Mandatory Hybrid Noise?

well blind people are making the complaints of not being able to hear parked or stopped hybrids, no deaths so far but a few bumps, bruises, and run-over foots. & its hard to take on a disabled person cause it makes you look like a monster.

i wouldn't care if there was a speaker built into the bumper that I can push a button when I see a blind person coming near & it makes a few beeps. I think this news is good for hybrids & electric cars because it means they are becoming mainstream and problems are being addressed.

 

I once drove a car that had the engine in the back (trunk) which, when standing in front was difficult to hear. I more than once gave people a heck of a start when they suddenly noticed me. It is up to us to be wary of children and such and I think it would not be a big stretch to be watchful for other disabled folks as well. But to legislate it I think would be a bit too much of a stretch. Maybe if we just went Brrrm, Brrrrm it would help.

Buck

 

You have one now its called a horn.

 

Needs more cowbell.

 

Agree. 'specially hear in Texus.

Actually, having personalized ringtones for your Prius would be kinda cool. Just don't want it to be legislated, that's all.

Seriously though, RF technologies can be implemented to let blind people detect oncoming vehicles silently. Why am I not surprised that no legislators have thought about that...

 

I said this is a similar thread, but have you guys every heard the annoying clicking/beeping at crosswalks designed to alert the blind? In the case of the crosswalk, that makes sense, but I really don't want one of those things attached to my car.

This is a frivolous bill to take care of a problem that doesn't exist. There's not one documented case of a blind person getting run over by a hybrd and I doubt incidents would be much higher than any other type of vehicle.

It will add expense and annoyance for hybrid owners.

If you want to contact your congressman, you can look them up here:

https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

Reference bill H.R.5734.

 

Basically this bill says that a committee be set up to study the issue and come back within two years to give a report/recommendation. So it'll be a while before anyone will be required to do anything, if at all.

Still, if you're in Texus, this might be a good option:

BULL AND CATTLE HORN

• So realistic, farmers and ranchers have used this type of horn for years to call cattle
• Red enamel trumpet 8" x 5" x 6-1/2" mounts under hood with bracket included
• Steering column mount manual lever controls tone from the moo of a cow to the full bellow of an enraged bull

 

Maybe we should think of this as an opportunity. In the 70, if you wanted your car to sound cool, you had to add headers, glasspacks, or at least punch some holes in the muffler with an ice pick or let them rust out a little. Now, we can have personalized sounds like ring tones mentioned above. I would make my Prius sound like a big Peterbuilt Semi and to keep the blind as safe as posible.

 

WOLO RECORD-A-HORNâ„¢ - JCWhitney Auto Parts

• Record and play back your favorite songs and sounds with the push of a button
• Powerful 12 Watts
• Records 30-second sound or song clips for your horn
• Change your recording anytime and as many times as you want

 

I had the opportunity to run over a fully sighted person this morning if I had chosen to. She was walking with her back toward me right down the center of the parking lot where I work. I just waited until she moved out of the way which took about 5 seconds.

I like the JC Whitney cow horn, but if I order anything from them, I'll get junk mail and catalogs for the next 5 years.

 

Oh, this is just too perfect! I think that I might have just found my first "I gotta have that" Prius mod. (Yes, all those years I lived in Texas evidently affected my brain.) Now I just gotta figure where it can go in the engine compartment and where to put that lever....

All goofing aside, I have noticed that people in parking lots really do have a hard time knowing that I'm behind them if the car is running off the battery. If the ICE is running they seem to know I'm there (I'm guessing they're hearing the car.) That's just something that I've noticed and learned to be careful of.

This is going to be an interesting one to watch. I think quite a bit of it is a result of people being afraid of the things that they don't understand, but that's being compounded by a few well meaning busy-bodies who haven't figured out that you can't legislate right or correct behavior.

 

Haha they have these at nearly every crosswalk in Boston...the ridiculous thing, though, is that there must be competing companies that make these devices. At most crosswalks, the thing will 'chirp' when the walk signal shows. But there are a few crosswalks nearby where there is a button on the light post that 'chirps' and when you press the button it says either 'wait to cross' or 'cross now!', and its STOPS chirping when the walk signal shows.

So some of them chirp when you should walk, some chirp when you shouldn't. Genius.

 

That's not how I read it, when I looked it up a couple of weeks ago. The bill gives the Secretary of DOT has two years to determine the minimum acceptable level of noise and the best method for warning blind pedestrians (with a clear slant toward making more noise). No option to decide whether or not such a modification is necessary. Then two years to implement. So as I read it the bill is a mandate to have quiet cars make more noise. The only thing not settled is the particulars.

When this first came up did a quick study of the US accident statistics and posted it in an earlier thread. I've since emailed it to the staff of one of the bill's sponsors. (No reply from them and no reply expected). The upshot of my calculation is that, as far as serious pedestrian accidents go, hybrids are neither more nor less likely to be involved than other cars are, but the legally blind, as a class, have a lower overall death and injury rate from pedestrian accidents than the US population as a whole.

I'll repost the study here in case anyone can use it. Particularly if you'd care to express your opinion to your Representative.

 

Excellent report Chris! If I look quickly at the charts and tables...it appears that the blind are being hurt more by GM cars/trucks than other car mfgs. So... what to do, what to do. Discuss.

 

My suggestion is to have GM close down. They can't manage to make cars that people want to buy, they blame all their problems on their retirees and the cost of their healthcare, and NOW they hurt the blind.

Come on, who's with me?!?!?!

:smash:

 

Obviously this is an important issue. (thanks for the great post, Chogan!)

But what about the stupid people?! Who will speak for them?

 

Don't worry about it, Darell. There are plenty of loud mouthed stupid people in the US.

 

Yesterday I was coming out of a store and walking to my car. I was startled when I heard a noise coming from the tires of a car less than 3 feet behind me. It was a BUICK!

If they come up with some kind of a minimum noise level it had better apply to ALL cars, not just hybrids.

When I was in high school the trick was to make your car a loud as possible without getting a ticket. Now we are talking about tickets for being too quiet.

When will the madness end?

Bob

 

I agree. They can't say the hybrids need to make more noise without saying ALL cars need to make more noise. Before the muffler fell off my husbands buick regal was almost as quiet as my prius. Though I do get to have some fun with the quietness of my prius.

I was in a parking lot last week, trying to get out of the one exit that exists for that particular lot. Standing right in the middle of the road completely blocking the exit were 2 guys talking, 1 facing me and 1 facing the other way. I stopped, waiting for these guys to move. The one that was facing me saw me and kept trying to get his friend to move but his friend did NOT get the point. After 5 minutes of this I started inching closer to them in my prius. The guy facing me saw me doing this and just kinda watched me, saying nothing to his friend. I got within a foot of them before I stopped and gave them a few more minutes before I got really impatient and revved the engine and blew the horn at the same time. The guy who hadn't as of yet noticed me threw his arms up in the air, dropping his shopping bag while screaming before he realized what had happened. His friend who had seen me busted up laughing so hard that he actually fell on the pavement holding his sides. The cars waiting in line behind me had quite a bit of laughing coming from them as well. A few more minutes later and both the scared guy and the laughing guy had come to their senses enough to move out of the way. One laughing still and one glaring at me evilly. I waved to them both as I left the parking lot, trying to stop my own laughing.

Yes this was with a prius but the guy standing there didnt seem to hear the 6 cars waiting in line behind me either. So just because a prius is quieter than some other cars doesnt mean that people hear the other cars any better.