[Ct-nfb] Coming soon to your quiet hybrid: NOISE - The Washington Post

Sat Nov 26 16:22:21 UTC 2016

great article. thanks for sending it on to us.
Eileen Torow

On Thu, Nov 24, 2016 at 06:56 AM, Jim McCollum via CT-NFB wrote:

Hello, all. Pedestrian safety may get interesting. I got a laugh out of 
this article. 
Here's wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/tripping/wp/2016/11/23/coming-soon-to-your-quiet-hybrid-noise/?tid=ss_tw-bottom 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/tripping/wp/2016/11/23/coming-soon-to-your-quiet-hybrid-noise/?tid=ss_tw-bottom>

Coming soon to your quiet hybrid: NOISE

  The federal government this month announced a new rule requiring 
automakers to equip new hybrid and electric vehicles with sound alerts 
to protect pedestrians and bicyclists when the vehicles are moving at 
slow speeds. Here, a man walks beside vehicles on the lot of a Toyota 
dealership in Alexandria, Va. in February 2014. (EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS)

 Your quiet hybrid is likely to make itself heard in the not-so-distant 
future.
Under a new safety regulation issued by the federal government, hybrids 
and electric cars will be equipped with a device that emits sound to 
alert passersby that the vehicle is running. Manufacturers have until 
Sept. 1, 2019, to meet the requirement.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 
announcing 
<https://www.nhtsa.gov/About-NHTSA/Press-Releases/nhtsa_quiet_car_final_rule_11142016> 
the new safety standard, said adding noise to the nearly soundless 
vehicles could prevent nearly 2,400 injuries 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/21/AR2008072100804.html> 
a year to pedestrians and bicyclists.  The measure is of special 
importance to people who are blind or visually impaired.
“The sound is really important when you’re at an intersection because 
it’s really the only thing that’s telling you not only whether there are 
cars in the intersection or not, but what the overall pattern of the 
traffic is,” said Chris Danielsen, a spokesman for the Baltimore-based 
National Federation of the Blind, which lobbied for the measure.
Danielsen, who is blind, said sound is critical even for a person who is 
using a guide dog or when intersections are equipped with audio devices 
to help people navigate. It’s also important in parking lots, where 
slow-moving hybrids or electric vehicles can travel in almost complete 
silence.
   [Quiet electric cars must be noisier to alert people, NHTSA proposal 
says. 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/quiet-electric-cars-must-be-noisier-to-alert-people-nhtsa-proposal-says/2013/01/09/81403de2-599a-11e2-9fa9-5fbdc9530eb9_story.html> 
]
The federal safety agency began gathering evidence of potential dangers 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/22/AR2009092204290.html> 
posed by cars powered by something besides an internal combustion engine 
at least six years ago. In 2009, Nissan proposed adding a chime or 
perhaps even a futuristic whirring noise that reminded one of our 
colleagues of the flying machines in “Blade Runner.”
   [The deadly silence of the electric car 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/22/AR2009092204290.html> 
]
But, in a way, the rule will take the automobile industry back in time, 
to the days when engineers sweated over ways to silence the gas-powered 
engine.
Automakers will have to equip all new hybrids and electric passenger 
vehicles with sound alerts that operate when the vehicles travel forward 
at speeds of up to about 19 miles an hour or in reverse. The agency said 
that at faster speeds, an artificial sound alert isn’t needed because 
the vehicle’s tire and wind noises can alert pedestrians.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers 
<http://www.autoalliance.org/index.cfm?objectid=E51651B0-AAB0-11E6-85D0000C296BA163> 
, which represents the “Big Three” U.S. automakers and others, welcomed 
the rule so long as makers can be flexible about the sounds that are 
used.
“For years and years having a quiet car was something society wanted,” 
Alliance spokesman Wade Newton said. “So it’s a little different. But we 
agree that some people need those audible clues.”
But manufacturers are also eager to find alert sounds that will warn 
bystanders without annoying the vehicle’s occupants, Newton said. And, 
they want to create different “sound signatures” to distinguish their 
brands and models from one another. Ideally, the makers say, a car 
fanatic should be able to close his or her eyes and distinguish a 
German-made convertible from, say, a domestic minivan.
As for me, I’d love it if the Prius could sound like one of “Big Daddy” 
Don Garlits’s <http://garlits.com/don-garlits-biography/>  dragsters or 
a Don “The Snake” Prudhomme <http://snakeracing.com/about-us/>  funny 
car. Failing that, maybe the sound of a hamster wheel would do.  (In the 
same spirit, National Public Radio 
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113237170> a few 
years back suggested the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.,” 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyd2Y6FDniY>  a train whistle or the 
gentle clip-clop of a horse.)
Danielsen, the spokesman for the Federation of the Blind, said the 
organization is also fine with variety and flexibility. But he said his 
organization also doesn’t want the car industry or consumers to get 
carried away.

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“When we first started talking about this, a lot of people said, ‘Well, 
this will be great — you can have  ringtones for cars,’” Danielsen said. 
“And that’s not really what we want.”
Cars should probably sound like cars, he said. And although some variety 
among the brands would be fine, the organization would prefer there be 
uniformity by make and model, so that a Dodge Charger always sounds like 
a Dodge Charger, and so on.
Danielsen also said the organization understands the industry’s need to 
come up with sounds that alert bystanders without getting on the 
occupants’ nerves, but the deciding factor should be to protect 
pedestrians and bicyclists.
“We are all for trying not to annoy the occupants,” he said. “But, 
ultimately, this is a safety issue.”
Read more of Tripping:
   [How effective is your state at fighting drunk driving? MADD has 
ranked them. 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/tripping/wp/2016/11/18/maryland-is-among-the-best-at-combating-drunken-driving-so-is-mississippi-madd-report-suggests-why/> 
]
   [The federal government has enough problems without taking over 
Metro. 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/tripping/wp/2016/11/02/the-federal-government-has-enough-problems-without-taking-over-metro/> 
]
   [U.S. must do more about “flying while Muslim," advocates say. 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/tripping/wp/2016/11/18/datas-good-but-u-s-must-do-more-about-flying-while-muslim-advocates-say/> 
]

Jim McCollum
Legislative Co-ordinator
National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut
j.mccollum64 at comcast.net <mailto:j.mccollum64 at comcast.net>
860-581-0430
Sent from my iPhone
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