[Quietcars] Quietcar article.

Thu Jul 30 20:44:49 UTC 2009

I agree with all the thoughts here.  I would, however, add that the "safety
factor" for audible traffic signals needs to be tempered with the fact that
they do not indicate when it is safe to cross a street.  They can indicate
the direction to cross, but they do not enhance safety and protection from
whether a car is running a light or still moving through an intersection
when the light turns.  I cannot tell you how many times an audible signal
has been installed here in California and when the press gets ahold of the
story they stress how safe that street corner now is for blind people.

I think these signals can help with one's orientation, especially if their
skills are less than desirable.  The signals can help, as I said earlier, in
indicating the appropriate direction to cross by making sounds on both sides
of the street.  They do not indicate when it is safe to cross.  I think this
latter point outweighs some of the potential positive value of these
signals.

The Michael Hingson Group
     “Speaking with Vision”
                 Michael Hingson, President
                         (415) 827-4084
                   info at michaelhingson.com
                   www.michaelhingson.com

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-----Original Message-----
From: quietcars-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:quietcars-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of michael townsend
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 1:17 PM
To: 'Discussion of new quiet cars and pedestrian safety'
Subject: Re: [Quietcars] Quietcar article.
Sensitivity: Personal

Great thoughts, Mary Ellen.  

I happen to be a person who is quite aware of his surroundings.  However,
whether you have a dog, cane or wing at your disposal when walking matters
little if both you and the person who is driving isn't paying attention.  

Your comment about audible traffic signals is well taken, however, would I
be incorrect in stating that certain areas of the country had been forbidden
to have these operable?  

These are not as costly as one would think to have installed and
implemented, and they are a remarkable aid to allowing one to cross safely.

Parenthetically, I might add that this does not negate the handler of a
guide dog or the user of a cane to be on top of their game in crossing, and
not taking what's going on seriously when traveling about.  

I hope that this article has been helpful and I know that it has been passed
about on dog guide and O&M lists, but thought that it might be welcome
here.,

Mike T in NJ.

-----Original Message-----
From: quietcars-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:quietcars-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Mary Ellen
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 1:09 PM
To: 'Discussion of new quiet cars and pedestrian safety'
Subject: Re: [Quietcars] Quietcar article.
Sensitivity: Personal

That was a good article. I believe the danger of injury from a quiet car is
less acute at intersections with stop lights than it is at intersections
without lights,in parking lots or when passing driveways. Even if every stop
light in the country were equipped with an audible pedestrian signal,
something which is very unlikely, the danger would only be reduced by about
a third. There is no doubt that attentive vision, whether human or canine,
is an asset when detecting a nearly silent vehicle. The difficulty arises
because vision isn't always attentive. The pedestrian who doesn't bother to
scan the entire parking lot while crossing it, the child on a bicycle or
chasing a ball who is too intent on playing to bother to be observant, the
blind pedestrian who can't hear the car at all, are all at risk. I've known
a number of people who were injured by cars backing out of driveways; they
were walking down the sidewalk and let their minds drif , stopped listening,
and found themselves holding a conversation with the ambulance driver.
Toyota is undoubtedly correct in saying that installing audible cues on
hybrids won't reduce the overall number of pedestrian accidents, but I
believe doing so will prevent an unnecessary increase in them.
We will have to find a way to educate the anti noise lobby. It's a matter of
balancing everyone's desire for a quieter environment with our right to move
independently. If they stop to think about it, would anyone who wants
quieter cities really be willing to restrict the ability of a whole class of
their fellow citizens to do something as simple and satisfying as going for
a solitary walk? Perhaps we should ask such advocates to spend a month
unable to leave their homes alone to go to work, run errands, or meet a
friend. I have enough faith in the decency of such people I'm sure their
opposition would be transformed into collaboration in finding a mutually
satisfying solution. They just haven't thought through the ramifications. In
my less charitable moments I wonder if they've never truly thought of the
blind as people who independently move through the towns and cities of the
country. Or maybe they're so used to hopping in their cars that they don't
have much experience living life on foot.

