Hybrid Vehicles Are Quiet -- Maybe Too Quiet, According To A Couple Of Lawmakers
from the danger-will-robinson dept
One of the side effects of hybrid vehicles -- a positive one, for most people -- is quieter operation traditional vehicles in some situations. Less vehicle noise sounds like a good thing, unless you're blind, so a couple of senators have introduced legislation that would direct the Department of Transportation to study ways to protect blind people and other pedestrians (via Engadget) from silent vehicles. This isn't a new complaint: we reported last year about how Lotus was experimenting with putting speakers in hybrids to play engine noises, although we thought it might have been a joke. But apparently Lotus was just ahead of the legislative curve. Still, we have to wonder, is making cars noisier the best way to protect blind people and other pedestrians?
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Filed Under: blind, hybrid vehicles, noise
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car + pedestrians = bad for both
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In fact, maybe there is no need to build anything into the cars. I have to wonder if an electric motor doesn't already give off enough noise that a receiver can pick up?
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But to answer your question; I can see most people unhooking the speaker so I don't see it being a good solution.
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Really? As someone in a car, I only hear them once they're past me. I still see bikes first.
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Actually, with any luck, there won't be much difference between a motorcycle and a car in the future, Except when it rains. :)
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I just love old stupid gangs members.
Be they Ghetto trash of idiot bikers.
My gang of 50 guys will kick your ass if your not nice to me.
ALL GANG MEMBERS ARE BY THERE VERY NATURE P U S S I E S !
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Re: Re: Re: Re: (Stuart #35)
ALL GANG MEMBERS ARE BY THERE VERY NATURE P U S S I E S !
Ok, I have to say that the fact that you said both of those sentences, one after the other is quite amusing.
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No, those are the people that keep killing the bikers dumbass.
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Some lame ass ideas when we transitioned from horse to cars.
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Horses
Only then, people argued that quiet cars could sneak up on, and frighten horses.
This guy even went so far as to glue a horse head on the front of the car...
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9505E1DC133BE633A2575AC0A9649C946296D6CF
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I think some kind of courtesy noise would be nice should the need arise that is driver triggered and less scary than a horn. Maybe a Dukes of Hazard horn would be cool though.
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The topic is keeping blind people safe, not well-seeing joggers.
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WE'RE TALKING ABOUT BLIND PEOPLE. THEY CAN'T LOOK FIRST.
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WE'RE TALKING ABOUT BLIND PEOPLE. THEY CAN'T LOOK FIRST.
Heh, maybe you should follow your own advice. Forrest Gump wasn't claiming to be blind.
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Re: I almost got hit by a quiet hybrid
WTF is wrong with people these days? Doesn't the natural sense of self preservation work with them any more? No matter where you are or who has the right of way, ALWAYS assume that an ignorant moron is about to do something stupid. With that in mind you are probably going to be prepared.
It is a shame that Darwins natural selection theory hasn't removed the morons from the gene pool.
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Re: Re: I almost got hit by a quiet hybrid
Unfortunately, we've entirely bypassed natural selection and created an environment where the Darwinian candidates thrive...I like to think of it as devolution through legislation.
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Re: Forrest Gump/Almost Hit
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Noize
If we actually have to produce a certain level of noise by law, some smart-ass lawyers (there certainly seem to be enough of those around...) should be able to sue or something on the basis of damage to your hearing by being forced to expose yourself to a government-mandated level of noise the whole time you are in a car, or a traffic-jam or what-not.
And anyways, aren't the visually-disadvantaged supposed to develop a heightened sense of hearing?
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Re: Noize
The best solution is education. Educate the blind to properly use crosswalk buttons/seeing-eye dogs/whatever. Educate drivers to be more aware of pedestrians in general. It's a simple solution, the processes are already in place, and -- here's the clincher -- the government stays out of it.
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Custom Noises
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Re: Custom Noises
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Re: Re: Re: Custom Noises
"Hey, Blinkin'."
"Did you say Abe Lincoln?"
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I ride and I've never run loud pipes - nor have I ever had a bad experience. That's just my experience though.
My reaction to that, though is -
If loud pipes make riders safer why don't motorcycle officers run loud pipes? They put on far more miles than casual riders - yet their death and injury rate factored for their time on the road is miniscule by comparison.
and
When running loud pipes it's possible to modulate the loudness with gear and throttle choice. Why then is it that most loud pipe riders I encounter take every opportunity to be as loud as possible - even in situations where safety has nothing to do with it....like in a residential area with little or no traffic?
I believe the conclusion is - loud pipes sound good to that rider and to hell with the rest of us who - apparently - just have to endure since motor vehicle silencer laws don't seem to apply to Harleys.
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Re: loud pipes
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That's just absurd. (Shhh... don't tell all the municipalities that are doing it.) :)
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Hybrids too quiet???
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Re: Hybrids too quiet???
