Not only are hybrids not doing their "fair share" in contributing toward road use taxes by not using enough gas, now we aren't making enough noise.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070214...t_070214034245

I love the part where they want hybrid cars to make as much noise as conventional vehicles......

Yeah, because the people driving hybrids are blind too. Pfft. If someone is about to walk in front of your car you can honk or stop, you know, not run people over.
I'm sure blind people have been killed by other cars. I don't think more noise is a good solution. If every car was in "stealth mode" you'd still be able to hear the tires, which are actually pretty noisey. I say everyonoe else is too loud.

If you want the car to make "noise" turn on the A/C. The electric cooling fans are louder than the engine idling, and do alert daydreaming people of the car's presence when stopped or slowly driving through parking lots.

I've done that a few times when folks kept wandering in front of me, oblivious to my "quiet" hybrid. It does work.

This story ran over a year ago before. ICE on, ICE off, people still walk in front of me, it doesn't make a difference.

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Actually, this story ran today. Maybe you saw another one but this was from today, Feb 14, 2007.

The NFB passed a resolution as far back as 2003. I guess they want us to retrofit our quiet cars so they emit the sounds of a gas engine running.

WHEREAS, blind people use the sound of traffic to travel independently and safely in the world; and
WHEREAS, in general sighted pedestrians also use the sound of traffic, in combination with other techniques, to travel safely as demonstrated by the use of a mandatory noise on large vehicles backing up; and
WHEREAS, vehicles have become increasingly quiet as greater emphasis has been placed on reducing air and noise pollution and as motor vehicle technology has evolved; and
WHEREAS, vehicles powered by batteries or fuel cells and vehicles powered by a combination of conventional gas engines and electricity, known as hybrid cars, are frequently not detectable by the human ear until the vehicle is within inches of the listener; and
WHEREAS, federal and state requirements based on environmental concerns are leading manufacturers to develop lowered and zero emission vehicles such as electric and hybrid cars that will likely be marketed and bought in greater and greater numbers; and
WHEREAS, as quiet vehicles reach a critical mass on the streets of America and throughout the world, action must be taken to ensure that they emit a noise while in operation or that other solutions are found so that all pedestrians can continue to move safely among such cars and so that such cars are detectable by blind pedestrians to ensure their ability to move safely and independently using nonvisual techniques; and
WHEREAS, audible pedestrian signals at intersections with traffic signals do not solve the problem of quiet cars and pedestrian safety for several reasons, among them that drivers do not always obey traffic signals and that blind pedestrians travel everywhere, including intersections that are not signalized, parking lots, and points where driveways cross pedestrian paths: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention assembled this fourth day of July, 2003, in the City of Louisville, Kentucky, that this organization express its deep concern that the safe and free travel of blind pedestrians and all pedestrians may be significantly and increasingly impaired by quiet vehicles, a problem that will grow as such vehicles become more prevalent; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this organization call upon the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration within the Department of Transportation to initiate research to be performed with significant participation by the National Federation of the Blind to investigate the effect of quiet cars on blind pedestrians and all pedestrians, with the aim of proposing safety-based solutions to the problem.
RESOLUTION 2003-06 was withdrawn and replaced by Resolution 2003-101

I've had blind people repeatedly bang on my door and try to get in before realizing neither they nor anyone they knew lived there.

So besides modifying my car to make it noisier, maybe I need a talking door that says, "Neither you nor anyone you know lives here. Go away."

I've also had a blind person ask me what a thick envelope full of coupons was. I told her and she didn't believe me. Why ask a total stranger if you're not going to believe them?

There are laws on the books already that if observed and enforced, protect all pedestrians, not just blind ones.

We don't need new laws, we need the laws already on the books enforced, and we need to have the motoring public made aware of these laws.

I drive defensively, which includes protecting pedestrians. If I spot a blind pedestrian, I go on full alert, and take extra care. But I also scan for little kids popping out between cars on residential side streets. I will aggressively watch out for all pedestrians, not just blind ones.

Harry

I think your assumption that laws make this issue moot isn't considering basic human nature. More laws may not be the answer but reasonable acknowledgment of a problem seems fair.

As you know motorcyclists take comfort in being loud to help others notice them, it seems reasonable that a silent/quiet vehicle is less noticed and more hazardous to pedestrians expecting to hearing vehicles.

There are laws against drugs, problem solved if we'd only enforce them.

So, are you saying you agree with requiring cars, hybrid or not, emitting a certain minimum level of noise so that blind people can hear them coming? One could only imagine what kind of enforcement nightmare this would be - sorry sir, your car failed inspection, it's too quiet.

Maybe they would let me play a tape recording of an old V8 with glasspack exhausts. Or a tape of a machine gun. Or they could make us equip our cars with those annoying beeps like the airport terminal shuttles have. Sorry, but in my book, creating noise for the sake of creating noise is never a good idea.

To be honest, I can't even remember the last time I saw a blind pedestrian.

There are laws to protect pedestrians, but police don't bother to enforce them, and motorists don't even know about these laws, much less care.

I guess attitude adjustment is too much to hope for?

Harry