[Quietcars] Belling the turning Cat

Sun Jun 12 20:38:31 UTC 2011

Ken, I am a dog handler, and as such, I repeat again, that many of our dog
guide schools have hybrid vehicles on the grounds that are leased or
purchased to work with the dogs and students and thereby create a safer or
more familiar environment than one might get in regular cane training.  I
don't know how many persons who are on list have gotten cane training or any
mobility training, given the limit to the f undoing provided through state
or private agencies.  

However, it would behoove all who travel, whether they utilize a dog or
cane, to become familiar with the hybrid vehicle, so that we can do all we
can, as pedestrians, whether we're blind or not, so that we don't become a
statistic.  
True that it might be that the hybrid is silent, but, one can hear the tire
noise in rain.  One may be able to pick up on the motion of the vehicle if
they are a dog handler.  One doesn't have to sit back and wait the arrival
of legislation to be involved in a proactive stance to familiarize
themselves with e vehicles.,  More peole are driving them, due to higher gas
prices.  Look to your church groups, youth groups, people whom you know from
the workplace or just your circle of friends and you may be surprised at how
close the world becomes when you ask if someone has a hybrid that they drive
or if someone whom they know has one.  

Your points are well taken about accident stats, however, but, just because
they may not be kept as accurately or completely as traditional vehicle
stats, doesn't mean that they don't happen.  

Not only can hybrids benefit from the on-board cameras, but SUVs and larger
vehicles in which one can't see the rear or beyond a certain point benefit
from these cameras.  
Take a look at which vehicles offer cameras, and you'll find a greater cross
section of vehicles are SUVs and sporty or luxury vehicles, versus, let's
say the hybrid.  Bob may back me up on that.  The law which suggests or
perhaps better still, commands that back up cameras be at least an option on
most vehicles will do a lot to help in pedestrian accident avoidance, for
sure.

Thanks, Ken for your great points.

"It isn't pollution that is hurting the environment,
it's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."
-Dan Quayle

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

-----Original Message-----
From: quietcars-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:quietcars-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Ken Stewart
Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2011 4:05 PM
To: Discussion of new quiet cars and pedestrian safety
Subject: Re: [Quietcars] Belling the turning Cat

Thanks Bob, for your always substantial and valuable posts.  I certainly
agree that financial considerations are strong motivators of hybrid vehicle
buyers.
  I may not understand your main points regarding accident statistics.  I do
not consider  accidents involving turning and backing maneuvers, trivial.  I
have been hit by both a silent car backing out of a parking spot and by a
turning vehicle at an intersection.  In both instances I'm sure I would have
avoided the contact if I had heard the vehicle.  And I am sure the driver in
each situation reasonably expected me to yield.  In one of these accidents
and in a recent California accident in which a pedestrian was seriously
injured, the offending vehicle never got into any statistics because there
was no sighted eye witness to note the license plate of the departing
vehicle!  Are you saying that if more states captured the identity of AFV's
involved in pedestrian accidents , the resulting data would belie the belief
that they are more likely (per vehicle category volume) to be involved in
such accidents?

--- On Sun, 6/12/11, Robert Wilson <bwilson4web at hotmail.com> wrote:

From: Robert Wilson <bwilson4web at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Quietcars] Belling the Cat: The Long Road to the Passage of
the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, The Braille Monitor, June 2011
To: quietcars at nfbnet.org
Date: Sunday, June 12, 2011, 2:33 AM

Hi Ken,
Just some thoughts to share:

