Close call: Prius vs pedestran

If you read this post there is a down and dirty method to install a backup buzzer on a Gen II, http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...ng-reverse-beep-installing-backup-buzzer.html, the pdf is post number 8, not sure it'll work on a GIII. I also know that it's possible to buy a replacment B/U bulb that contains a backup alarm check JC Whitney I think that's the site. Ryan

 

I'm sorry, but that's almost like lobbying for the swings on swingsets to be equipped with beeping sounds and flashing lights.

I'm sure that was a scary situation for both of you, but it's not solely the fault of a quiet car. Please don't lobby for an outside backing sound. Optional is one thing, but I don't want to be required to make my awesome, quiet car sound like a garbage truck.

 

Do your back up lights work? Were you backing out in a slow, cautious manner? Did you STOP when you saw the pedestrian?

Then, it's up to the pedestrian to pay some attention to their surroundings.

 

Personally I think a 'clicker' like the one in the cabin for the turn signals, is the right answer. Mounted so it is outside the car, no louder than the existing ones, and flashing the backup lights . . . it would be no worse than someone hitting "Emergency Flash" or a "Turn Signal."

Wait, you do have "emergency flash" . . . test it when backing out?

Or test your turn signals when backing out?

Bob Wilson

 

He was mad dogging you! If it weren't for the possible scratches and blood stains on your bumper I would suggest running him down.

 

Re: Close call: Prius vs pedestrian

I hit someone on a bike which was a set up. I stopped for her boyfriend at a crosswalk who distracted me and then as I drove away she brushed my car and fell off her bike into the crosswalk. I never saw her coming. She had no helmet on but was wearing a cast. The police came and I was not given a ticket and was free to to . They took her to the hospital . Long story short my insurance co is handling the case. They have given her $4000 so far. It was a total scam. Careful out there.

 

Re: Close call: Prius vs pedestrian

I had a similar scam happen to me 6 years ago...driving on a 4 lane street late at night with no other cars around. A car pulls onto the road and comes along side me with 3 guys in it. They then deliberately side swipe me tearing the side off both cars (theirs was a beater mine a new Acura TL). We were going pretty slow I'm sure no one was hurt. When the police arrived there were 3 witneeses who said I side swiped them...They filed 16k in injury claims...(Police officer advised me to fight the ticket which I did). There are a lot of easy scams out there.

 

I'm in the exact same boat campus wise and find the backup cam to be an EXCELLENT tool in diagonal parking situations. With it's 180+ degree view, I can actually see around the ends of both cars along my sides before my bumper is equal to theirs in terms of sticking out. After that, I just use my own eyes and mirrors.

 

That alone can't be justification for requiring a noise while backing; after all, a similar justification could be used to, say, prohibit driving altogether - I sincerely doubt there would be many people arguing that we should all give up motor vehicles, because it would save at least one person from death or injury (not to mention the other 40,000 fatalities and 3 million or so injuries per year in the US alone). Society tends to have a threshold of safety that they demand versus the inconvenience of making something safer, rather than an absolute limit of safety.

 

Sort of OT but along the same lines as the car is very quiet (as in it makes a sound DIFFERENT than the ICE powered cars do):
Went to defensive driver class the other weekend to get 10% off my insurance and the instructor mentioned that blind people were trying to get Hybrids to make noise because they felt Hybrids were a danger to them.
I wanted her to elaborate on that, but we didn’t linger on the subject and moved right on. That tells you about the level of disinformation being put out there.

 

I slightly hit a woman when I was backing up from a parking spot at a Bojangles in my Camry Hybrid. She darted right in my path and I saw her as I had just started to move. No damage to her and I apologized, and she smiled back. I think the non-noise-making aspect was a factor...she just did not expect a silent, still car to start moving.

So, I vote for at least a pair of beeps, for all cars. Would not help much for earbud-wearing day-dreamers though.

Thought about painting a small human on my driver's side door, like the fighter pilots

 

Road noise is loud enough, even in parking lots. Most people don't realize that cause they have Katy Perry blasting.

 

It doesn't help when pedestrians at night are wearing black:

Bob Wilson

 

I have to agree with those who have said that a lot of things seem simple enough but don't really work so well. After awhile, people just ignore new sounds or sights. Originally, making tail-lights bigger helped people notice them more. They even made the lights cover the width of the car's rear end. Then they added the requirement for an eye level rear light. All of these helped at first and then they didn't. We required daylight running lights but once people got used to them, the effectiveness diminished. No one pays much attention to car alarms. No one pays much attention to car horns, at least where its common (Denverites prefer to give the long finger to honking their horn- and as a Prius driver I am embarrassed to use my nellie horn).

Is pedestrian safety taught in school these days? "Defensive pedestrianism" is as as important as defensive bicycling or defensive driving. I seem to remember being told that parking garages were dangerous places because you can never be certain where the sound is coming from. A reverse beep for hybrids or other quiet cars? Are we sure the pedestrian in a hurry- maybe listening to their ipod or their spouse on the phone- is going to be able to pinpoint where the sound originates. Might that distract them from hearing the other car even closer?

I don't want people dying but easy answers usually aren't the right ones- unintended consequences always appear. Sometimes they are worth it, sometimes they aren't.

Reminds me of the sign at my old parking garage after the ADA became effective:
"For the convenience of our visually-impaired customers:" over the new braille numbers for the floors of the car garage. I understand that they may have intended to allow the visually-impaired customers to select the garage floor for their driving friend, but is that the best use of the couple hundred of dollars they spent on the new characters and sign?

 

I'm sure there's already legislation in the works, or soon will be requiring EV's and Hybrids in EV mode to have noise makers. I believe that in Japan this may already be the case.
My beloved company requires drivers to back in or pull through---so this may help others as well.
Interestingly enough, a month or two before my "arranged nuptials" with the hybrid community, I was sideswiped by a lady hauling freight out of her parking spot---I was on foot and I was taken by surprise!! She was horrified, but I calmed her down stating "no harm, no foul"
Who was at fault?
Well, I should have been looking more, and she should have been driving slower, so it's 6-5 and pickem.
However (comma) the first time somebody's precious little crumb-snatcher (that they let run through the parking lot) gets squashed by a Prius in a Wal-Mart somewhere in one of them itty-bitty little blue states....it's gonna be ON!!! Even our lame-duck legislature will pass the "2010 Silent is Violent" bill with a veto-proof majority faster than you can say NTSB!

The good news is that our Priuses will be "grandfathered in"
EDIT: If this makes no sense to you, remember that braille keypads are required on drive-through ATMs. It doesn't HAVE to make sense...

 

I understand here in Florida pedestrians always have the right of way in a parking lot...so its the driver who needs to watch out for pedestrians not the other way around!