavier vehicle too.

Commercial driving licenses exist to ensure there's additional training for people driving a large vehicles. But there's no additional training needed for driving massive pickup trucks.

I don't like my chances as a pedestrian getting hit by even a Honda Civic. But I think someone driving a Civic is more likely to see me and stop their car before hitting me than someone driving a lifted F-350.

Good thing tankies got Trump elected again after Biden pushed to include pedestrian-safety into vehicle design.

Yeah, that's also a big factor. I think a factor would also be that EU has stricter safety laws, it's usually much harder to get a license than in the US, has better infrastructure, etc.

Not to mention that new US cars (as far as I'm aware) still don't even have a requirement to have ADAS, doesn't really help the situation. If an idiot is on their phone here, there's at least some chance that their car will brake... but even more dangerous if it's a twatmobile of course.

Early 2000s big vehicles are tiny compared to modern SUVs and trucks. I work somewhere with a garage that sees mostly SUVs, and one day someone had brought in a Hummer H2. The classic monstrosity of its time. That thing parked next to a brand new Escalade or Yukon is absolutely dwarfed. Its about the same size as the average modern SUV. But compared to the average size of a 2000s sedan its huge, so people remember it as being bigger than it was

Up until recently I drove a nice early 2000s passat. That was a family car in its day, but its easily dwarfed by any modern sedan.

The only roundabout hereabouts replaced a 4 way stop in a residential area. Little thing, one lane. So if I stop to wait for a pedestrian, the person behind me who's planning on continuing around to another exit will have to stop too. Which, given that the whole point of a roundabout is not to stop, they will not be expecting. I will get honked at and/or rear-ended, depending what they're doing on their phone. I think I'll circle around until it's safe.