Nia Monopoli: The answer is yes. The National Federation of the Blind (nfb.org) has actually been lobbying for this for several years now. A few months ago the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010 was singed into law requiring all vehicles to produce a minimum amount of sound while moving to alert pedestrians. I’m not sure about the details of this act or the level of sound required, but I’m hoping I will be able to plug in my ipod and have my hybrid constantly play Kickstart My Heart by Mötley Crüe while I drive around....Show more
Torri Tippey: What would you suggest they say? "Your drunk, get out of the car!!" or "It's not that far you should walk and get some exercise!!" "Stop, look, and listen" is part of a court decision that dictated the responsibility of drivers when approaching railroads. http://books.google.com/books?id=I0sLAAAAYAAJ&pg=P... It would appropriately be applied to pedestrians responsibility. The decision does not require th! at all three options be present but that one approaching a junction should use great caution AND all three options to make sure that there is no other traffic. In the actual case the drivers vision was blocked. They listened but failed to stop. No car is completely silent. Electric cars don't have reciprocating engines to produce clatter and vibration but they produce the same sound of tires on pavement and wind noise that a petrol vehicle produces. If you have been next to a prius when it starts moving (on electric power alone, and no engine) it is quiet but not silent. For some electrics there can also be kind of a whine of the motor as it accelerates. The problem is that you are used to a higher noise level. Part of that noise level would be a signal to warn you of traffic. Part of the noise level may be annoying and destructive so that you simply tune it out. This is particularly true on busy streets where we tune out quite high noise levels. It is quite possi! ble, for example, to get emergency sirens so loud and so annoy! ing that you simply can't tell where they are coming from. At this point the noise creates more harm than it solves. So an intelligent approach may be to have a vehicle make some kind of noise at low speeds but only if the vehicle also senses a warm body nearby (infra red technology in motion detectors are cheap enough) This should keep us from constantly hearing unwanted and unnecessary sound and tuning it out. But this continues to leave us with a question of the handicapped. If may be appropriate for quiet vehicles to have a signaling device that could be picked up by local receivers. The blind could then have a auditory signal. The Deaf could have a visual one and both might benefit from such a device vibrating. Audible signals are going to do nothing for the deaf or hard of hearing. However this type of thing is not likely to receive intelligent treatment. It is more likely to be approached as we did with driving and cell phones. There are many studies th! at make it very clear that the problem is not holding something in your hand while driving but engaging in a conversation that splits our attention. But instead of banning holding anything in your hands while driving (including coffee cups, cell phones or snacks) or banning any two way transmission devices while driving (hands free or not) we took a political course that is not based upon any sort of reality....Show more
Marty Tichnell: maybe.....would think that getting them to work would be a higher priority....
Connie Dickirson: Yeah, they'll be rigged to make science fiction-y woo-woo type noises, just like in the moviesAssuming we last that long.
Jed Porada: The entire US congress voted unanimously that electric and hybrid cars are to have a automatic noise maker installed. This is to protect people with limited sight. The truth is electric cars do make noise without the noise maker. It's just that the noise produced by gas cars drowns out any noi! se EV's do make. Also people get keyed to the put put of the ICE and s! top looking for vehicles in motion.As for me I plan to carry this to the extreme. Without time of day, volume level, or content restrictions I plan to play music like "The Flight of the Valkyries" by Richard Wagner. No one will miss my EV going down the road. A nice 6000 watt stereo will make it plenty noticeable especially at 1 AM. They can't give me a ticket because I'm complying with federal law.As the driver of the car I have to listen to the noise maker for several minutes as I traverse my neighborhood. Not the 15 seconds it takes me to pass by someone. I might as well play something I like not just beep beep. Also the noise will be very loud in parking garages. I have no idea how they plan to protect my hearing an sanity!...Show more
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