Good morning. Keir Starmer, Britain’s prime minister, resigned this morning. And a first round of talks between the United States and Iran in Switzerland has come to an end. Negotiators say there’s been progress. I’m going to start today, though, behind the wheel of my truck.
Tall and dangerousThe hood of my full-size 2017 Toyota Tundra pickup truck starts around 50 inches off the ground. The hood height of my wife’s 2014 Ford C-Max is 31 inches. Trucks like mine, a Times investigation has found, are far deadlier than smaller cars like hers. They kill thousands of pedestrians who otherwise might have survived being hit by them. And there are a lot of trucks like mine. In the early 2000s, a majority of passenger vehicles on American roads were traditional cars like sedans and coupes. Ford used to sell millions of them each year. In the United States, the company doesn’t even make sedans anymore. Today, sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks dominate, millions of them with hoods that are more than 50 inches tall — like the Ford F-250 and the Chevrolet Silverado 2500. The number of those big boys has increased fivefold since 2002. Why are they so dangerous? Two reasons: the height of the hoods and the size of their blind spots. The Times’s investigation is bracing. Our reporters — Michael H. Keller, Eli Murray, Danielle Ivory and Irineo Cabreros — worked with crash-reconstruction experts to create simulations of what happens when vehicles hit a pedestrian straight on at 20 miles per hour. In the first simulation, a standard sedan with a hood height of around two and a half feet runs into a figure representing an average American man, 5-foot-9. It hits him below his center of gravity and throws him onto the hood of the car. That would definitely suck. But he might survive.
The second simulation shows a modern pickup truck with a hood height closer to four feet. It hits the figure in the chest and pushes him to the ground, and then runs him over. “We see a lot of devastating collisions even at lower speeds because the pedestrian gets punted forward,” said an expert whose company conducted the crash tests for us. “Before the driver knows what’s happened, the pedestrian’s head is under the wheel.”
Since 2009, the number of pedestrians killed each year has risen by about 75 percent. Blind spotsPeople buy these big trucks for lots of reasons. I use mine to haul a boat trailer, to take trash and recyclables to the dump, to pick up firewood, to store tools and fishing gear. You need 75 cinder blocks to build a pig smoker for your Fourth of July party? I’m your man. I feel safe in the cab of my truck, comfortable. I can see for miles. Except, the investigation shows, that’s just not true. First of all, the high hood means there’s a significant blind spot in front of the vehicle. If there were a child right in front of my truck, I couldn’t see her. Second, some of my vision is blocked by what are called the vehicle’s A-pillars — the vertical supports on either side of the windshield that help protect me in the event of a rollover. My truck weighs nearly 5,500 pounds. The A-pillars are stout.
The A-pillar on the driver’s side, and my cartoonishly large side mirror, combine to create a problematic blind zone during left turns. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found last year that vehicles like mine were substantially more likely to hit pedestrians when turning left. The crash-reconstruction experts helped our reporters model how those left-turn accidents come about. It’s genuinely terrifying. As you can see in the article, the pedestrian appears to come almost out of nowhere. We should all be careful driving through intersections. But those of you with big trucks — that’s nearly half of Americans, according to a 2024 survey — should be especially vigilant. I know I will be. Read the whole investigation here. It’s a free link.
Keir Starmer, Britain’s embattled prime minister, announced his resignation this morning. Less than two years ago, Starmer led the Labour Party to a landslide victory in parliamentary elections. But he struggled in office as a sagging economy drove his popularity to record lows. The party suffered devastating losses in local elections last month, and many cited frustration with Starmer as the reason for voting against it. Starmer said he would remain prime minister until a new party leader was selected, probably by September. The most likely candidate to replace him is Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, who won a resounding victory last week in a special election for a seat in Parliament. Read more about Burnham. (This link is free for you, too.)
A first round of peace talks between the United States and Iran concluded early this morning in Switzerland. Pakistan and Qatar, which are mediating the talks, released a statement saying that the U.S. and Iran had agreed to a “road map” for reaching a final deal within 60 days. According to a U.S. official, talks focused on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending the fighting in Lebanon. Iranian state media reported that Iran’s nuclear program was not discussed.
Around the World
Other Big Stories
Technological advancements have always caused anxiety, but strong leadership can help guide the public, Robert J. Shiller writes. Some executives insist on full-time in-person work because they say it increases productivity. In reality, it has more to do with their egos, Adam Grant, Marissa Shandell and Courtney Elliott write. Most Americans say they love working from home. But the data shows it has deepened our isolation and distress, Emma Harrington and Natalia Emanuel write. (We’ve made this link free for you.) Subscribers always win. Here’s why. You can now save 75% on your first year of a New York Times Games subscription. Discover all of our word and logic games (and play past puzzles), earn badges for your achievements, plus more. Time is running out though, so subscribe today.
Beauty school: Some #girldads are challenging the norms of fatherhood by learning the complexities of doing their daughters’ hair. A death in the Hamptons: A landscaper’s difficult life and lonely death reveal the human cost behind the manicured landscapes. (We’ve made this link free for you.) Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about eight figures who shaped American history. The Ethicist: Our columnist responds to a questioner who is worried that two friends might be harmed by their own son. (We’ve made this link free for you.) The body and soul of Tinker Bell: Margaret Kerry spent months pantomiming actions before the Disney illustrator Marc Davis. Their work produced the definitive version of J.M. Barrie’s fairy. She died at 97.
60— That’s how many seconds the Welsh comedian Elis Jones says he needs to find someone he knows in common with any Welsh person who calls his radio show. He manages to do it about half the time.
Egypt had its first-ever World Cup win with a huge comeback against New Zealand. Mo Salah scored his team’s go-ahead goal in a 3-1 victory. Cape Verde, which was not expected to advance, has a good chance of going on to the knockout round after its 2-2 draw with Uruguay. France’s head coach, Didier Deschamps, joined the chorus of players and officials complaining about the playing surface at MetLife Stadium. Read his comments.
Here’s a terrific recipe for a complete dinner: chicken with corn and cabbage. It’s cool — a kind of brick chicken situation for skin-on thigh meat that you serve with a salad of corn, cabbage, diced pickles and loads of herbs. Good eats.
Wesley Morris recently profiled the director Steven Spielberg in advance of the release of Spielberg’s latest film, “Disclosure Day.” On “Cannonball,” Wesley’s podcast for The Times, he talked about Spielberg with the film curator Eric Hynes. I |
