Your Hybrid (or EV) Just Got Noiser

Well they can pass this legislation to make Hybrids and EVs emit certain noise levels, but the pedestrians or (prey) had better start using their heads when in the area of vehicles (predators). I see it all the time, these people who walk around in parking lots and crossing streets (where ever and when ever they want) like they own the place! Perhaps we should launch a ticketing campaign in the US to educate the prey as to their status in the food chain. Blind peds we all have to watch out for.

 

What a missed opportunity. Imagine a world of electric and hybrid vehicles. No noise at the traffic lights or junctions. Beautiful.

What are these vehicles being looked at by the blind when nothing has been said about existing electric vehicles or bicyles?

 

i'm thinking some sweet music coming from the grille, maybe a little sargent pepper would wake them up!

 

in a large city like Los Angeles.. it really doesn't make difference how much noise your car makes... you can't really hear any of them....

 

I don't believe they have statistics for that. I don't. I'm sure thousands of people are hit by cars every day across the US. There's no way to get accurate statistics on this when comparing the small percentage of cars that hybrids are to the massive percentage of non-hybrid cars. And if they say it was a controlled study, I don't believe it. You mean people volunteered to get hit by cars?

Didn't we used to call this natural selection? People who look survive, people who don't look aren't fit to survive and pass their [stupid] genes onto another generation? Why is the govt. sticking their noses in this? I was observing a crow in the road the other day eating road kill, and it kept looking up every ten seconds to make sure no cars were coming - it wasn't just relying on it's ears. It was LOOKING BOTH WAYS - smarter than some humans. So if the humans don't look and end up being selected out of the gene pool ... why is that a problem? (I have sympathy for the blind and handicapped (Stephen Hawking is a perfect example of why we should not terminate these people at birth), but I don't have much sympathy for stupid people.)

Blind people? FYI: Very true story: A few days ago I was walking through a parking lot and I heard the whirr noise of a Prius driving by, and as I was looking at it...
WHOA! I saw something out of my peripheral vision, turn around and their was a normal ICE right behind me, not more than two feet away, completely silent.

 

Good point! Nature would return back to normal (as far as noise goes) if all the noise-polluting cars disappeared from the roads. It's like the silence of night at 3am, when all you hear are a few birds singing. Beauty to the ears and nature.

Bicycles! Great point. I haven't seen any requirement of sound on bicycles ... for the past 100+ years! Have blind people been complaining about bicycles?

 

I was out on my BMW 1150GS the other day in town, I was in left center lane of four, 1st at the light. There was a semi truck making a right turn holding up traffic in the right lanes and I started out casually over main street, and down the hill. All of the sudden from my right; I see this lady run out from between the parked cars along the curb to wards me, in the middle of the block! I grabbed the brakes at perhaps 20mph and she continued to come at me. All that I could see was the back of her head, because for some reason she was looking the opposite direction on a one way street! The only thing that stopped her inches from my handlebar was me yelling "HO"! through my full faced Shoei helmet. Perhaps she wanted to be hit and did not want to see it coming?

 

This is backwards thinking. They are fixing the wrong thing. It wont change the fact that they are still blind and helpless as they are argue.

Why dont these advocates focus on finding a cure for blindness instead. DUH.

Is the world really this stupid? This is how our society starts to crumble.

 

I could live with this ... provided the sound was minimal. I mean, if I'm not in a parking lot and just pulling up to the curb in the front of my house, I don't want it to alert all my neighbors to look out their windows to see "the guy with the noisy hybrid."

 

It's times like this that disappoint me that animal control has cleared urban areas of lions, tigers, and grizzly bears. Something needs to clear the population of stupid people. Our country is swelling with welfare people, dragging down the progress of our society (cut. okay, that's a whole different conversation)

Back on topic. I think the politicians that are pushing for hybrid car noisemakers should be required to wear bark collars so whenever they raise their voice beyond a predetermined level, it shocks them.

