People are calling an Omaha boulder a “hero” for taking out SUVs. This also has a deadly serious message.

A boulder in an Omaha parking lot is racking up an impressive high score of taking out SUVs. KETV has the amusing news segment:

Jalopnik started calling this and other such boulders “hero rocks” and asked people to send examples from around the country.

We can laugh at the foolish drivers, but there’s also a deadly serious message here (which wasn’t lost on Jalopnik’s Adam Gordon). Many children are about the size of that boulder, and it’s clear that these vehicles are designed so drivers can’t see boulder- or child-sized objects right near or in front of them.

I’ve posted a pic of this truck before, but not with my average height 5yo. Standing on the curb, his head barely clears the wheel well. Bonus, this vehicle has a non-expiring inspection sticker. A vehicle this tall should require a commercial driver’s license or be banned. pic.twitter.com/gHMxyq7uv1

— Katherine W (@bakfietsdc) November 9, 2019

Mount Pleasant Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Chelsea Allinger has been sounding the alarm about this for some time. The Montgomery County-based Action Committee for Transit (ACT) has been tweeting a near-constant stream of stories of people on foot or bike seriously injuried or killed in the county. The road design plays a huge part here, but so do car designs. They’ve been getting bigger and taller, and more deadly.

SUVs’ death toll has risen 23% for people walking and 20% for people biking since 2009, Streetsblog wrote. ACT noted that someone is 2-3 times as likely to be killed if hit by an SUV than a sedan.

Meanwhile, VW this past summer exhorted everyone to “drive something bigger.” Lexus’ ad slogan: “Elevate.”

And the super-popular Ford F-150 keeps getting larger each year.