[Quietcars] hybrid cars in the news again

[Steve Pattison]

this article courtesy of the age online.
       * John Elder
       * January 18, 2009
     Scott Nixon.
     Scott Nixon says he has had several near-misses with almost-silent
     vehicles. Photo: Ken Irwin
     SCOTT Nixon was crossing Flinders Street from the railway station
when
     a loud honk frightened him. A hybrid car had "nearly cleaned me up".
     Mr Nixon, 30, has been blind from birth. He relies on his ears to
get
     around, but silent-technology vehicles are on the rise -- and the
     visually impaired community is lobbying the Federal Government to
     research how dangerous the roads will become when there are a lot
more
     hybrids.
     "It's one more thing we have to contend with," says Mr Nixon, who
     tells of "other incidents (with hybrids), like walking into one that
     had stopped halfway across the intersection. In the CBD it's
     impossible to know there's one there unless you're on top of it."
The issue has been on the boil for some time. In June, the Blind
     Advocacy Group, in its online newsletter, published a story called
     "Silent but Deadly?" It was actually a reprint of a Wall Street
Journal article from February 2007 that reported on US blind
     organizations demanding that vehicle makers install safety
noise-makers on their otherwise quiet cars. A year later, Fisker
     Automobiles, with headquarters in green-friendly California,
announced
     the development of the $US80,000 ($A121,160) Karma, a sporty sedan
that one magazine described as "the sexiest hybrid ever".

     The sexiness includes speakers that produce a variety of optional
fake
growling "user selectable" engine sounds -- apparently so the driver
     can still feel like a hoon. The optional aspect means the noise is
not
     there to benefit the blind.

     Mr Nixon says fake engine noises are not necessary. "I'd like to see
     some kind of beeping device ... like they have with reversing
trucks,"
he says.

     Last November, Australian blind advocacy groups met Department of
     Infrastructure officials.
Blind Citizens Australia and Vision Australia told The Sunday Age they
     hope the Government will initially fund research into the magnitude
of
     the hybrid threat.

     Vision Australia advocacy officer Maurice Gleeson says: "In the next
     10 to 20 years, hybrids will be more developed and more affordable.
     They will become a bigger part of our community ... so what we have
to
     do now is research how these vehicles will affect people with
     disabilities and sensory loss.

"Before adopting an official position on this issue, the department is
     waiting to hear the results of international discussions on the
     topic," said a Department of Infrastructure spokesman.

     "The department is monitoring the work on this topic currently under
way by the United Nations Economic Community Working Group for the
     Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations. The working group is due to
     report in mid-March 2009."