 

I almost hit a guy j-walking a few weeks ago and my engine was ON! It was entirely my fault because I forgot I was not in forced EV mode and I accelerated a little too hard and my engine came on and I wasted gas. Went from about 500mpg down to about 460mpg on that trip just because the engine came on for a few seconds.

Any way the idiot was not paying attention and not using a cross walk which was about 30-40 feet away. What the hell am I going to be forced to put on my car to get these idiots attentions? hornblasters? I'm sure the blind and even the deaf can hear those. I just dont know about the idiots

 

I've been wanting to get one of these for my car for a few years now. I should just get it. The lady on the cell phone at 0:56 seconds - every time I see someone driving on a cell phone, I'll honk it.

 

I can guarantee you if I purchase an EV or a Hybrid, and it has some noise thing installed, I will rip it out. I won't only pull the fuse, I'll rip it out of the car. I passed a blind man the other day, and he heard me coming. I was in EV mode in my 2010. He heard me just fine, because he was paying more attention than most people. Now,... down the road there was a perfectly visually-abled person that strolled RIGHT in front of me. I wouldn't mind a button-activated tone, or a very small and enjoyable to the ear (doo doo, or electronic buzz buzz) or something to that effect. Something that actually sounded pleasant and alerted people to my presence if I notice they aren't taking note. Something that is quiet enough not to affect any area outside of the range of in front of my car though.

 

I think if we are required to have noise makers we should get a choice. Maybe we can make the prius have the engine sounds of a Porsche, or have snoop dog telling people to get out of the way.

I live by a school for the deaf; many pedestrians wear headphones (including me when running). I find it hard to believe that belling the hybrid will prevent accidents. Its up to us as drivers to not run over pedestrians, and for those with impairments to cross at intersections.

 

Every time "Bell the Hybrid" comes up, I check to see what new facts and data might be around:

• NoiseOFF - The Coalition Against Noise Pollution - Electric Vehicles - "Lobby your legislator not to support bills mandating artificial vehicle sound. Contact automakers and express your views that as a pedestrian and a motorist, you do not support their efforts."
• "Analysis of Pedestrian Crashes", DOT HS 809 585, April 2003 - reveals on pp. 7 that "76.3% Going Straight" accidents were the vast majority yet this is the maneuver that the Prius had a statistically significant lower relative incident of pedestrian accidents in the DOT HS 811 204, September 2009. This second report is the one cited for false claims of double Prius hazards is derived from.

Understand, I can be persuaded by facts and data but that is not what we are seeing. This effort to "Bell the Hybrid" has the same sloppy, lazy claims we've seen from hybrid skeptics since hybrids first arrived. It is a shame because the NHTSA should be on the side of safety, not false and misleading claims.

Bob Wilson

 

All we need to do is mount a speaker outside the car and whenever you go to EV mode a 100 decibel recording kicks in:

Get out of the fooking way!

I suggest a speaker like they used in The Blues Brothers.

 

The noise on a hybrid or EV is just alarmist nonsense.

Similar thing occured here about a hundred years ago when the automobile or horseless carriage as they were called first came out. People were so concerned they would frighten the horses on the roads that they made a man walk in front of the car waving a red flag!

Great, but somewhat impeaded the reason why people bought a car - going faster than walking pace.

Same with this nonsense about making quiet cars noisy. How about making pedestrians liable if they walk into the road. Don't know about the US but here jay walking isn't illegal and pedestrians actually have right of way - and boy do they know it. If you hit someone it's pretty much your fault unless you have witnesses saying they suddenly ran out in front of you.

GrumpyCabbie gets grumpy when discussing pedestrians

 

The legislation:

• S.3302 Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010 - the Senate bill does not have language to "Bell the Hybrid."

I have not found an equivalent House bill. I read the May 19 hearing transcripts and did not find any reference to "Bell the Hybrid." Just having scanned the Federal Register, nothing there either. Whatever is happening is being kept very 'hush hush' . . . I wonder why?

Bob Wilson