[Njabs-talk] USA Today article: GM works to make some noise

[EVELYN E. VALDEZ]

Please forward.
It is a start and hopefully we can get the Congress 
to sign onto bill HR 734.

Lynn Reynolds has information pertaining to this 
bill.

In addition, an article appears in the fall issue 

of the Sounding Board that can be found on our website at www.nfbnj.org

Remember: When we all do, it becomes doable!
Best,

Joe 
Keep believing.  Keep dreaming.  Keep learning
Let's work 

together.  Let's make a difference!
Joseph J. Ruffalo 
President, 

National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey
Phone:  

973-743-0075
Please visit our State and National Web Sites
http://www.nfbnj.org
http://www.thruoureyes.org
http://www.blindchildren.org
http://www.nfb.org
Email: 
nfbnj at yahoo.com



----- Original Message ----- 


From: Freeh, Jessica 


To: Alpidio Rolon ; Amy Buresh ; Angela Wolf ; Anil Lewis ; Art 

Schreiber ; Beth Rival ; Bill Packee ; Bob Kresmer ; Carl Jacobsen ; Cathy Jackson ; Charlene Smyth ; Christine G. Hall ; Dan Hicks ; Daniel Burke ; 

Don 

Galloway ; Donna Wood ; Elsie Lamp ; Frank Lee 

; Franklin Shiner ; Fred Schroeder ; 

Gary 

Ray ; Gary Wunder ; J.W. Smith 

; James 

Antonacci ; James Broadnax ; Jennelle Bichler ; 

Jennifer Dunnam ; Joe Ruffalo ; John Batron ; 

John 

Fritz ; Joyce Scanlan ; Ken 

Rollman ; Kevan Worley ; Larry 

Posont ; Marie Johnson ; Mary 

Willows ; Matt Lyles ; Matt 

Lyles ; Melissa Riccobono ; Michael Barber ; 

Michael Freeman ; Mika Pyyhkala ; Nani Fife ; Pam Allen ; 

Parnell Diggs 

; Patti Chang ; 

Richard Gaffney ; Ron Brown ; Ron Gardner ; Sam 

Gleese ; Scott LaBarre ; Selena 

Sundling-Crawford ; Terri Rupp 


Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 9:37 AM


Subject: USA Today article: GM works to make some noise












GM works to make some noise





News Outlet: USA 

Today
November 25, 2009


By Chris Woodyard


General Motors will announce today that it's working 

with one of the largest advocacy organizations for the vision-impaired to find 

ways for the next-generation electric cars to make enough noise that pedestrians 

can hear them coming.


GM says it's working with the National Federation of the 

Blind on technology to make sure that near-silent electric cars and hybrids 

don't sneak up on unsuspecting walkers or runners.


It's potentially a growing problem as the nation switches to 

battery-powered cars as an alternative to high-priced gasoline. A bill that 

would direct the Transportation Department to regulate a solution -- the 

Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act -- was introduced in Congress earlier this 

year.


One study already points to dangers. Walkers and bicyclists 

are being struck at a greater rate by hybrid vehicles than by conventional cars, 

concluded the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 

September.


"I've had probably 25 

blind people in the country tell me they've almost been hit by these cars," says 

NFB President Marc Maurer. Vehicles brushed up against some or crushed their 

white canes, he says.


Maurer says he believes electric cars of the future will 

need to be equipped with a forward-directed sound device that operates without 

interruption while the car is in motion. All electric vehicles will have to make 

roughly the same artificial noise, he says, so that blind people will be able to 

distinguish them as moving vehicles.


Automakers balk at going that far for the moment. Toyota, 

the largest producer of hybrid cars, says it is still studying the issue. So is 

Nissan, which plans to introduce the all-electric Leaf next year.


GM already is equipping its new Chevrolet Volt 

extended-range electric car with a driver-activated warning system. The car will 

emit a short audible horn pulse about as loud as the ring of a telephone when 

the driver pulls back on the turn-signal switch.


"We want to make sure 

it is something friendly and not startling," says Volt's chief engineer, Andrew 

Farah. He says they already believed the sound had to be "clearly automotive" in 

nature. And the collaboration with the federation is aimed at seeing if 

something more is needed.


Other automakers aren't so sure. Tesla, which already has 

sold about 900 all-electric Roadsters, is reluctant to make noise.


"One of the top 

attributes that our customers bring up is that (the car) is so quiet," says 

spokeswoman Rachel Konrad. The majority of the sound is not from the engine. 

It's tire noise and wind resistance.


As a result, she says, Tesla is monitoring research and 

regulations around the issue as it might affect its $109,000 two-seater, but 

probably won't add a noisemaker unless there is a "compelling 

reason."