It is important to also answer editorials and articles in news papers that provide the one-sided, "Hybrids are too quiet" nonsense. The latest as been the "Tennessean" with three separate, online articles: Loud noises, hybrids challenge the blind | www.tennessean.com | The Tennessean The quiet nature of hybrids is a tip-off to broader issues | www.tennessean.com | The Tennessean The quiet nature of hybrids is a tip-off to broader issues | www.tennessean.com | The Tennessean But a simple blog entry is not enough. We also need 'letters to the editor' to make sure they get into the print version. Letters from 'home folks,' their customers, are especially important. Bob Wilson
But is it really nonsense? The subject might get hijacked by anti-hybrid folks, but the basic idea is valid. I think having a moderately loud pseudo-engine-noise generator onboard would be a good safety item. I don't know how well it would work in a downtown urban environment, but in parking lots and strip malls and such, I definitely use my ears to keep track of vehicles near me. I would like something like that for my bicycle, when I'm on a bike/walking path and people in front of me don't hear me. I can verbally warn them when I'm close enough, but it would be better if they heard me approaching (and I refuse to use those little 'ting-ting' bells, I want something more grown-up).
Remember that some day all vehicles will be quiet. We should be looking a the long range solution. We can always add a people radar on the front of the vehicle. We it detectds one it will give a 150dB blast that will know them into next week!!!
No blind person has EVER been killed by a Prius. Fact. And the average pedestrian strike rate for Pirus is exactly the same as the Prius' proportion of the automobile community. I think it's about .05%. or .5%, the post with the support is around here somewhere.
I think we should make blind people wear flashing strobe lights to make them easier for us to see and then we could take extra precautions and honk when approaching them!
Well, nobody ever accused the Philistines of being completely rational. Wasn't there a post of some SUV owner cursing a Prius at a gas station? LOL.
In addition, tell the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration what you think, they want your comments.
The only time people do not hear you, is in parking lots. Above 30 km/h (19 MPH) or so, the noise of the tyres is loud enough to be heard above the engine noise 'normal' cars make. Silly people @ Tennessean... if it's new and different: put it in negative perspective. In just a little while peeps @ Tennessean will demand that the engine is always on...
A couple of weeks ago in my area, we had 3 people killed and 1 in critical condition in seperate incidents involving pedistrians and a motor vechicle. The pedistrian killer of choice? ...... pickup trucks! Oh yea, all of the pedistrians had their eyesite.
Yes. No it is not because: There is no universal background noise so a Harley simply makes everyone else 'as silent as a hybrid.' Ambient noise is not consistent and no audio standard can ever over come this penalty. Existing traffic accident data shows sound vehicles are already lethal and at best, this makes our hybrids as lethal as them. The 5,000 dead pedestrians and cyclists are not safer. It kills development of effective systems based upon wireless technology, the 'smart highway' because it mandates the least effective, lowest tech solution. Because you also turn off your cell phone and don't use an iPod or carry on conversations with your young children while walking to your vehicle or transiting the parking lot. This is the problem of ambient noise, no form of noise maker other than the vehicle horn can overcome these common, self-imposed noise sources. Just for fun, don't believe me but count how many of these you see in the parking lots: parents dealing with children people with iPods people with cell phones people engaged in conversations It would be even better if your cell phone or a cell phone like device would not only warn you of their hazard but also road hazards and alert them to your hazard. This is what the "smart highway" is about, a wireless network that exchanges information so we have more time to adjust our routes and avoid accidents. Not this noise nonsense. Bob Wilson
Yes it is. My Prius is not much quieter than a high end luxury car and it is noisier than a bicycle and they have been around for 100 years. The inverter cooling pump runs all the time, the traction motors and gears make noise too. Lets make all vehicles as quiet as Prius, that makes more sense. First its quiet cars, next it's jogging in soft soled shoes around corners, then bicycles, then they come for your guns and your truck. It's the thin edge of the totalitarian government wedge. Can't you see it?
I would think someone blind would be far more able to notice the cues than I would as a sighted person. I notice the above, and I can tell the difference between accelerating and decelerating by the gear noise.
Actually, I noticed Hybridfest, a major hybrid electric convention is at Madison WI, 847 miles, a 14 hour drive away the weekend before the Quiet Cars hearings in Washington DC, the following Monday. If I were a paranoid person, I might read something into this scheduling but I prefer to think that the "Ron Brown" of hybrid skeptics handled the scheduling ... just a coincidence. Bob Wilson
My 2 cents! OK Let's require the Segways to also make noise ..... and the scooter wheel chairs .... and what about all the EVs that have been running around Key West for the last 10 years as rentals. I love the street signs "Watch Children" ..... Tell them to not play in the street as this is where I drive. Sorry .... Maybe I need to play the same Farmer in the Dell music that the Ice Cream truck plays, or the irritating boom box blaring out the base and destroying the ear drums of the occupants. Does'nt the seeing eye dog know I am there? Maybe that whistle that only dogs can hear would be appropriate. Have that cane pick up the dog whistle frequency and vibrate in their hands to let them know I am in the area. SORRY ..... I like my quiet car. It's stealth mode baby!!! My Harley is the noisy one. Now be it known that I am all about assisting people with disabilities. I do have the ting-ting bell on my bike used on puplic trails as this is a shared area (walkers, joggers, bicyclists). My MINI Cooper at idle is pretty darn quiet and I am not about to add a trash can muffler to it. OK Done Ranting! :target:
I like this idea! I already think it's silly enough that cities have had to spend millions of dollars upgrading street corners on sidewalks with those little yellow bumps so blind people know where the corner ends. Hell the Costco near me has the entire store surrounded by those yellow bumps into the parking lot... (now think about that one for a minute!)
Me too. Seriously how many blind people are walking around on city streets that this is an issue ? Where are their seeing eye dogs ? The ramps on sidewalks here for people in wheelchairs seemed like a decent idea, but now drivers drive over them because they won't damage their wheels. They MAY however, damage my feet or other vital body parts. I'm NOT too happy about that !
