Hybrids a hazard to the blind?

My girlfriend is actually an instructor that teaches braille. At her job, they refer to the Prius as the "enemy" car. That nonsense about seeing eye dogs is ridiculous. Many self reliant blind people use a cane and their hearing to navigate traffic, cook, get around town, etc.

California people know that if they hit a pedestrian, it's their fault--period. In the southeast and on the East Coast, it's the pedestrian's fault for not running fast enough. (j/k)

The bottom line is that any driver in an urban environment knows to watch out for pedestrians and cyclists. As long as the driver isn't looking at the MFD and paying attention to his or her surroundings (Y'all know who you are!) this shouldn't be an issue.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(zenMachine @ Oct 3 2007, 11:28 AM) [snapback]520728[/snapback]</div>

I don't think there are rules requiring drivers to look out for blind people, but there are certainly laws requiring drivers to look out for any pedestrian, blind or not. If someone is in a crosswalk, if they are hit by a car it is the driver's fault. Period. Of course, that's crossing with the signal. Jaywalking and illegal crossing, the pedestrian would be at fault, but as a driver you should be looking out for everything all the time. If not to protect others from you hitting them, for protecting your car from hitting something.

This doesn't really even apply strictly to blind people, I've nearly hit numerous people in mall parking lots because they are talking on the phone or just not paying attention and walk right out in front of me because they don't hear my quiet Prius rolling up. I find that in a Prius I have to be extra vigilant looking out for pedestrians, whether they are blind or just not paying attention to their own surroundings.

Be safe.

Andy

 

This type of thing really pisses me off. I'm really sick of that whole Americans with Disabilities act and using it push change. No wheelchair ramp? Oops you MUST put one in, lets forget that the school that does loses lots of money. The school I work has one in, one of those electrical ones to go up steps... well the only time it was used was the day it was installed to see if it works, 5 years ago.. . way to go!

Here apparently it's "code" to put those yellow plastic bumps at every place where the sidewalk slopes to an area where cars go. So a place like costco, has this fence of them around the whole place, because we know someone blind is going to go to costco by themselves. The city of SF has spent untold thousands (maybe millions) putting these in on every corner they can it seems... oh yeah most of these corners didn't have slopes to start with! And the kicker for me, is that if you build a parking garage thye have to have them going from the parking garage to the outside... for when that rare blind person drives there and wants to do some shopping.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(AZTriGuy @ Oct 4 2007, 01:37 PM) [snapback]521263[/snapback]</div>

good point.

last time i went to target, i had a lady nearly walk straight into my driver's door. (i was at a complete stop, waiting to see where she was going to go.) and she looked all irritated with ME!!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Oct 4 2007, 11:01 AM) [snapback]521280[/snapback]</div>

The most annoying thing (from a driver's perspective at least) is when you're driving through the parking lot and people are walking in the middle of the lanes. With normal cars, they hear them approaching from behind and move to the sides so the cars can get through. When you come up on with a Prius, though, they don't hear you until you get right up and nudge them out of the way.

Kidding about that last part, though it has crossed my mind. Of course, the horn is great in those instances too, since you've just snuck up to about a foot behind them without them hearing you. You risk giving the pedestrians a heart attack then, but man, is it ever funny

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(allargon @ Oct 4 2007, 09:10 AM) [snapback]521206[/snapback]</div>

I must be missing something. If a pedestrian (regardless of whether they are blind or not) is hit by a car, the car driver is at fault (at least in California). I agree with the urban legend/recycling of anti-Prius concept. You have got to wonder at how low some people will go to come up with an anti-Prius/hybrid spin. Maybe GM should accelerate the release of the Yukon/Tahoe hybrids so that hybrids will finally get mainstream. Afterall, if a SUV is hybridized, then hybrids have finally arrived.

 

Bloody blind people, we need to find a gun so you can go shoot them all. After all they are sub human aren't they?

For goodness sake have a heart.

By the way isn't Rolls Royce renowned for it's silence?
Should driving down hills be banned? A good quality car will be very quiet going down a hill. Most cars make more noise from the tyres than from under the bonnet anyway and the exhaust points backwards so it may help when going backwards but not forwards.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Oct 5 2007, 08:29 AM) [snapback]521653[/snapback]</div>

Darwin baby - Darwin!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(AZTriGuy @ Oct 4 2007, 01:37 PM) [snapback]521263[/snapback]</div>

Not sure about rules as such, but in Virginia, there's a separate penalty for failing to stop for a pedestrian with a white cane or guide dog.

Apparently that's fairly common. This article says that blind pedestrians have the right of way even when not crossing in the crosswalk, in Maryland:

http://www.sauerburger.org/dona/roadrules.htm

Googling white cane traffic laws suggests that a lot of states have something on the books specific to blind and disabled pedestrians.

