They will probably want it added to the "Disabilities" act mandating noisy cars. It is a burden being blind, but just like many handicapped organizations they want to shift the burden to everyone else for their problems.

In recent months, the National Federation of the Blind has launched what is becoming an international lobbying campaign for legislation that encourages--or flat-out requires--automakers to install noisemaking technology to address those potential perils.

Top NFB leaders focused their efforts Tuesday on this quaint state capital on the Chesapeake Bay, where legislation creating a state "Quiet Vehicles and Pedestrian Safety Task Force" is pending. If Maryland passes the bill, it would be the first in the nation to take action on that front, although other states are considering similar proposals.

"As we increase the number of quiet vehicles on our streets, we increase the risk that blind and other pedestrians face," Jim McCarthy, the National Federation of the Blind's director of government affairs, told members of the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee at a hearing about the bill. "We potentially lose our independence if these become ubiquitous."

Ideally, blind advocates would like to see states pass laws that would set minimum sound standards for hybrid and electric vehicles, but they've run into resistance from automakers on that front. McCarthy said his group views the Democratic-sponsored Maryland bill as a good "first step," although he noted that legislatures in Virginia and Hawaii are poised to consider bills that would go further.

The Maryland state bill, which also has a counterpart in the state House of Representatives, would not set any particular rules for cars bought and sold in the state. But, if passed, it would instruct a task force to make recommendations by the end of the year on "a minimum sound level and the nature and characteristics of the minimum sound to be required for all vehicles sold and licensed in the state."

Link to My Hybrid Car News Web Page

This was mentioned once before...and my opinion has not changed...

Funny how we go out of our way to reduce noise pollution and here we are trying to create some more....I'm sorry, get a guide dog...

If everyone else was quiet, then the playing field will be level again!

Mods: EV mod, VVT-i emblem, sport pedals, OEM cargo mat, JDM Prius interior footwell lighting, Sylvania Silverstars 9003ST, DICE iPod kit, OEM all-weather mats, TomTom ONE v2, LED licence plate lights.

Time to bring back Bubb Rubb onto the scene! Whistler Tips roll on!! WOO WOOOOO!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccgXjA2BLEY


Sorry, I couldn't help myself..

Off topic, but not really
Reminds me of a joke my dad used to tell (although if the admins want to remove it, I wont be offended)

Q. Why do farts smell?
A. For deaf people

What if the car approaches someone that is blind and deaf? The hybrid noise makers wont do much good. Maybe the cars should emit a noxious smell to alert people with multiple handicaps.

Then we'd all be driving diesels. They would take care of both the sound and smell requirements.

You know.........i had seen this in an article a few weeks back and i had to almost laugh. I mean..........being blind and deaf is no joke but.........this is ridiculus! I think they need to focus on something really worth while other than the fact that hybrids are quiet. The world around us is getting louder and along come hybrids and............WHAM! They get blasted by a group claming they are TOO quiet......please.

I'm going to try really really hard not to hit a pedestrian - whether they're blind or not.

My office is in an area with lots of really old people. There is a retirement community right across the street. They don't walk to the store. Most of them drive. A few take the shuttle bus that the retirement community provides.

Normal people, able to see well enough to drive, often look one way and walk another in the parking lots around here. People walk right into my pickup truck (not a hybrid) while I am stopped with the motor running waiting for them to get out of my way. It is really amazing. They walk right into a stationary full-size pickup truck, with a V8 motor and an air compressor running, and then seem surprised. (I have air horns, so the compressor runs to top up the air tank each time I start the motor. It actually makes a lot more noise than the motor.)

I usually see them coming. I am sometimes tempted to give them a little toot from the horns before they hit me, so they won't scratch my paint.

I frankly don't think any little noisemaker will help. They won't pay any attention to it.

They're gonna get pissed when we all start riding our bikes to work

Mods: EV mod, VVT-i emblem, sport pedals, OEM cargo mat, JDM Prius interior footwell lighting, Sylvania Silverstars 9003ST, DICE iPod kit, OEM all-weather mats, TomTom ONE v2, LED licence plate lights.