Yes, there's a big difference between US and EU pedestrian safety requirements - just as there's a big difference in how close pedestrians and vehicles get in both places. For a long time vehicles were only tested for pedestrian safety in Europe and Chrysler were the masters in producing cars that were utterly lethal to pedestrians - I think it was one of the Voyager variants that got red (for greatest risk to pedestrians) over the whole front end of the car up to the screen. And if you think the long-snout safety Clubman above is a shocker, the next idea was to add a pop-up catch fence so that once a pedestrian was hit, they didn't get thrown onto the road (impact with the road often does more damage than the initial impact with the vehicle). No, the pole holding the hood/bonnet open isn't part of the vehicle!
^^^ OMG! And now Volvo has an exterior airbag mounted at the back of the hood to protect flying pedestrians from hitting the windshield. It's not available yet, but soon. :crazy:
So what you are saying is our pedestrians are smarter and they know not to walk in traffic. :lol::lol: This is also why we like LOUD horns. They mean Get the F out of they way or die.
Here in CO, if you drive in the mountains, thats probably the safest place to drive! If not you will probably hit some guy/girl who spent way too much on a bicycle and porno shorts to use that on the sidewalk like it used to be... And yes... A hand held air horn out the window normally works.
Wow that is some odd stuff there. Sure glad our cars don't look that bad. I have heard of external airbags be thought of as a solution. :crazy: