The Hidden Danger of BIG Trucks

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Last December an 18-year-old man driving a 2020 Jeep Gladiator pickup truck hit and killed Eva Barcza near her suburban New Jersey home. Barcza had been taking a walk, like so many Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her husband of 60 years found her lying in a crosswalk crying in pain from broken bones and serious internal injuries. Hours later, she died in a hospital. Barcza was a teacher, a grandmother, and an avid gardener, her daughter Mary says.

In the aftermath, Mary Barcza says she started working with the group Families for Safe Streets, which is asking the New York Legislature to lower speed limits in urban areas and require warnings on larger vehicles at the point of sale that detail the risks they pose to others on the road. “I truly believe that my mother would’ve had a greater chance of survival had she not been struck by such a large vehicle,” she says.

The hood of a Gladiator is 45.5 inches high, CR’s measurements show. Marketed by Jeep as a vehicle that can “conquer” the road, it’s part of a cultural phenomenon of enduring consumer demand for bigger everyday trucks, some of which don’t come with important safety features as standard equipment. Research has found that modern pickups—which can have tall hoods, large blind spots, and stiff body-on-frame designs, and which can often exceed 4,000 pounds—are particularly deadly in crashes with pedestrians and smaller, lighter vehicles.

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