Open letter to the blind

Here you go, so they can read it:



Print it, and raise the bumps with a Bic pen from behind.

 

:amen:

 

Bob,

Respectfully, I disagree that 5000 pedestrian and bike deaths is a serious problem. With 325 million in the country, I am amazed the number killed is not higher. Now being accidentally killed by medical errors is a problem..... about 150,000 a year accidently killed.

 

Sorry but that is ridiculous. Cyclists don't "forget they are invisible to traffic" and quite frankly cyclists are not invisible. Some accidents are caused by cyclists but plenty of accidents are caused by drivers who fail to yield the right of way, break the law by passing too closely or just plain take their eyes off the road. Add in the fact that many police officers don't actually know the laws as they apply to cyclists and don't get statements from cyclists who have been in accidents because they are either on their way to the hospital in an ambulance or they are dead, and in many cases cyclists are blamed when they are really not at fault.

 

the government has decided to finance a study on hybrids and EV's to determine if legislation "requiring" them to be more noisier is necessary. another "excellent" way to spend money we dont have...

wonder what the world will sound like in 10 years when most of the cars on the road make little or no noise?

 

Never mind, I was feeling cranky....

 

It makes me angry too, but it doesn't help anyone to toss off a statement saying that all car-bicycle accidents are caused by forgetful cyclists. Just like some car-pedestrian accidents are the fault of the pedestrian, but you can't assume that either party is always at fault.

 

Let's see, ZERO deaths / injuries so far ... relating to silent EV's OR hybrids.

versus:

An average 50,000 alcohol related DEATHS anually.

Hmmm ... (checking priorities) ... oh yea ... sounds right to me :wacko:

If you can't solve child abuse, domestic violence, graft, Oil based economy corruption, education, health insurance issues, you might as well regulate people trying to save gas. Nice.

.

 

noise maker? how? Put baseball cards in the rims? I prefer silence over anything. Its not my fault people don't look for oncoming cars down aisle ways while walking in between cars in lots.

 

Nicely put.

I downloaded the detailed 2006 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data (the source of the traffic fatality data), and looked for blind pedestrian traffic deaths.

In 2006 (most recent year available), there were six blind pedestrian traffic deaths, out of a total of 4784 pedestrian traffic deaths.

For the record, no hybrids were involved. The cars that killed the six blind pedestrians in 2006 were:

Pontiac Grand Prix
Ford Excursion
Buick Roadmaster
GMC Safari
Ford Ranger
GMC Jimmy
Honda Accord

Apparently one of the pedestrians was hit by two cars.

Yeah, it's a small sample, but no, there is no evidence of a particular problem with hybrids.

In all fairness, as these are deaths only, probably the cars were traveling faster than typical Prius stealth speed anyway. So, for pedestrian deaths, this may be a non-issue. But I can't even guess where you could get equivalent data on pedestrian injuries.

I would also like to point out, with regard to the research in the prior posts, that a) this was not a live road trial, this was based on audio recordings, and it's an untested assumption that findings based on that particular setup would match findings based on live trials on the road, b) vehicles vary enormously in terms of the noise they produce at low speed, and I saw no mention of either selecting a random sample of non-hybrid vehicles or even that there is variation in the noise levels produced by cars, and c) without knowing the speed at which cars involved in pedestrian accidents are traveling, there is no way to translate this shorter audible warning time into a meaningful estimate of potential excess deaths. It's an untested assumption that less audible cars lead to more deaths. Look at the list above: most of those vehicles are big, noisy beasts. As far as the data on blind pedestrian deaths go, assuming prior years looked like the 2006 data, it's not clear that audibility plays any role whatsoever.

Don't get me wrong. The researcher appears to be a reasonable person and is planning on actual field tests. And this is an issue that may potentially require correction. But it's way premature to impose such a change at this point.

 

I challenge one of the basic assumptions of this study. They forced the vehicles to drive at 5 mph, in order to ensure that the hybrid's gas engine doesn't kick in.

-Would a car traveling at 5 mph really be able to hit someone by accident?
-Shouldn't the driver have plenty of reaction time and stopping distance at that speed?
-Would it even hurt if you were hit by a car traveling at 5 mph?
-How many people actually drive through parking lots at 5 mph?

 

I am more terrified of some of the tiny women I have seen driving Hummers. Most of them can't drive the huge thing and watching them park is very intertaining. I say this being a woman of petite size. My car may not make noise but i know how to drive and park it and I do watch for pedestrians and cyclists. It is all about paying attention!!!!!!!!!!

 

What's interesting is that I once took a blind church member home and he really liked the sounds, and the lack of, the car made. He even wanted the window down so he could hear what it sounded like when we stopped. He also liked the sounds the NAV system made. He hoped his wife would get a hybrid when they get another car.

 

Cyclists may be safer assuming they're invisible, but that's only because far too many ignorant and blind people have driver's licenses. By the way, some cyclists are armed. Watch where the @#!! you're going.

 

How many injuries were there? In my opinion, injuries are important too. Serious injuries can result in the victim suffering for the rest of his/her life.