[Quietcars] Your quieter car survey.

Mon Nov 9 06:35:10 UTC 2009

I received this survey from a person in Boston, and this was originally
posted on an NFB sponsored quietcars list.  My answers are not relevant to
this forward, but if you would like to participate, contact the sender
directly and copy and paste his survey and email it on, striking my answers.

Mike T in NJ

-----Original Message-----
From: azng88 at gmail.com [mailto:azng88 at gmail.com] On Behalf Of Alex Ng
Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 11:17 PM
To: michael townsend
Subject: Re: Your quieter car survey.

Dear Mr. Townsend,

Thank you very much for participating in our questionnaire for our senior
design project. We have reviewed and analyzed all of the answers that we
have received in hopes of finding the most ideal solution possible to this
problem. If you don't mind, we have a few follow up questions that we would
like to ask you:

1. If our solution were to take some time to fully implement into society,
such that not all quiet cars would have our alert system for a period of
time, would you still consider this as a solution? 

2. Do you use a smart phone (i.e. BlackBerry, iPhone, etc.)? If not, would
you ever consider buying a smart phone in the future?

3. Which of the following do you feel is more important: a blind pedestrian
being aware of the car, or the driver being aware of the blind pedestrian?
Please choose the one that you feel is more important.

Thank you very much again for your time, we greatly appreciate your help.

Best,

- Alex Ng -

On Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 10:03 AM, michael townsend
<mrtownsend at optonline.net> wrote:

	Please see answers below your questions.  Your survey reached me
through a
	list that is NFB sponsored and I submit this as my opinion only.

	Mike Townsend in NJ
	Quieter Cars Questionnaire

	We are a team of five seniors at Boston University's College of
Engineering.
	For our senior design project, we are developing a system that will
alert
	blind pedestrians of oncoming hybrid/electric vehicles with quiet
engines.
	We would like to ask you a few questions about yourself and your
opinions on
	this issue. Your answers to these questions will help us to better
	understand this problem, and your answers will allow us to develop a
more
	complete and effective solution. Thank you very much for your time
and
	participation. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns,
please
	contact Alex Ng by phone at 617-320-7995 or by email at
abng88 at bu.edu
	<mailto:abng88%40bu.edu <mailto:abng88%2540bu.edu> > .

	Questions:

	1. What is your name, gender, and age (you can give an age range
like
	30-40)?
	Mike Townsend, Male, Age 54

	2. Were you blind at birth? If not, at what age did you lose your
vision?
	Blind from birth, premature three months.

	3. How do you feel about hybrid cars? What about bicycles? Which of
these do
	you feel is more of a problem and why?
	Hybrid cars and bicycles are both things with which pedestrians are
going to
	have to deal and have dealte with for a while.  Thinking as a guide
dog
	handler, my guide dog attempts to keep me from harm using the motion
of the
	object coming towards us when it judges whether to proceed or halt
from
	accomplishing a task.  Granted, I make a decision as to when to go
or not,
	but the guide will intelligently disobey commands if it feels that
immanent
	danger might be present. It is able to safely judge traffic at
speeds up to
	35mph in directions that cross our path, and traffic coming towards
us from
	the front. I feel that I am safer with it than taking someone's
elbow or
	relying upon my own judgment using a cane,.

	4. My understanding is that blind folk have better hearing. Can you
please
	elaborate about your hearing ability? Do you feel that you hear
things that
	other people may not hear? If so, please describe a common situation
where
	this has occurred.
	Blind people do not have better hearing but use their ears
differently than
	others might given the same conditions.  I have a slight high
frequency loss
	n my right ea4r, thus have to overcompensate with my left. But,
	concentration is the key to successful travel whether you use your
eyes or
	ears to aid you.

	5. Do you feel that the weather has an effect on your hearing (rain,
wind,
	etc.)?
	Yes.  Snow dampens sound and changes your judgment, as does rain
fog may
	also blanket things a bit.

	6. What information would you want to be alerted with from our
traffic
	safety system (speed of car, distance, etc.)?
	Processing too much information is or could be deadly when split
second
	decisions need to be made.  Your eyes and ears are your best
barometers to
	ward off danger.  A device that sent a warning tone might be great,
but
	babbling information in a synthesized voice will definitely distract
a dog
	handler ad/or cane user if he or she is traveling, and they should
	concentrate on the situation at hand in order to make an informed
decision
	as to how to proceed in traffic.

	7. Do you use anything other than the walking cane as a visual aid?
	Are you aware of any other products that are out there and you don't
use?
	As stated, I use a dog guide from Seeing Eye.  Neither GPS nor any
other
	aids. Wouldn't mind having a GPS, but would use it with voice
filtered thus
	it would compliment my travel rather than distract in giving too
much
	information.

	8. Would you be opposed to carrying around a device to alert you of
oncoming
	hybrid/electric cars? If yes, why? What if the device was integrated
with
	the walking cane?
	Another handheld device that chirped beeped or squawked might be a
good
	thing, but as stated, if it fed extraneous info, it might be a
deterrent
	rather than a help.

	9. How do you feel about having to recharge your electrical devices
such as
	cell phone?
	If you use them, it's the way things are and there's no qualms about
it.
	You just do what you have to do in order to use them.  Should we be
using
	cranks on the sides of them or solar power?  Could be a god idea,
but
	impractical in my way of thinking of it.

	10. If anything was possible, what would be your ideal solution to
this
	problem?
	Cars emitting a pleasant signal that  could not be confused with
traffic
	noise or other horns, bells and whistles that might confuse the
issue.
	Exhaust noises of cars might work but they would have to be
realistic and
	the driver of the vehicle should not be able to deprogram the signal
at
	will.

	11. Lastly, would you be interested and willing to participate in a
hearing
	test?
	Negative.  Too far from Boston and know what my limitations are and
am
	comfortable with that.

	Thanks.

	Thank you again for your time.

	"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