Nearly Silent Hybrid Cars May Endanger the Blind

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MarinJohn @ Feb 23 2007, 11:57 AM) [snapback]395226[/snapback]</div>

Soothing indication. I like that. like a massage of awareness. do they have receivers for that? if not, it needs to be invented. we could have chips implanted in our upper nervous system that sends the brain the same signal as a shoulder massage. then you'd know there was a quiet vehicle around. B)

I do see the point of making sure blind peoples lives don't get affected by the new generation of vehicles, but it still seems pretty far fetched to me.... that's just my $0.02 (which probably nobody really cares about, but how many things do you read on here that you really care about anyway?)

 

Duplicate thread.

Hybrid cars are too quiet: Risk Pedestrian Safety

Prii too quiet?, Blind Pedestrians afraid of Prius

 

My bike is silent and I haven't hit any visually impaired people, although god knows I try...

Perhaps bikes and hybrids aren't really all that silent...

 

How about "ring tones" for hybrids? Rather than someone else choosing a hybrid sound, why not let everyone chose their own like they do for cell phones? You could use it as an alternative to the horn, or just leave it on when you need higher visibility like in a parking lot.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NuShrike @ Feb 23 2007, 04:14 AM) [snapback]395079[/snapback]</div>

This is true. More than once I'd walk with a blind friend, and an idiot bicyclist (sorry about the redundant expression there) would come plowing straight towards her. At the last second, he'd swerve away, saying "I thought she'd move when she saw me coming."

Yeah, the woman with the white cane is supposed to see you coming. Uh-huh.

 

I can see another easy fix. How about rumble strips a few yards leading up to any crosswalk. Then, as technology quiets cars no features need be added higgly piggly and the walking public would be able to hone in on a familiar sound countrywide.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stev0 @ Feb 24 2007, 10:13 AM) [snapback]395781[/snapback]</div>

First off, not all bicyclists are that idiotic hence idiot bicyclist is not redundant :angry: ; but that's a pretty big generalization. Just like drivers, surfers, foreigners, humans, (....you get the point), there are a few bad apples out there who ruin the rep for everybody (yes, sometimes those bad apples get together on their bikes and have a nice big cluster#@*$ in the middle of traffic).

On to my point. Saturday I had driven to a sports complex and went for my weekend 10mi run. Afterwards sitting in my rear hatch wishing I had turned back 15 minutes earlier than I did, a group of middle-aged "soccer moms" (even had the bumper stickers to make sure you didn't miss it, although that day it should have said "softball mom") went gaggling by not 5 feet away. One of them exclaimed quite audibly that "hey, there's a prius! those things are so quiet when they drive that my kids can't hear them when they're playing in the street!" complete with snyde, and that guy's an a**-hole for driving one, tone.

After a moments contemplation about what age one has to be before you forget that people can still hear you even if you're not talking to them (or when you lose all respect for a complete stranger), I realized that my earlier post has already come true. One of the greatest side-effects of EV's, a giant cut in noise pollution, has become a suburban murderer in the eyes of the self-centered all knowing "soccer mom" (yes this is another generalization, but in this case the issue remains). It's only a matter of time before this becomes a much much bigger issue, especially when we get plug-ins that can go many silent miles....

 

My neighbor died after being struck by a bicyclist near her home when she was out walking her dog on a down hill stretch or road. I've had near misses with a few myself. Just don't hear them. I can hear my wife's Prius coming from a far greater distance than the bikes. I wish the bike guys would just shout "Bike" to give a warning to those with their backs to them.

 

Hi All,

Yea, bicyclist are a real problem. Some biking organisation has recomended that the bike riders yell out "on your left" as one is approaching a pedestrian from the rear. Due to street noise, and the distance the bike rider travels while making this pronuciation all the pedestrian hears is "mumble eR LEFT!", and you can see the problem. The pedestrian jumps left into the path of the bicyclist!!

