Your Hybrid (or EV) Just Got Noiser

The noise generated does not matter because our vehicles kill just under 5,000 pedestrians every year from today's noise generating vehicles. A blind person killed by a Prius making this noise will be just as dead as one killed by a pickup truck, SUV or dump truck. We're not focusing on the problem, pedestrian accidents.

You'll notice the GM solution, modulated horn, is the type of integrated to the vehicle solution that makes disabling all but impossible. One would have to intercept the horn switch and re-route to an independent horn circuit. This takes time and money, more than most folks have. So instead, we'll have a growing chorus that will mask the second car coming from behind (just like noise generating cars do today!) and these vehicles will strike the blind and other pedestrians just every other pedestrian accident has since before hybrids came to our roads:

(Image of Prius involved in fatal pedestrian accident, May 3, 2010, Seattle.)

Let me put it in simple terms:

• ~98% of pedestrian accidents are not by hybrids but noise generating vehicles
• ~2% are by hybrids
• this "fix" ignores the 98%

Bob Wilson

 

what % of cars on the road are hybrids?

 

Based upon past sales, a little over 2%. There are areas of the country the ratio is higher but overall, sales had just started nibbling 3% of new car sales when the recession hit.

Bob Wilson

 

<AHEM>GM makes hybrids besides the Volt. Do any of them have these Volt noise makers?

Bob Wilson

 

all gm cars are noisemakers, a wretching noise from the poor owner.

 

so, it sounds like we account for a smaller % of ped. accidents than noisy vehicles.

 

Yes indeed. Worked great on the EV1 and it'll work great on the Volt... and all other cars for that matter. And that's fantastic news as it was the perfect solution to this non-issue. I'm being 100% serious here. I see there has been some confusion...

There is nothing that needs disabling. There is no sound unless the driver wishes to make sound. Just like the horn won't blow until you hit the middle of the steering wheel - the pedestrian alert will not sound unless you pull the "flash to pass" stalk.

As you know, I'm fully behind your stance on "always on" noise makers. This is the solution, however. It is a manually activated warble that is just like gently tapping the horn to say "excuse me." It was perfectly executed on the EV1, and it is the perfect solution to all this idiocy about being a danger to pedestrians. It causes no more noise pollution (since it will only be used when needed - not very often!).

In the video clip above, at about 1:00 in, you'll hear the alert and see the lights flash. Each flash is accompanied by a double warble. That's what you get with each pull of the stalk. The driver is in there manually operating that sound for demonstration. He does it several times in a row. It is NOT just an on-going thing.

 

Here in the US it is illegal to jay walk... but if you - as a vehicle driver - hit a jay-walker with your car, it basically comes down to being totally your fault.

Now don't get me wrong - I'd WAY rather have people walk than drive. But yeah... that personal responsibility thing needs to be ratcheted up a few notches.

 

Source?

• Is it implemented on the existing GM hybrids?

My sources are:

• H.R. 734, Section 3 (8) - " . . . and require that vehicles emit a minimum level of sound designed to alert all pedestrians, especially blind pedestrians, to the presence of such vehicles."
• S. 841, Section 3 (8) - " . . . and require that vehicles emit a minimum level of sound designed to alert all pedestrians, especially blind pedestrians, to the presence of such vehicles."

If the wording of the bill puts the operator in charge by stating "vehicles shall have an operator control to emit a minimum level of sound," I would have no problem. But the only language we have:

Section 3 (8) - " . . . and require that vehicles emit a minimum level of sound designed to alert all pedestrians, especially blind pedestrians, to the presence of such vehicles."​

What source claims that any of the proposed legislation makes this an operator control?

Understand the question is "operator control" and that does not mean:

• ignition/ready/power button - the one that enables the vehicle to run
• brake pedal
• accelerator pedal
• shifter position (do you have a single or multiple beep "R"?)

I have no problem if the turn signal or hazard button enables an external alarm. But the legislation does not make it an operator selected function. Make it an operator control and not one required to maneuver the car, and we're on the same sheet of paper.

