[Quietcars] Let us reason together

Thu Oct 30 15:08:54 UTC 2008

Hi Bob,

Thank you for your most thoughtful post.  You raise a number of relevant
points and provide a good argument for the key fob approach you are
developing.  As a long time researcher in technology for the blind as well
as a physicist by training I appreciate looking at all sides of an issue and
then coming to the best and most logical solution available.

In looking at the whole quiet car issue Corbb O'Connor also raised a good
point about what information a key fob system or any wireless system for
that matter would offer.  I think the best way to suggest you examine the
alternative is to consider what information you personally would desire to
have if you could not see.  Have you tried, for example, standing on a busy
street corner wearing sleep shades and wearing good ear plugs and then
imagining only having a wireless solution providing you information
concerning car movements?  I am not trying to be provocative nor narrow
minded.  Rather I am asking you to consider that blind people have a vast
collective experiential database of knowledge about travel.  We know that we
need more information than what a wireless information system would provide
today.  For all intents and purposes as blind people we want to have as much
of the same information available to us about automobile movements as
sighted people receive.

No matter what the statistics show, no matter what the industry experts have
concluded blind people know what is necessary to keep us safe on the
streets.  A simple warning about the proximity of a quiet car will not do
the job.  Also, like you we carry items in our hands as well as holding to a
white cane or the harness of a guide dog.  This would mean that a wireless
system would have to provide audible cues further masking the sounds of at
least some automotive traffic sounds.

The resistance to your present approach by blind persons comes not from
stubbornness nor does it come from emotion.  Rather it comes from
experience.

The NHTSA has no statistical data because its numbers are at least two and
often more than three years old.  Also, no one has really been specifically
asking for quiet car accident involvement until recently.

The Society of Automotive Engineers is attempting to examine the quiet car
issue including looking at much of the information you mentioned in your
email.  Any way the SAE or you look at it there isn't much real scientific
data.  Mean time blind people do have knowledge of what works for us and
why.  We have been pushing for audible cues on cars because no one has yet
proposed an alternative solution which would give us the same kind of
information you receive when you are a pedestrian.  I think it is
appropriate to say that if you propose a solution which gives us the
information about automobile movements which you enjoy and which is
available to us today then we would welcome it with open arms.

I agree with you that we should "reason together".  I do not know you and
thus do not know how much experience you have concerning the travel safety
needs and travel techniques of blind people.  For example, have you learned
to walk safely under sleep shades?  If not, you might consider spending some
time at one of the NFB centers to learn how to travel as a blind person.
This is not an easy task and it would take a real time commitment on your
part.

Let me close by saying there is a good reason why we as blind people say
that Braille is a real alternative to print for reading and writing.
Likewise, our hearing is the alternative we use for sight.  Braille and
hearing are not substitutes but rather we recognize that they are
alternatives.  With Braille I have a real language for expression.  With
hearing I have a true method of knowing about my environment and traveling
within it safely.  With hearing do I get every piece of information you
receive as a sighted person?  Of course not.  However, I believe I can show
that I also receive information through hearing which sight does not provide
or at least which sighted people have not learned to observe.

Quiet cars jeopardize my information data stream.  Providing a substitute to
automotive noise, a substitute which will not give me the same information
available today, is not a good solution for me and other blind travelers.

I hope you will take to heart these observations.  Look at the problem from
the point of view of blind people.  Look at the information flow we need and
then offer a total alternative solution and I know you will receive proper
consideration in return.  We all wish to work together to solve this serious
issue.  For our part, the rhetoric to which you object is appropriate and
comes none too soon.  We already know how unsafe it is to travel without
sound cues.  We have learned this through experience over time.  We have
created travel techniques based on what we have learned.

Thanks for your consideration.  I would be happy to talk with you or
correspond further if you wish.  I always enjoy interacting with people who
have a real concern over solving real problems.  You clearly want to bring
about a solution and I for one welcome your participation.

