I have no intention of commenting on this case since I wasn't there.
It is a long while since a did a walk around at a busy airport but as a B707/747 LAME and FE I did my share in all conditions throughout the World.
What I noticed is that in my early days all ramp staff worked directly for airlines or fuel companies. There was a culture of awareness of the pilot or FE and that vehicles kept away from us during the walkaround process. By the time I retired most ramp staff were contractors with no airport culture or background and basically were so pushed by short staffing and cost cutting that they rarely even considered the situation.
The other thing that was noticeable was that the number of pilot/vehicle contacts dramatically increased in my company as the FEs disappeared. My suspicion is that the FEs were all ex apprentices. We started at 15 to 17 years old years old and rapidly developed a sixth sense/situational awareness of our work environment which initially did not include walking around a large aeroplane without looking at where we were walking.10 years + later we took that 6th sense to our new flying role. For the most part pilots went into that same dangerous environment in their mid to late 20s without that background.
Wunwing