[Quietcars] hybrid cars in the news again

[michael townsend]

Mike and Seeing Eye dog Brent here in New Jersey.  

To Mr Patterson's points below, once again, I say that these situations are
like those which many guide dog handlers have faced for years.  Advocacy can
lobby for change and get it if they are united and public support is there.
Quiet cars, hybrid, diesel, gasoline powered, electric power...all of these
things need to be addressed, but at which cost.  Noise pollution will be at
a premium with beeping devices as Mr. Patterson suggests, "like trucks" with
those sounds that emanate as they back up.  

You can get these light bulbs that screw into the tail light fixtures and
make those sounds, but only when the cars/trucks are in reverse.  

Can something be thought about that allows the hybrid, when the engine is
killed to trigger the light bulb, if placed strategically, to beep?   Would
be a simple solution, and probably inexpensive, too.  Maybe in the side
markers, as there are four of them on either side of every vehicle!

But, then again, if you're blind, Mr. Patterson, how would you know of a
truck or car that is backing up or if it is a "Silent Killer" as is the
phrase I've heard bandied about  I thought that referred to heart attacks,
not hybrids.  

Enjoy your Sunday, folks, and, now that it's winter and we've got about an
inch of powder on the streets, this, too shall make the quiet car even
quieter.  Come on, Brent, let's go get those big, bad Silent Killers.  

 

-----Original Message-----
From: quietcars-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:quietcars-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Steve Pattison (by way of David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>)
Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 3:37 AM
To: david.andrews at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Quietcars] hybrid cars in the news again


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."


_______________________________________________
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/mrtownsend%40opto
nline.net