Best,

Michael Hingson,
 NSA   
President,
The Michael Hingson Group
84 Bahama Reef
Novato, CA 94949
Phone Direct number (415) 827-4084
Fax number (415) 883-6220
Mobile/Pager (888) 965-9191
Email 
info at michaelhingson.com
 <
mailto:
info at michaelhingson.com>
For information on Michael's speaking topics, his availability, and his
consulting services on Diversity and Access Technology for blind persons
please
visit <
http://www.michaelhingson.com>
For information on Guide Dogs for the Blind please visit <
http://www.guidedogs.com>

-----Original Message-----
From: quietcars-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:quietcars-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Robert Wilson
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 2:30 AM
To: Discussion of new quiet cars and pedestrian safety
Subject: [Quietcars] Let us reason together

Hi folks,

I hope that by sharing the facts and data about hybrid electric cars and
blind pedestrian safety we may yet find an opportunity for collaboration.
But that only works if we can agree on the facts and commit to common goals
and objectives. As LBJ would have said, 'Let us reason together.'

September 30, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 1174, the California
version of HR 5734, citing: (1) vehicle safety issues need a national
solution, not a state by state effort; and (2) pedestrian safety has nothing
to do with "air pollution emissions," which this badly labeled bill
attempted to expand. Meanwhile, HR 5734 is in the subcommittee on Commerce,
Trade and Consumer Protection that has yet to schedule a hearing. 

The states are not going to be able to force a national safety policy. They
can only block hybrid sales to their residents or jack up the price
substantially with a mandated noise system. Given every Prius made is sold
and there is a waiting list, the residents of other states will smile if
Maryland choses to leave the hybrid car market.

HR 5734 has no equivalent Senate bill and Congress is out until after the
November election. There may be a 'lame duck' session but pending something
remarkable, when this Congress ends, so too does HR 5734.

The June 23 hearing revealed the NHTSA has no supporting accident data
showing a hybrid hazard. It is hard to justify taking time and budget away
from efforts aimed at the annual 4,700 dead and tens of thousands more with
documented injuries when there is no accident data showing a hybrid in quiet
operation are deadly. For example, the NHTSA decided the Fatality Accident
Recording System (FARS) is not worth searching because the probability of a
fatal accident at hybrid quiet speeds is so low. Even Rosenblum's data shows
that quiet hybrid operation below 28 mph are at such lowt speeds that the
probability of a fatality is 5% or less.

>From the June 23 hearing, Rosenblum can not get consistent data from the
two Prius he tested. Goodes pointed out the importance of controlling all
variables and the difficulty of extracting a pure tone signal from
background noise. Sauerburger pointed all cars have become quieter. Blomberg
pointed out that noise masking already makes many of today's cars audio
invisible. He also pointed to the cocktail party effect that once we begin
increasing the noise level, it gets louder and louder but comprehension is
not improved. But there are anecdotal stories that claim hybrids are
hazardous. 

The kid who didn't look before driving into traffic has a mother who excused
her failure to teach her kid bicycle safety by blaming the car. She claimed
noise would have prevented the accident instead of teaching her sighted
child to look before driving into traffic.

Hybrid cars are quiet at low speed but there seems to be no thought or
measure that hybrid drivers are more careful because they know this to be
the case. Furthermore, all drivers know that noise is not a primary safety
feature especially in parking lots full of pedestrians with iPods, cell
phones or a gaggle of kids and friends who are not listening to traffic. But
the backover a foot accident is special because a law was passed.

In February 2008, the President signed the "Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars
Safety Act of 2007", S. 694 / HR 1216 that addresses the backover accident
rate. The April 13 Chidester report that shows engine running exhaust pipes
and rear bumpers knocking down and killing 25 kids each year addresses a
real hazard, one that is found in the accident statistics. Backing over a
foot is another backover accident and nothing unique to a hybrid electric.
But remember this because there is an opportunity for collaboration.

