We do, but it doesn’t happen as often as you might think.

[Above is a cutaway view of the Abrams driver’s compartment. Perfectly comfortable for man of average height.

The running joke is instead of the sergeant commanding “Gunner, sabot, tank left” he says “Driver, right tread, that guy over there!” However, I have never heard of any tank driver deliberately targeting and squashing an individual.

There are stories of idiot hodgies trying to block an armored company with a civilian vehicle. Of course, the lead tank just plows through them like a load semi through recycling bins. There was also a story where a tank was moving with driver hatch open and the driver happened to spot the enemy and shot him with his personal rifle.

There’s also one story of a tank that almost ran over a tank inside a giant foxhole and the Tank Commander (TC) order the driver to spin the treads to partially bury it.

But the reality of a tank is the driver is a trained monkey. We can hardly see anything and are completely dependent on the TC’s instructions. The TC is managing the whole crew and can only give orders so precise and so quickly. This is why it’s said the largest vehicles more sail than they drive.

The truth is things and people small and close enough to tank to get squished are usually smart and agile enough to nope right out of there.