While I mostly agree with you, cars then and cars now in the US are not the same.
The typical car back then was a 5 door sedan, think ford crown, Chevrolet lumina, etc. These days almost everyone is driving pretty much a light truck.
I'll give you a hint about statistics... there will always be a #1 killer of children. Today it's car accidents, 100 years ago it was disease. After disease it was other accidents, and 100 years from now it will be something else.
Listen I agree with both you and the poster I replied to. What I am saying is that the risk from cars really did increase. Not that it's the only reason that the change happened.
I don't think you ever saw the cars my grandmother drove when my dad was a kid. It was not a "light truck" or anything of the type. It was a 'car' and it was actually bigger, by quite a large margin.
You may not remember the "land yacht" sedans, or the gargantuan station wagons, which were common family cars back in the day. Longer, wider, and heavier than any modern SUV, crossover, or minivan.