 

Here's the solution - from a press release from The Seeing Eye of Morristown, NJ

The Seeing Eye, Inc. - Partnering with the New Hampshire Association for the Blind to promote safe travel for individuals who are blind and visually impaired. The Seeing Eye will be offering a demonstration with a hybrid car (Prius) which they use in their traffic training program for Seeing Eye Dogs.

A generous donation from a Chicago-area benefactor has
enabled The Seeing Eye, Inc., to purchase a hybrid car. The 2007 Toyota
Prius will join the school's fleet of vehicles used for traffic training
of people with visual impairments teamed with specially trained canines.

 

I have (unfortunately) seen more kids on bikes hit than a single blind individual. The blind are extremely, extremely aware of the situation and risks. It's the kids flying down the sidewalk across all the side streets that require extreme vigilance. Is there an actual case of a blind individual being hit by a Prius in stealth mode?

 

I drive past the Deaf and Blind school downtown every day on my way to lunch at the park. None of the Blind kids have had any problem hearing my Prius approaching.

Do you think it has something to do with Santana at setting 25?

The reality is that no one is asking the blind what they think. Twice now I have had blind people turn their heads and follow the sound of my tires on the road while I am cruising by on electric. They both had big smiles and one kid gave me a thumbs up!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FL_Prius_Driver @ Oct 5 2007, 05:34 PM) [snapback]521948[/snapback]</div>

Excellent question. I tried to find the statistics on total pedestrian deaths for visually impaired, but it must be rare enough that nobody bothers to tabulate it. I note that the federal FARS data (crash death data) have a place to note that a person was legally blind or visually impaired.

So, since I do this kind of stuff for a living, I downloaded the 2006 FARS data, and calculated that there were a total of six legally blind pedestrians killed in all US auto accidents in 2006. Based on the FARS reporting (ie., you're always at risk that they didn't record the person's blindness, but the count was six based on the official statistics.)

I didn't go so far as to link this back to the vehicle make and type, but given that hybrids are a tiny percentage of the US fleet, I'd say the odds are good that the number of blind pedestrians killed by hybrids in 2006 was zero.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wile-e @ Oct 6 2007, 01:36 AM) [snapback]522107[/snapback]</div>

The reality is I have. A blind person who I knew very well HATED hybrids. Once she was crossing at the corner like she did a thousand times before, listening for traffic, when she was nearly plowed into by an EV (it wasn't a Prius).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(chogan @ Oct 6 2007, 07:36 AM) [snapback]522130[/snapback]</div>

Most excellent work. Factor in about 50,000 deaths due to auto accidents and this shows that adding noise to a Prius is a destructive thing to do. Let's work on reducing the 50,000.

An (unanswerable) question would be how many pedestrians were killed because the noise saturation on the roads prevented them from hearing the oncoming vehicle?

 

Ok, here's the deal. Every Prius gets a flashing cop car light and siren. No matter where we go, we have to run the flashing light and siren when on EV mode. Problem solved!

Bob Wilson

 

For all the humorists----Yes it's a genuine problem and no, it will not cost much at all.
"Blind people---threat---Silent hybrid cars" details a problem already solved.
Small, low cost RFIDs, the size of a 20c coin glued into the front grill at initial registration for every "silent" electric/hybrid car would do it.
Read by blind person's low cost, sound emitting, hand held, directional RFID scanner.
In “Google†it’s easy to find an example of a blind user friendly hand-held scanner---about the size of a small torch.

They work by a scanner “enquiry†signal going out, energizing a tiny memory chip and “reply†antenna, and the scanner reading the â€electric-car-warning-code†which would trigger the audible and/or tactile warning.

The only thing preventing system uptake is the imagination/intellect problem in the bureaucratic community. They will act, but only after several deaths of ordinary people or one or two famous people.
The environmentalist/tightwad brigade could be unhelpful too, a dollar per car may upset them.
It is a bulk world market awaiting, so probably the on-board RFID would be car-powered and a dedicated solution would give 50 to 100 meters range.
The concern is genuine and the lead solver will certainly be Toyota---they're the smartest. Once a world standard short digital RFID code is agreed and incorporated in the car's computer system, a 50c lead to the grill area, and a 10c antenna in the grill all fitted then, for under $1 your PROBLEM IS SOLVED !
A dedicated solution would be best and ultimately cheapest. Off the shelf the fastest.
I run S mode transponder and TCAS for collision avoidance at 20000 feet in my sailplane. It works well and in 3 dimensions too.
Google as keyword “RFID Scannersâ€, and you will spot thousands of solutions so, where’s the problem?