Mary Ellen

-----Original Message-----
From: quietcars-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:quietcars-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of michael townsend
Sent: July 30, 2009 7:18 AM
To: quietcars at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Quietcars] Quietcar article.
Sensitivity: Personal

This well written and comprehensive article on interaction between blind
pedestrian using canes of guide dogs, and the legislative efforts to mandate
noise enhancements that would allow blind pedestrians to travel safely on
our country's street is worth reading.  

Mike T

http://www.blindskills.com/may_jun_2009_sample2.html

The Noise about Quiet Cars
by B. T. Kimbrough
Salem, Oregon
and
Gary C. Norman
Baltimore, Maryland

Sherlock Holmes once keenly observed, "If you want to solve a problem, walk
around." For many blind and visually impaired pedestrians, walking around is
becoming increasingly difficult because traffic noise, the once reliable key
to safe mobility, is growing noticeably less reliable with the popularity of
quiet cars. The periodic inflation in the price of gasoline and the global
desire to go green are spurring innovative approaches to transportation. One
of these innovations is comprised of electric and fossil-based locomotion. 
Such hybrid vehicles utilize a quiet electric motor when moving slowly or
standing still and transfer to a noisier conventional gasoline engine at
higher speeds. Hybrids potentially benefit the environment, but because
these cars emit little or no sound at times, they create a sense of
uncertainty for pedestrians who have vision impairments.

Proposed solutions include: research into the nature of sound localization,
mandatory standards of minimum noise levels for motorized vehicles,
suggested additions to traditional orientation and mobility training,
voluntary adaptations to make quiet cars noisier, and devices which can
detect hybrids and simultaneously alert blind pedestrians through a small
receiver. British carmaker, Group Lotus, has installed an experimental sound
generator into a Toyota Prius. This development, which has been widely
publicized, consists of a digital recording of a conventional gasoline
engine played through speakers mounted at the front of the car. As the quiet
electric motor accelerates, the digital sound intensifies. At about 20 miles
per hour when the conventional engine switches on, the artificial sound
fades away. Researchers at Stanford University have designed a similar
system. In the Stanford model, artificial engine sounds are directed to
different speakers depending on whether the car is turning or moving
straight ahead. Ingenious as these technological solutions might be, they
would certainly raise production costs. Without corresponding incentives,
the prospect for them to be incorporated into new or existing vehicles is
low.

Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS) have been overlooked among recommended
solutions to the quiet car dilemma. While APS cannot directly point out the
presence of a hybrid, these adaptations to traffic lights allow a blind
pedestrian to acquire a level of information similar to that experienced by
a sighted person at a signalized intersection. At busy intersections which
are APS-equipped, a pedestrian with little or no vision, but good hearing,
receives independent confirmation of "walk" signals, regardless of what
noise indicators the parallel traffic provides.

So far, most legislative efforts have focused on studies to develop a
standard such as a minimum sound level which might be required of every
motorized vehicle on public streets. Several state legislatures have debated
the safety implications of hybrid vehicles, and last summer, the California
General Assembly passed a bill to study the matter, only to have it vetoed
by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In the regular session of the 2008 Maryland General Assembly, the National
Federation of the Blind (NFB) proved successful in its lobbying efforts. The
General Assembly passed legislation authorizing a taskforce to study the
issue. 
In December 2008, the taskforce, which consisted of representatives from
both the NFB and the American Council of the Blind (ACB), transmitted its
report to the Maryland General Assembly.

