Put squawk boxes on your traffic lights to alert that cars are approaching. Oh wait, then you would need a committee to see if they shouldn't go on every corner.

Oh wait, just give the blind an instrument they can wear around their wrist to alert of incoming cars-bikes-pedestrians!

Don't your Reps in CA have more important things to spend their time on? When issues like this come to the forefront of the news, You know they have way too much time on their hands. Or maybe this is an excuse to sit on their hands when it comes to really tough issues(Energy-Enron syndrome). Oh look, we did this while we were in session!

Ah, We were the first to come up with this. Maybe that's the syndrome.

Why would anyone be surprised at anything the California Legislature does, unless it were to accomplish something rational, like adjourn permanently.

Shouldn't drivers be looking out for pedestrians seeing or blind? Putting a noise maker on electric or hybrid electric vehicles is about as rediculous as making cyclists ring a bell as they approach any pedestrian. If the non-sensical CA legistlature has it's way, then I say we drive a parade of Prius' past their homes/offices with ice-cream truck music blaring. Can you hear us now??

i vow from now on to play speed metal at obscene volumes at all times, just so the blind can hear me

I'd just like to mention that California is a pioneer in clean air laws. If it wasn't for these more stringent laws specifically in California, we might not have a car like the Prius in the first place (due to the laws on minimum Low Emmission and Zero Emmission vehicles).

Well at least until the Bush administration refused our waiver on the current EPA emmissions, allowing us to surpass it (as the EPA has 50 times in the past). (California is suing the Federal governemnt over this)


I'm not too happy with the noise thing, and wrote my Senator (now I need to write my state representatives). But we do have a LOT of Prii in California* - so if anybody should be worried about running over blind people, it should be California.

Besides, if the noise thing does take effect, it'll only be in cars sold in California. We have tons of cars with larger catalytic converters, or other modifications sold only in California to pass our more stringent Smog laws.

*I see about 20 a day on my 9 mile commute in Los Angeles.

I just lay on the horn whenever I drive the Priss. Doesn't matter if I'm in a parking lot, city street, interstate, or in a drive-in movie theater -- the horn is blaring so I can please my elected officials in Sacramento.

I'm already doing my part by blasting DragonForce wherever I go!

This is the most ridiculous thing ever

Human echolocation is the ability of humans to sense objects in their environment by hearing echoes from those objects. This ability is used by some blind people to navigate within their environment. They actively create sounds, such as by tapping their canes or by making clicking noises with their mouth

I am quite sure most blind people can hear the hum of a car approaching.

Remember Arnold said that he would not sign any bills for the rest of the year until the budget is passed ???

And how much would this "study" cost anyway? I say it's a no go. Arnold won't spend a penny on this nonsense.



(and btw, in the state of California, it's the DRIVER's responsibility to not hit pedestrians; it is NOT the pedestrians' responsibility to avoid cars)

We have a lot of Prii in California. If the silence of the car was a threat to blind pedestrians, the study will show how many Prii are running over people because of that silence.

It won't. Because the Prius isn't a threat and it isn't running over people due to it's silence.

So California won't do anything to "bell the Prius" and will stand as a beacon of sanity when it comes up on the Fed level. In fact, the California study will probably be cited. It's too bad we have to be first and pay for it, but then what else is new?

There is a thread addressing a similar Federal attempt: http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-hybrid-news/50566-hybrid-cars-may-pose-silent-threat-blind.html

I hear the machinations of the Big 3 behind this... What bulls**t.

CA lawmakers have become the biggest bunch of moronic nannies ever. They may have passed some forward thinking laws in the past but now seem to suffer from the same sickness that movie sequels suffer, they continue to try and out liberal themselves! At least nothing will get passed until a budget is signed as Arnold Schwarzenliberal has said he will not pass any legislation until then. Which means a veto or else bills become law automatically.

Recent CA nanny stuff (but not even near a complete list)
Trying to ban mylar balloons
Now trying to ban plastic bags (didn't we go to plastic to save the trees? plus from what I hear in a CO2 footprint calc the plastic bags are actually better than paper!)