That has happened to me twice about a year appart walking around town here.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stev0 @ Feb 24 2007, 11:13 AM) [snapback]395781[/snapback]</div>

With all due respect, StevO, them's fightin' words. Yes, there are idiots on bicycles, but the laws of natural selection soon take care of that. There are also idiots on foot, in cars, in trucks, driving transit buses, and even - perish the thought - driving Priuses. Where I come from, the minimum bicycle requirements are a helmet, a little ringy dingy bell, a front light, and a rear reflector. Cyclists are not permitted on the sidewalk for good reason, yet they get very little respect on the road, even in designated bike lanes. There are shared use paths, and my observations as a pedestrian and as a cyclist are that pedestrians generally have no idea how fast bikes can go, and they seldom bother to keep themselves or their dogs to the right. The speed differential is at least as dangerous as it is for vehicles on the highway. I have an air horn on my bike that is quite capable of giving an elderly person a coronary, but I seldom have it turned up all the way. I also have enough flashing lights at night to be mistaken for a supersonic christmas tree. If you'd like to apologise for your unfair generalisation, I'll turn my rant mode off.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(donee @ Feb 26 2007, 07:28 PM) [snapback]396959[/snapback]</div>

I know this isn't the right thread for this discussion; but wow, I don't even know what to think of that. Some people just have to have some issue to try to make illegal. Did you vote to make skateboarding illegal? Or if you were a power boater, you'd probably say sailboats are a real problem. And I bet if I were out surfing on my longboard, you'd be the one calling me a kook as I take the big waves from outside that you wouldn't even be able to catch on your shortie. but hey, I obey traffic laws on my bicycle. I stay off the sidewalk unless I think being on the road is too dangerous (but I go slower when on the sidewalk.) But do you know how many times I've been flipped-off or been the subject of obscene angry yelling? Even better, how many times a car comes up quickly from behind and honks right as it's passing to see if I'll jump and crash. Who's the 'real problem' here? bicyclists? or is it just the pricks? have some tolerance!!

 

A friend of mine is doing an ongoing count of law abiding bikes. He counts 2 for and 509 against as of this morning. Hmmm. I do believe we need bike paths around here, to keep them safer than being in the street where they piss off everyone else, thereby placing all bikes at risk.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jgills240 @ Feb 26 2007, 10:24 AM) [snapback]396747[/snapback]</div>

Hey, I just met you, and I like you already!

I've had the same experience... from my own mother! Here her son has been driving an EV for seven years, and she starts to tell me how dangerous the Prius is because of how quiet it is. Good lord.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MarinJohn @ Feb 28 2007, 08:13 AM) [snapback]397834[/snapback]</div>

John... are you serious here? I ride a bicycle far more than I drive. People get pissed off at me just for being on the road with them sometimes. I'm an inconvenience. By choosing to NOT drive a car, I put my life on the line every damn day. Yes, there are some idiot bikers out there. In my view, there are far more idiot motorists, and they have the ability to injure or kill me - not something they need to worry about from me. I've had motorists TRY to hurt me. For no other reason than sport. Pull up next to me on an empty country road while I'm riding 2-22mph, and see if they can get close enough to open the door against me to force me off the road. Do I think all motorists are a$$holes? No. But they're out there, and they can kill. For fun, have your friend count the law abiding cars sometimes. They're far and few between. But nobody really cares because most of us roll through the stops a bit, and we regularly go 36mpg in the 35 zones.

I do agree that we should have more separated bike lanes. And fewer car lanes.

 

http://www.hornblasters.com/video.php?pic=40

Hey! I LOVE creeping up on blind people, old people, frail people in stealth mode, then BLASTING my Air Horn. My car may be silent, but my horn doesn't have to be. (joke)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nerfer @ Feb 23 2007, 12:49 PM) [snapback]395272[/snapback]</div>

I another thread I mentioned that I almost got hit by Prius in a parking garage last week, coincidentally just a day or two after reading about this issue in the news. Yes, at parking garage speed, tires are nearly silent - especially on smooth concrete. People are amazed at the silence of my car when pull into my driveway.

I was at a trash can in a garage dropping a coffee cup and when I turned around I was able to freez just before taking a step out in front of a black Prius going about 5 mph in stealth mode. I could not hear it.

We used to teach kids to Stop - Look - LISTEN before crossing a street (at least we used to teach that). A disability like blindness prevents one of those, leaving them only able to listen. And our cars can be silent.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Display Name @ Feb 23 2007, 07:45 PM) [snapback]395627[/snapback]</div>

LOL No one else caught your joke.

This is yet another reason for me to figure out how to uninsulate the generator in my car so it makes more of that soothing electrical warble.