But you raise a very good question. I'll ask the National Federation of the Blind if they would be OK with an operator control, like a horn or light switch, that enables or disables the noise generator. In the meanwhile, I can cite (and forward) a specific e-mail where the advocate writes:

• 11/01/2007 4:48PM - "Re: [Quietcars] Solutions . . .
  We needed something that would emit a sound, loud enough to be heard at
  least 250 feet away and could be easily picked out of the normal traffic
  din.
  It also has to be something that is on any time the key is on and the
  vehicle is ready to move." - David Evans e-mail

The legislation, QuietCars open mailing list, and the testimony I remember from the June 23, 2008 hearing all state that they do not want an 'operator control' of the sound generator.

Bob Wilson

 

This is what I asked:

I'll post any follow-up replies as they arrive.

Bob Wilson

 

I think we're not on the same page here. I am ONLY talking about how the Volt works - or the "GM solution" as you put it. Is that not what we were discussing? I am not talking about what the bill requires. My source is me.

​

 

Peace my friend. I think we may have an approach that might work.

Let me sleep over it and we'll see what develops.

Bob Wilson

 

Regs should take into account ambient noise, and the relative threshold noise a car must make to be considered too quiet. I'm pretty sure many ICE cars will fail the test.

 

We have an answer:

We need to be cautious that blind advocate approval of the Chevy Volt is separate from the legislation. It is easy to confuse the two and in the four years I've been following this subject, there has been a lot of FUD and misdirection published.

Bob Wilson

 

In addition, we now have the language:

http://energycommerce.house.gov/documents/20100526/HR5381.Amendment.Stearns.pdf

I've not seen the Senate version. Both House and Senate versions must have identical language.

Bob Wilson

 

IMO, the blind are not the ones creating the problem. My observations are that they are very careful, obey laws, use canes, listen, etc. Around here, the peds who put themselves at most risk seem to fall into two categories:

1. Numb-nuts who have iPods/headphones/cellphones/etc. glued to their person who obliviously blunder out into the street. No amount of sweet-li'l-ol'engineered-in polite noise (or traditional ICE clatter, for that matter) penetrates these folks' reverie. They might as well be on the Moon, and I wish they were. Maybe one of those blast-horn things mentioned above might work, but nothing in the proposed "fix" would cut it. I live near a (supposedly very good) college and see this every day. Forget about that look left, right, left again stuff we learned in grade school.

2. The Imperious Challenge types. You live in any city and you've likely seen them--they barge right out into the street in front of you, give you the evil eye, and dare you to hit them. If they see you coming, they slow down and adopt the tough-guy swagger. Maybe they've seen too many of those "if you've got a phone, you've got a lawyer" commercials. Like a game of pedestrian chicken, almost, though I'd never call their bluff.

In either case, none of this proposed BS would do a thing about it. I'm all for safety for the blind, but I just don't think this is the way to go about it. And, living in a busy city, the last thing we need is more <insert coital gerund here> noise. Sheesh.

 

"We needed something that would emit a sound, loud enough to be heard at
least 250 feet away and could be easily picked out of the normal traffic
din."

Huhh ?

 

Venting:

• "Bell the Hybrid" - will make future hybrids and EVs into literally 'ice cream clown cars.' Instead of being part of normal traffic, they will be seen as 'silly noise makers.' Only recently achieving 3% market share, I anticipate new sales in the USA will be reduced (was "plummet" rjw) when the law comes into effect. Hopefully the Japanese will be a little slower and upon seeing the impact (was "collapse" rjw), keep their production allocated to sensible markets. Not everyone is as short-sighted as the "Bell the Hybrid" advocates.
• Other car manufacturers - see hybrids as competition they want to kill. Making hybrids by law into "ice cream clown cars" will do more than all the skeptics could ever hope to achieve.
• The Blind - don't care and would just as soon be done with all hybrids and EVs (and any other traffic if they can get away with it.)
• Dead Pedestrians - side tracked by "Bell the Hybrid," the 5,000 pedestrian deaths per year will continue but they won't speak up or make a peep because . . . they are dead.

There is a reason why since the 1970s the USA has been unable to curb domestic oil consumption. This is just another 'success' in the race to burn up all the oil.

Bob Wilson