Here's how CA acts:
4 years ago CA had a budget of about $100 Billion NOW the budget is $145 Billion!!!!! Has any of you CA'ians noticed a 45% increase in services???? Where is this money going???? Education? CA has at least 40,000 fewer students than 4 years ago and a budget INCREASE of 14 billion over those 4 years, WHY?

And only in CA is an increase in your budget considered a cut!

Well, standardized testing and NCLB unfunded mandates are taking a bigger chunk every year.

We won't go back to paper after plastic is banned. You'll have to bring your own cloth bag or buy one.

If people can't keep hold of their mylar balloons, then if it takes banning them to keep them out of the environment, then so be it. They're a stupid waste anyway.

But this isn't a law, it's a study. They study will show the fears are ungrounded and no Prius is going to be belled in CA. And the study will be use to defeat the Federal bell the Prius law. Yes, it's a waste of money and the CA taxpayer is going to foot the bill. Whatelse is new?

I'd rather have a state budget than a bell on my bumper. Maybe we should give the lawmakers a bull horn and make tham walk in front of our cars. They must have a lot of time on their hands.

Hi All,

Car noise and pedestrian injuires from car seem to be loosely corellated. The vehicles that kill and maim pedestrians the worse, are the noisiest - SUV's and Pickup Trucks.

The main problem appears to be driver visibility. Which the Prius already addresses with a sloping hood, delta shaped gusset windows, and a rear view camera.

If this guy wanted to do some good, rather than encite the fear of the new, he should require Pickups and SUVs be required to have rear view cameras standard, with optional rear sonar or radar.

Doing research and making recommendations like the ones they are doing on car noise costs money. So the politicians are making noise on car noise reductions and its costing you!

I am a huge opponent of any packaging that requires paper; and therefore cutting down trees. The intent of the plastic bag ban is not to revive paper (despite actual consequences that it might have); the intent is to shift consumers to reusable bags, such as cloth.

I hear you on the budget. Where is the money going??????? I think our state needs an outside audit. Taxes have increased AND teachers are being laid off with a hiring freeze. It doesn't take much common sense to figure out that something is very wrong here. I think we need an audit, and the top-feeders need to be escorted behind the bars. We can start with this Delgadillo (phonetic) guy who spent taxpayers' money to repair the SUV that his wife crashed (instead of her own insurance paying). And the guys that got caught spending govt. credit cards on hookers ... what? We have no more room in the prisons? No problem; they can sleep on the floor.
.

Sadly, a young woman was killed earlier this year when she walked in front of a moving train while talking on a cell phone. She walked the same route daily and was used to waiting for the train before crossing and negotiating the raising barrier after the train crossed.
The day of the accident, it was reported that people were yelling and honking their horns to warn her but she did not seem to hear or notice them; she continued to walk past the barrier and across the tracks - she was not blind or deaf.
This accident supports the belief that audible or visual warnings don't always work and should not be a substitute for personal awareness.

Does the Prius pose any increase in danger to the Blind over other vehicles because of its quieter operation? The accident evidence I've seen so far, does not appear to support the claim. It's true that this is an emotionally charged issue; the idea “the more silent the more invisible and dangerous†appeals on a common sense level especially when focused on protecting those with disabilities. It’s never a bad idea to review ideas concerning safety however it’s clear that this issue needs to be studied scientifically to separate the facts from rhetoric and commercial interests.

Otherwise, a law restricting cell phone use while walking (unless equipped with a special warning device) may be on the horizon!

You keep saying that. But when was the last time a commission recommended that they were wasting their time and went home. And once the handicapped, disabled, differently abled and the usual suspects start mau-mauing the commission, they'll fold like a house of cards. Not to mention if a blind person actually gets hit by a hybrid somewhere, it's all over. The only consolation is that it will become like the rest of our nanny state legislation, ignored. That is, until a lawyer can figure out how to make some money off it and start suing everyone in sight.