There has been a real problem with inflated, unsubstantiated claims:
 "... extremely hazardous ..." - HR 5734  "Hybrid Cars are Deadly Silent" -
HealthNews  "Hybird cars silent, deadly, advocates for blind warn" - The
Albuquerque Tribune  "Deadly Hybrid Cars" - The Atlantic
 "Colbert: Hybrid Fuel is Blind People" - Stephen Colbert

I mention the last one because every time we look at the accident data, it
comes up empty and these inflated stories have become objects of scorn and
ridicule. This is doubly so because the NHTSA accident data has also failed
to find evidence of a hazard and the June 23 record is available. 

Extreme language like "deadly" and "extremely hazardous" directed at hybrid
electrics is about as hostile as one can get. That these are false claims
suggest a blunt answer in kind, like laughter or "liar" but that is the path
to confrontation, not collaboration. If we can tone down the rhetoric, there
may be common ground that we might work together on to improve pedestrian
safety.

Sauerburger and the audio experts pointed out, all cars are quieter. It is
time that all drivers be reminded that "WARNING: pedestrians and the blind
may not hear vehicle at low speed." 

Every new car has an air bag placard on the sun visor. Adding this warning
text, "WARNING: pedestrians and the blind may not hear vehicle at low speed"
to the visor as well as the owners manual of all cars is something the NHTSA
can do without legislation. Although the accident data does not support the
need, a serious review of the literature and possibly a driver survey makes
this a prudent action. Best of all, the NHTSA can issue such a rule change
without legislation and nothing more than a hearing to collect comments.

The second area for collaboration is the "Carmeron Gulbransen Kids and Cars
Safety Act of 2007" that is already law. Goran Bogdanovic of Creative
Performance Products has a prototype wireless warning system. I have a key
fob system under development. The Japanese are putting wireless warning
systems in cell phones. These wireless systems can address public law, S.
694 / HR 1216, the Carmeron Gulbransen Act which means the NHTSA has budget
and authority to pursue solutions. The question is whether we can
collaborate on a wireless solution that works for kids, the blind and the
elderly or have to go our separate ways because only one technological
solution, constant noise generators affixed to hybrid cars, is the only one
acceptable to the blind.

I'm willing to work with Goran Bogdanovic, other wireless vendors and a
member of the National Federation of the Blind Research and Development
Committee, a family friend who lives two blocks away, on a wireless
solution. I am willing to share key fob technology and I think we can come
up with a prototype and unsolicited proposal to the NHTSA for the first
quarter of 2009 that might lead to a successful pedestrian safety effort.
Having done a patent search, no one is going to get rich over this effort
but we can do something effective to improve pedestrian safety. But this may
mean taking resources away from hybrid noise generators, a technological
dead end. I don't need a thing but Goran and my neighbor may need to cover
some of their expenses.

Because of the Cameron Gulbransen Act, there is a window for technical
solutions that HR 5734 will not have. The opportunity to ride the coat tails
of the Cameron Gulbransen Act will soon evaporate as it has an 18 month
study period and was signed into law 8 months ago. If we can collaborate on
a wireless solution that works for kids, the elderly and the blind, we have
a chance.

Repeating the same legislative actions as HR 5734 in 2009 is likely to be
even less successful.  The NHTSA accident data makes future legislation
along the lines of HR 5734 not only unlikely but given the record of June
23, dead on arrival. The facts and data are now online at
www.regulations.gov and hybrid owners have learned how to answer in kind.

So I'm reaching out to find out if there is any interest in collaboration.
If not, that is fine too. But these are the facts and data and we have a
window, until the end of the year, to decide where we will go next.

Thanks,
Bob Wilson

_________________________________________________________________
When your life is on the go-take your life with you.
http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/115298558/direct/01/
_______________________________________________
Quietcars mailing list
Quietcars at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/quietcars_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
Quietcars:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/quietcars_nfbnet.org/mhingson%40sbcglo
bal.net