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Re: Stupid to blame the driver?
I'll ignore the comments about crosswalks and being off the road, since those are self evident to everyone but the police who seem to rarely press appropriate charges, however, most drivers exceed the speed limit whenever they can, so I see no reason why drivers shouldn't be required to prove that they weren't exceeding the limit.
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c'mon people...
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Re: c'mon people...
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Re: c'mon people...
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Ading Noise
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Myth of sensory enhancement
For the record, my deaf son doesn't see better than anyone else either.
I agree that the blind are not helpless. Before doing anything, we should ask those that are blind.
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Re: Myth of sensory enhancement
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quiet cars
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quiet cars
I would guess it would be cheaper to expand on that than to try and retro fit old hybrids and begin manufacturing new ones with such noise makers.
Everyone else should be ok as long as they actually pay attention to their surroundings.
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Is this a transition thing?
As for the blind, don't they have heightened hearing to compensate for the loss of sight or is that just a myth?
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Blind people may have a legitimate issue, and certainly their needs should be addressed -- but that doesn't mean deafening everyone in the process! Maybe we can put a sensor in a blind person's cane to detect cars? Like a mini-radar scope? They could find steps and potholes that way, too.
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Re: Hybrid Vehicles Are Quiet - Maybe Too Quiet
Historical precedent, after all.
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Blind safety noises
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Get over it!
Get over it! Most of the motorcycles today are that quiet and have been for some year now. Matter of fact it's illegal in most states to put a third party muffler system on your bike. A Honda gold wing is a good example of this every thing. The quietest bike on the plant!
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beware of pedestrians
Being conscious of our lack of noise, we pay greater attention to pedestrians. Even when driving the old combustion engine car, my assumption is that any pedestrian in range is going to dart out in front of me.
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the other way around?
for example a small car travelling at 25 mph, emits a 800 mhz freq, and the same car travelling at 55mph emits a 1600 mhz freq. This way the pedestrian can distinguish what car is coming, and also how fast, through the device they are given.
this can also be added to other things, such as motorcycles, trucks, even street lights so let them know how close they are to the corner.
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Lets not give in to the stupid, again!
Some jackass who likes to run in the middle of the road with earphones deserves to be flattened. As well as the biking fool who thinks they can be in the turning lane with the rest of traffic.
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Pray you never need to learn how to navigate as a blind person
I'm not blind, but I've spoken to blind people. Imagine you're blind and wish to cross a street. Can you tell if there is any traffic? Can you tell what direction the cars are coming from? A blind person with training and experience can easily do both (based on traffic noises) - and *has* to do both. At intersections with traffic lights and beepers, sure, things are easy. But the vast majority of intersections have no traffic lights, and even those with traffic lights rarely have beepers. (And, by the way, the beepers are a hell of a lot louder and more annoying than any sound generator that would be put in cars.) Even if you decided we should spend the money on putting traffic lights at every intersection in the country, how about driveways crossing sidewalks? What happens when cars make turns, crossing over the lanes where walking is allowed?
Really, look up from your perfect little life and consider those who may be less fortunate than you. Or consider yourself in 10, or 20, or 50 years. Think your eyes (and ears and other body parts) will still work as well?
Cars are inherently hazardous to the people in and around them. We accept that as a tradeoff because they are incredibly useful. We've spend decades making them safer for the people *in* them, but are only now really starting to look at those outside. Thus, there are standards in the works on bumper heights, so that when you hit another car your bumper doesn't ride up over the top doing major damage to its occupants. It may not do *you* any good, and no, your Hummer might not looks so cool - but that's just too bad. There are beginning to be proposals for protecting pedestrians as well. Hell, industrial vehicles have had to have audible alerts when backing up for years.
You want to run your car entirely on private tracks, among people who understand what you're doing? Fine; build it any way you like. But as soon as you bring it out into public, among your fellow citizens, the rules change. They have every right to demand that you take reasonable steps to protect them from your actions - witting or unwitting.
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Re: Pray you never need to learn how to navigate as a blind person
You are after all complaining because cars, through the physics law of inertia, are both deadly and hard to stop if some idiot steps out into traffic and gets hit. I'm sorry, if some disabled person is too dense to notice the extremely noticeably sound of tires spinning on pavement that's not our problem. Why am I so callous? Simple, I work around electric vehicles every day. They're easy to hear, they simply sound different. Their tires aren't perfectly efficient and they have traction, thus they make noise. They're engines, also, emit noise. It's not as much as a combustion engine, but then there's not a freaking explosion going on under the hood so that's to be expected. Anyone that thinks mandatory noise emitters should be required, or would even be helpful, is a moron.
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My car already has this....
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blind neighbor says tires make enough noise for him
When I mentioned this article to him, he reply was, Eh, put a playing card near the spokes so it will go flip flip, flip like when you were a kid on your bike.
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Oh no, do I need Speakers?
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Wow
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Invention
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