>  2. pressing all states that do not yet collect pedestrian accident> data
that identifies whether the vehicle is an AFV, to do so. 
1) Fatal Accident Report System (FARS) already collects this data for
fatalities. Those who have looked at the data know why FARS data was not
used to justify "Belling the Hybrid" because the fatality rate is not high
enough to show a risk. As the earlier article pointed out, this was treated
as something to avoid when the early meetings were held.
Quoting from the article:"I spoke with the head of a grassroots consumer
protection organization that had a strong history of advocacy on safety
issues. "How many people have been killed so far?" he asked bluntly. I said
we didn't know, but we didn't want to wait for a body count. "You won't get
anywhere until you have statistics," he told me. "You've got to have
casualties before you can  get anything done.""
Since 2003, over 4,000 pedestrians have died every year, conservatively,
32,000 dead and at least 3-4 times more injured. The vast majority killed
and injured by today's ordinary vehicles that with S.841 will make hybrids
just as lethal.
2) DOT HS 811 204, September 2009 - has successfully supported passage of
S.841. Collecting more data risks changing the results considering it used
19 turning and 7 backing incidents to make the claims of a higher risk from
hybrids. DOT HS 811 204 played a math trick and I suspect further data is
less likely to support the claims made. For example, if Prius fatal accident
data from just 2001-2005 were used, the Prius would have been shown more
deadly than the USA fleet. But by 2007, the rate was half the USA fleet
because of the larger population and sample set. DOT HS 811 204 was limited
to a ten state sample set and made claims that any undergraduate, statistics
student would be able to see  the flaws. Fortunately for S.841, Congress
doesn't have many undergraduate statisticians.
3) Google news is another source of Prius accident data. I've been
collecting reports to identify accidents where sound might have made a
difference. The FARS data does not include the circumstances and by the time
the data is available, detailed reports are hard to find. It has been an
education.
> Also, I am wondering what advice we should have "out there" for > those
conscientious drivers who want to be environmentally responsible> and
concerned about pedestrian safety, when they go car shopping. 
One of the great misconceptions has been that hybrid owners are alturistic,
socially concerned and suckers for inflated use of the term "green." This
was and remains the great hubris of GM, Chrysler and the European
manufactures who delayed their entry into the serious, high mileage hybrid
market. For example, I remember one European paper that  claimed the Prius
was just 'clever marketing'. Then there was the claim that the Hummer costs
less per mile than the Prius. Such false claims about hybrids and hybrid
owners have been very easy to find and most often believed by those who have
another agenda. But gas at $3.50-$4.00/gallon has finally knocked some sense
into some skeptics.
You might consider another model for hybrid buyers. We may just want to cut
our recurring, gasoline bills. For example, my last fill-up was $35, and I
do this every 3-4 weeks instead of every 1-2 weeks with my previous car. I
have co-workers who spend $70 each week. 
In 2008, I read the special report on back-over accidents that led to The
Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act. It makes a compelling case for
a backup camera. So two weeks ago, I spent just under $900 to install an
after-market, rear view mirror that includes a backup camera, hands-free
cell phone interface and GPS. Having had several backing  incidents, the
economies are obvious.
Sad to say, the first, forward looking, accident avoidance system turned out
to be a bust. But I'm still shopping because I read every Prius accident
report in Google. I am seeing a pattern of lane departure and failure to
detect objects in front of the car. Not every accident can be avoided but as
I collect the raw numbers, the preliminary data suggests it is close to 1/3
of all Prius accidents. Accident reports show that avoidance systems and
lane following would improve the safety of my car and one successful
operation would more than pay for the cost.
> Does anyone know of any research yet on what I call, "The Roulette Wheels"
> technique?  A small metal object such as a nut or ball bearing, is placed
loose > inside each of the vehicle's four hubcaps.  . . .
You might do the research by checking out the wheels of a Prius or Honda
hybrid. The Toyota and Honda hybrids use alloy wheels  with thick, metal
spokes and air-gaps and this is how we can tell the different Prius models
from photos. The 2004-09 Prius has six, web-like spokes, bar-shaped, a
little over three inches wide with pizza pie piece shaped gaps in-between.
The 2010-current Prius has five, wedge shaped spokes slighty at an angle
that are about five inches wide at the rim and just under three inches wide
at the hub with air-gaps. The wheel covers are segmented, plastic parts that
fit but do not seal. Any loose objects between the wheel and wheel cover
simply falls out the gaps. 
Bob Wilson

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