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<BLOCKQUOTE
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style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From: Freeh,Jessica
<JFreeh@nfb.org><BR>To: david.andrews@nfbnet.org<BR>Sent: Thu, Sep 24,
2009 12:41 am<BR>Subject: [blindkid] Washington Post article on silent
cars<BR><BR>
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id=AOLMsgPart_0_c11d6ab3-7a85-4b87-aca9-3166348d95e4>The following article on
the danger posed by silent cars appeared today on the front page of the
Washington Post. <BR> <BR>Washington Post <BR>The Deadly
Silence of the Electric Car <BR> <BR>Automakers Propose Vroom-Vroom
Substitutes to Alert Pedestrians <BR>Byline: Peter
Whoriskey <BR>Publication Date: 09/23/2009 <BR><<A
title="http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z2220551574&z=950243970>Link"
href="http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z2220551574&z=950243970>Link"
target=_blank>http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z2220551574&z=950243970>Link</A>
to Article <BR> <BR> <BR>After years of trying to make cars
sound as if they were riding on air, engineers are considering how they might
bring back some noise. They're trying to make some of them -- those silent
hybrids -- more audible. <BR> <BR>But how? <BR> <BR>A team
of engineers developing the Leaf, the forthcoming electric car from Nissan and
a front-runner in the race for a mass-market electric car, have recently been
presenting their ideas for artificial noises to government officials and focus
groups. <BR> <BR>Maybe Chime Number 22? <BR> <BR>Melody
Number 39? <BR> <BR>Perhaps a futuristic whirring like the aircraft
in 'Blade Runner'? As hybrids proliferate and major automakers such as Nissan
and General Motors prepare to launch battery electric vehicles next year, some
automakers are seeking to address concerns in the United States and Japan that
the nearly noiseless vehicles may be so quiet that they pose a threat to
pedestrians. <BR> <BR>At a meeting earlier this month and another
over the summer, Nissan presented the chime, the melody and a futuristic whir
to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has recently
gathered evidence that the vehicles may pose a safety
risk. <BR> <BR>Regulatory committees in the United States and Japan
are also studying complaints about the cars, and Congress is weighing a
measure requiring vehicles to issue 'non-visual' warnings to pedestrians. 'We
are studying potential artificial noises that can be added to the vehicle,'
said Scott Becker, a Nissan senior vice president. <BR> <BR>But the
nascent industry is divided over whether safety sounds should be added to the
quiet cars and, if so, what those noises should be. 'Frankly, we've been
working for 30 years to make cars quiet -- never thinking they could become
too quiet,' said Robert Strassburger, vice president for vehicle safety at the
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an industry group that has been working
to address the concerns. But now 'those vehicles may be difficult to detect.'
Hybrid vehicles typically operate on hushed battery-powered electric motors
when idling and traveling at low speeds. At higher speeds, the noisier
internal-combustion engine kicks in. Toyota, which makes the popular hybrid
Prius, a small car that runs very quietly at low speeds, does not add
artificial sounds. <BR> <BR>Cars like Tesla's Roadster, Nissan's
Leaf and General Motors' Volt, which will depend on battery electric power,
may be even quieter. <BR> <BR>Officials at Tesla say they have no
intention of implementing 'fake noises.' The company already makes the
$109,000 electric Roadster, a luxury product popular with eco-conscious
celebrity customers. 'We have delivered more than 700 cars, and our customers
overwhelmingly say the relative quiet of the powertrain is one of the most
appealing aspects of the car,' said Tesla spokeswoman Rachel Konrad. 'Thanks
to widespread electric vehicle adoption, we will all enjoy far less noise
pollution in the future.' Evidence that the hybrid sales spurt poses a safety
threat has been scant, in part because the phenomenon is new and the hybrid
cars represent only a small fraction of the more than 230 million vehicles on
the road, transportation officials said. <BR> <BR>But an
as-yet-unreleased NHTSA study of accidents in 12 states compares accident
rates for some hybrid vehicles and their internal combustion engine
counterparts. <BR> <BR>Covering more than 8,000 hybrid electric
vehicles and nearly 600,000 gasoline-fueled cars, the analysis suggests that
during certain low-speed maneuvers such as turning and backing up, hybrid
vehicles are 50 percent more likely to be involved in an accident with a
pedestrian, said Ronald Medford, acting deputy administrator of NHTSA. 'We
certainly know that blind pedestrians rely heavily on the sound of vehicles as
a means of determining when it is safe to cross the road,' Medford said. 'But
all of us are susceptible.' The potential problem arises at speeds less than
15 mph, when the electric and hybrid vehicles are notably quiet, almost
silent. At higher speeds, the rush of air and the slap of tires makes the
electrics almost as noisy as their gasoline-powered
counterparts. <BR> <BR>Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) has introduced a
bill that would require the Department of Transportation to establish a safety
standard under which cars would have to be equipped to issue 'non-visual
alerts' so that pedestrians can determine the vehicle's location, motion and
speed. <BR> <BR>It has garnered 139 sponsors, among them Cliff
Stearns (R-Fla.), who says he has been startled by a quiet car. 'I was down in
Florida in the parking lot of a shopping center, and I was wheeling my
groceries with my wife, and I didn't hear a car come up behind me,' Stearns
told reporters. 'If all the cars are silent in the future, it does pose a
problem.' But if electric cars are to be equipped with sound, there is little
agreement over what the sound should be, how loud it ought to be and whether
manufacturers should be allowed to create their own distinctive audio
tracks. <BR> <BR>Some automakers are already experimenting with or
planning to develop noises. <BR> <BR>The Fisker Karma, a luxury
electric vehicle, will have an integrated audio system that will both alert
pedestrians and give the car a 'distinctive audio signature' that will be
'reflective of the car's advanced technology,' a spokesman said. Officials
with the National Federation of the Blind, which has pressed the safety issue
with automakers and regulators, have advocated that electric cars make sounds
similar to those of gas-powered cars. 'Society is conditioned to that sound,'
said John Pare, director of strategic initiatives for the
group. <BR> <BR>There is some concern that if a variety of noises
are permitted, then electric cars could merely add another layer to the urban
cacophony, potentially conflicting with state and local laws governing decibel
levels. 'If we all do it differently, we will confuse the heck out of the
consumer,'' said Nancy Gioia, director of hybrid and sustainable technology at
Ford. <BR> <BR>Nissan declined to release the audio tracks being
considered but said it would make its final decision in consultation with
regulators. <BR> <BR>It is also seeking approval from drivers, some
of whom have been fussy about the various sounds tested. 'They are too flat
and irritating in hearing for more than even five minutes,' one respondent in
a Nissan test said. 'Monotonous sound makes me sleepy,' said
another. <BR> <BR>Said Pare: 'We are certain that there is a safe
level of sound that isn't burdensome to
society.' <BR> <BR>_______________________________________________ <BR>blindkid
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