The author not only correlated the increased number of deaths with the increased number of large vehicles around, but also found that there is cities with larger increases in vehicle size had a correlated larger increase in deaths. So essentially there is a correlation on different levels, which is a much stronger indicator for causation.

If you are saying this is a spurious causality you should suggest alternative reasons why we should see the correlation. To me it doesn't seem that there should be any reason why cities with increased vehicle sizes should also have increased number of people walking on the roadside without sidewalks.

Moreover considering the large numbers we are talking about i would imagine intoxication for example would average out.

Night drivers are the worst. I occasionally jog at night and have a stretch of road where there is no sidewalk. I have reflective gear and a headlamp on. I had someone have the audacity to stop and honk their horn at me because I was jogging in the left lane...which is the lane your supposed to be cause you can see the oncoming traffic.

"the biggest factor in pedestrian deaths seemed to be pedestrians walking at night along roads without a dedicated sidewalk"

So... pedestrians existing? It sounds to me that people are driving too fast for the road conditions.

I remember looking at the same data some time ago and reaching the same conclusion about accidents at night. Another factor was that the pedestrians themselves are very likely to be intoxicated.