If they still had loads of false object detections, enabling it may have caused loads of rear end collisions as well.
This. Not only do pedestrians need to be predictable, but EVERYTHING needs to be predictable to eliminate collisions.
Utter nonsense. You have to be prepared for the driver in front of you braking for apparently no good reason at all times. Because of that in most countries you are at fault when you drive your car into the rear of the car in front of you: you can't see what the driver in front of you is seeing.
I agree you need to be prepared for the driver ahead of you to brake. But the thing being missed is that is actually quite likely and therefore predictable and more importantly you don't expect them to reach zero speed instantly. The car ahead didn't drop a brick wall that you have to avoid hitting. A "safe following distance" is such that you can react to the predictable situations such as the car ahead braking. They have a stopping distance similar as you, so what you are reacting to is their action of braking. This is predictably something a car does and in this case if you have "a safe following distance" you both brake and you both decelerate together and don't collide. "A safe following distance" is different if the car ahead of you is a Lamborghini and you are in a Suburban, but these are things you can work out on the fly and don't violate the rules. A semi-truck won't magically have the stopping distance of the Lamborghini. .
A story. Once, I was driving in the third lane out of a 4 lane carriageway - just before it splits into 2+2 for a junction. Ahead of me was a White Van. I was following it leaving a safe distance, when...
...the van engine seized. Almighty cloud of blue smoke from the back end of the van. A mixture of diesel, rubber, and bits of engine (but not lubricating oil. Clearly no lubricating oil). The thing just stopped in the middle of the road with traffic passing either side.
I didn't hit it - I had left plenty of room to stop in an emergency. I always do now. Always. Even if it annoys the heck out of the Perfect Drivers.
Three true stories...
My first car was, um, interesting. If you coasted up to a roundabout and then put your foot down to accelerate into the gap in traffic - it would drop out of gear leaving you stranded. Oh the joys of a car where the automatic gearbox transmission oil is shared with the dirty engine oil
My second car was also interesting, but in a nicer way. Except when pulling back in after overtaking on the A11 in Thetford forest - the nearside wheel fell off and buried itself in the hedge (fortunately!). I got the RAC out, and we decided there was no damage to the car, so I simply took one nut off each of the other wheels and bolted the wheel back on.
Or, when travelling 2s behind another car at 50mph, a female deer decided to run across in that gap.