Hybrid Cars Too Quiet For Pedestrian Safety?

ScienceDaily ^ | Nov. 19, 2008 | ScienceDaily

[ottbmare]

I’ve nearly gotten killed by a hybrid. Stepped off the curb of the pump island at a gas station right in front of one. You don’t realize how much you depend on your ears to warn you about a car nearby. I was stupid and I won’t make that mistake again.

[ottbmare]

I’ve nearly gotten killed by a hybrid. Stepped off the curb of the pump island at a gas station right in front of one. You don’t realize how much you depend on your ears to warn you about a car nearby. I was stupid and I won’t make that mistake again.

[johnthebaptistmoore]

The owners should just blast some hip-hop music. Everyone can hear you coming. Problem solved.

[Wonder Warthog]

"The problem is the damn elderly with their Ipods. They can't hear a darn thing."

I can't hear a darned thing, and I don't own an Ipod (a couple of hearing aids, yes--but no Ipod).

[Cheburashka]

*Whew* that was tough! - Now where's my $10M for solving the “problem”?

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Hah! You threw it away by not obtaining the patent before revealing it to the world.

[Cheburashka]

Wait a minute ... do the new electric cars not have horns?

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Fact. Drivers and pedestrians are both used to the idea that internal combustion vehicles make noise you can hear when they approach. These vehicles don't, and people have already been killed due to the silence, and people being surprised that the vehicle was there when they didn't look first. (Why look? There can't be anything coming, you would have heard it. Dumb perhaps, but people make mistakes like this out of habit.)

In the Chicago Loop for a while they had bus-only lanes that went opposite the one-way traffic (buses in this lane went one way, all other traffic in the other lanes went the opposite direction). They took them out - people were getting killed because they were used to one-way traffic and kept forgetting to look for the buses going the other way.

[thackney]

which has called for quiet vehicles to emit a continuous sound

I want mine to sound like an old-fashion steam locomotive. But when accelerating from a stop, I want it to switch to a top-fuel dragster.

[CrazyIvan]

So loud pipes do save lives?

[CrazyIvan]

gas and electric powered ninjas!

Never heard of the Kawashocky Ninja?

[Travis T. OJustice]

If I had a hybrid, and got to choose the braking noise, I’d want it to sound like a jake brake on a fully loaded truck going down a damn steep hill. I love the sound of formula one cars under full acceleration, too.

[IamConservative]

I have a friend who owned a Prius. She recently traded it in for a Honda Civic. One of her complaints about the Prius was driving it in parking lots. People walked out in front of her all the time because they couldn’t hear it running.

In addition, she used it for a commuter car and drive ~80 miles round trip. According to her, the Civic gets right at 10 MPG better mileage than the Prius. The Hybrids really only save you if you do a lot of stop and go city driving.

[Larry - Moe and Curly]

“2. In Memphis, Tennessee, it is illegal for a woman to drive a car unless there is a man either running or walking in front of it waving a red flag to warn approaching motorists and pedestrians.” http://allworldcars.com/wordpress/?p=7105

Maybe this should be applied to hybrids?????

Wikipedia: “In the United Kingdom, the Red Flag Law, a policy requiring self-propelled vehicles to be led by a pedestrian, waving a red flag or carrying a lantern, to warn bystanders of the vehicle’s approach. The Red Flag Law was repealed in 1896, by which time the internal combustion engine was well into its infancy.”

Are we headed back to the 19th century?

[Ol' Sox]

I think electric cars should make the same noise as the Jetson’s car.

[cookcounty]

A new market for ringtones!

[American_Centurion]

Make the little toy novelty cars play “ice-cream-truck” style music when moving.

[al_c]

[Arrowhead1952]

Remember when TXDOT paved the S curves on 1431 and the highway workers said the pavement was too quiet to hear oncoming traffic?

Can you imagine the little noise an electric car makes on that stretch of road?

I can’t wait until that mess is finished. They sure are taking their time.

[grasshopper2]

The silence of electric cars is a problem. You can't hear them coming.

This summer I was walking along a campground road where there are no sidewalks. Suddenly, feeling a presence behind me, I looked back behind me,and suprise! there was a car driven by an elderly couple no less than 2 feet from my back.

Remember, that even when crossing the street and looking both ways, there may be curves that hide the sight of an approaching vehicle, but we can hear the engine coming, and the louder the noise the faster the car.

The lack of warning noise from electric cars present a real problem in my opinion.

[The Great RJ]

My wife scared me to death when she pulled her hybrid into the garage just as I was getting out of my car...you can’t hear them coming. I would suggest equipping hybrid cars with continuous 120db sirens that will alert not only the blind but the hearing impaired as well.

[erman]

can’t they put playing cards in the spokes? That worked for me as a kid.