[Blindtlk] From The Washington Post.

[james sofka]

Glad to help.
Jim Sofka..
----- Original Message
From: "Graves, Diane" <dgraves at icrc.IN.gov>
To: "'Blind Talk Mailing List'" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, June 14, 2010 7:40 AM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] From The Washington Post.


> Jim,
>
> Thank you for this.  I am doing a persuasive speech for my public speaking 
> course on this very topic, next week, and I am required to have 5 
> sources/references.
>
> You just made my life a little easier. Actually a lot easier. The outline 
> including the reference sources is due tomorrow.
>
>
>
> Diane Graves
> Civil Rights Specialist
> Indiana Civil Rights Commission
> Alternative Dispute Resolutions Unit
> 317-232-2647
>
> "It is service that measures success."
> George Washington Carver
>
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
> Behalf Of james sofka
> Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 11:17 PM
> To: NFBnet Blind Talk Mailing List
> Subject: [Blindtlk] From The Washington Post.
>
> Hi, all.
> For your information.
> Jim Sofka.
> Nissan makes the Leaf rustle; Car manufacturer adds noises to quiet 
> electric vehicle to alert pedestrians to its presence. by Peter Whoriskey. 
> It was  quiet. Maybe too quiet. With advocates for pedestrians and the 
> blind warning that hybrid and electric cars could catch strollers unaware, 
> the designers of the Nissan Leaf have added sound effects to the otherwise 
> nearly silent vehicle. After exploring a hundred sounds that ranged from 
> chimes to motorlike to futuristic, the company settled on a soft whine 
> that fluctuates in intensity with the car's speed. When backing up, the 
> car makes a clanging sound. Nissan says it worked with advocates for the 
> blind, a Hollywood sound-design company and acoustic psychologists in 
> creating its system of audible alerts. While silence is golden, it does 
> present practical challenges," a Nissan statement said. The Leaf is 
> scheduled to go on sale in part of the United States in December. Nissan 
> added the artificial noises as lawmakers and regulato
> rs study whether auto manufacturers should be required to install warning 
> sounds in their vehicles to alert pedestrians. With more than 1.6 million 
> hybrid vehicles on the road, and the number of electric cars expected to 
> rise with the introduction of more vehicles like the Leaf, a number of 
> safety advocates have warned of the dangers to pedestrians. According to a 
> study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last year, 
> hybrid vehicles are twice as likely as conventional cars to be involved in 
> a pedestrian crash in some low-speed situations. Others have argued that 
> adding sounds to cars works against decades  of effort by automakers  to 
> make cars that run quietly. Some electric car companies complained that 
> silence is one of the main virtues of the battery-run cars. Nissan's sound 
> system is the first created by a major manufacturer. The company says it 
> is controlled  by a computer and synthesizer in the dash panel. The 
> sounds are delivered through a speaker in
>  the engine compartment. A switch inside the vehicle can turn off the 
> sounds temporarily, but the system automatically resets to "on" at the 
> next ignition cycle. At speeds greater than 20 mph, any car, electric or 
> not, makes significant noise because of the tires slapping on the 
> pavement, engineers say. The noises for the Nissan operate only at the 
> lower speeds. whoriskeyp at washpost.com.
>
>
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