I appreciate all the comments. Just like some of us get in the car with the intention of driving safely and efficiently, there are others who wake up with the intention of starting a fight with a stranger. I drive quite gently with my Gen 4, but recently, I've slowed down even more in terms of just driving in a more relaxed manner and keeping a bigger gap in front of me, and I'm so aware of how much aggression and hostility is out there on the roads, and just how many people are not paying attention to their surroundings. I still feel my silent running is a contributory factor. I spoke to my friend who cycles a lot and he says his no. 1 issue is with EVs/hybrids that are behind him/coming to overtake him on the road, and he doesn't even realise because of the lack of engine noise, which is how he determines if there are vehicles approaching from behind. I've been reading about road rage and how to avoid situations escalating. Reflecting upon yesterday, I suspect that the kid got angry partly because I had told him off. Life is very short and it's not worth risking my personal safety with hooligans on the road. After all, in over 20 years of driving, this kind of aggressive reaction where I felt threatened has happened 5 times. Incidentally, I'm not sure that good or bad areas makes a difference, as I read that in a rich part of London, teenagers opened front doors of stationary vehicles stuck in traffic, to grab mobile phones/laptop bags/purses from the passenger seat.
Ultra loud rap music is the proximity alerting mechanism of the masses these days as far as I'm concerned. Difficult to tell the difference between car window open, or closed its played so loud and I'm deaf!
I'm not sure a noisemaker would help. Many times we have had to avoid people not hearing our 8 cylinder Toyota Tundra pickup truck. Perhaps @RCO 's rap music is making people deaf ???
Sorry to hear of your recent loss, my friend. Whatever happened to the rear view mirror that was common on cycles in my youth a century ago. Cyclists these days are seen careless of the surrounding traffic and demand everything avoid them, if you please!
The evidence in support of my theory of intelligence continues to mount. When God made Adam and Eve, He made all the intelligence He would ever make. The more people there are, the thinner it is spread.
My Volt has a button on the end of the turn signal lever that you press for warning pedestrians. The system gives off a triple beep sound that's fairly unobtrusive.
During my walks, I've found that there are significant numbers of fairly silent traditional ICE-only cars out there too, especially among the higher end models. In the ambient conditions of my neighborhood (vastly quieter than downtown, but still no match for dad's rural farm), I'll first detect them by tire noise, not engine noise. I can still pick out many hybrids and electrics by their inverter whines, though that will continue to fade with age (mine, not theirs). Bicycling is a different matter. Wind noise past my ears and through the helmet straps masks many audio cues.
Same experience here, hybrid or not, cars are running pretty quiet. Any ambient noise, wind, rustling trees; masks the sounds even better. I really like @El Dobro 's description of his Volt's turn signal beeper. It'd be nice to be able to give a controlled, recognizeable beep, something short of laying on the horn. I'm assuming the Volt's system uses the horn, but in a very short, controlled, lower decibel manner.
Classical music is supposed to drive hoodies away, window open and a good blast of Beethoven should do it
Having lived my life in lower diversity neighborhoods, much of what I've heard hasn't been rap or hiphop. But the alerting mechanism is otherwise the same.
My volt had a second, distinctive horn button on the end of the turnsignal stalk. It was softer, multi-beep type sound that wasn't offensive. My kids could always find me parked in a sea of glaring headlights when I picked them up from a nighttime school bus trip by following that sound.
Yes, both would be nice. But I'm suspecting beancounters more than lawyers for the softened sound. The lawyers would be objecting to the locomotive airhorn choice.
You forgot the politicians but they have not forgotten you. Quiet Car Rule: New EVs Must Emit Warning Sounds In US By 2019 It is interesting to note that NHSTA studies indicate low speed accidents are 18% more likely in hybrid/electric vehicles than traditional autos, but that the addition of a warning sound is not likely to decrease actual pedestrian fatalities, as historical data shows that more fatal accidents occur with traditional petrol vehicles than plug-ins and hybrids.