Both the NFB and the ACB have sought to focus public attention on the need
for federal legislation on this issue. In 2008, the NFB hosted a press
conference coinciding with the congressional introduction of the Pedestrian
Safety Enhancement Act, legislation that would require the U.S. Department
of Transportation to identify a minimum standard safe sound level for quiet
cars. The Act stalled in committee because of opposition from anti-noise
organizations. Thanks to the efforts of the leadership of NFB, New York
Congressman, Edolphus Towns, reintroduced the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement
Act, (H.R. 734), in late January 2009.

Not everyone agrees quiet cars are a hazard. Chris Tinto, vice president of
technical and regulatory affairs at Toyota, thinks too much is being made of
the safety issue considering that no blind pedestrians are known to have
suffered serious injury or death as a result of a hybrid vehicle. At a 2008
hearing of the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration Tinto
commented: "Even if the hybrids sound as loud as every other vehicle, there
wouldn't be any fewer traffic deaths."

Nevertheless, early research on traffic noise as an orientation tool has
already produced some sobering numbers. According to a press release,
Lawrence Rosenblum, a psychologist at the University of California,
Riverside, has demonstrated in repeated comparative tests that pedestrians
have to be 40 percent closer to a hybrid to hear its electric engine than is
required to hear the gasoline engine of a conventional car. So, for example,
a conventional engine which is audible in first gear 20 feet away would only
be heard at 12 feet if the vehicle is a hybrid.

Many editorials in newspapers and postings on blogs have urged motorists to
exercise more caution and blind people to be more careful instead of
imposing unfunded mandates on the automobile industry. Suggestions of this
kind fail to acknowledge the consequences of driver distractions such as
talking on cell phones, eating and even putting on makeup. For a blind
pedestrian using a white cane, these suggestions are uninformed because
white cane users receive training to detect stationary objects at a distance
of three to four feet. 
Obviously, contact with a moving vehicle is best avoided. It has been
suggested that a small alerting device be designed that could be carried by
white cane users to receive signals from a nearby hybrid warning of immanent
danger before direct contact is made. Determining how this technology might
be developed may provide material for a future article. In the absence of
technology or legislation to provide reliable nonvisual adaptations to
hybrids, extreme caution--especially in parking lots and driveways-- while
not recommended as a viable solution, is essential.

Many schools that train dog guides and blind handlers to travel as teams
have purchased hybrid vehicles. This gives trainers and students, both
canine and human, the opportunity to get up close and personal with a
hybrid, and learn its characteristics without risking life and limb. Does
the dog's ability to see give the handler an advantage in coping with quiet
cars? Emily Simone thinks it does. Simone is a licensed dog guide instructor
and serves as senior field manager at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San
Rafael, California. Simone said she believes that under ideal circumstances,
dog guides, "possess the ability to identify vehicles and render a judgment
call about the safety of a crossing."

For a consumer perspective, we turned to Ed and Toni Eames, a married couple
who have each worked with five dog guides, and who reside in Fresno,
California, an area which boasts one of the heaviest concentrations of
hybrid vehicles in the United States. Ed, who is the president of the
International Association of Assistance Dog Partners, commented, "The
reality is that the dog is trained to avoid moving objects, so that
avoidance behavior I think is a slight advantage in the silent car
movement."

Toni indicated that even with the advantages of dog guides, crossing streets
is becoming increasingly complicated. "When I grew up, it was very simple.
All the traffic stopped in front of you; all the traffic moved on the side
of you--and I find in general a level of discomfort when crossing streets
with right on red and turning lanes. It's very difficult to stand there and
absolutely for sure know it's time to step off the curb, and then hope
someone doesn't come through a red light, or hope that a silent car doesn't
get you," she said. 
"So I am definitely not as comfortable in general crossing streets as I was
when life was simpler."

"I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself...but I think
I have a right to resent, to object to, libelous statements about my dog."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt Mike Townsend and Seeing Eye dog Brent Dunellen, New
Jersey  08812
emails:  mrtownsend at optonline.net;
michael.townsend54 at gmail.com
Home Phone:  732  200-5643
Cellular:  732  718-9480

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