(begin rant) As many of you have read previously in this forum, "the blind" say that hybrid vehicles are a danger to them. That because the vehicle to too quiet that it will cause them to get run over and they should be made to sound louder. Today I yet again received emails from several visually impaired groups that after the election a letter writing campaign should start to make hybrids louder.
Well, as a legally blind person who uses a cane to get around I can say that louder is no substitute for a driver aware of his/her surroundings and a handicaped person properly trained in mobility techniques. Too many people run around trying to put bandaids on things rather than fixing the problem. Blind people should know and practice all the techniques for safely crossing streets and drivers should be aware of their surroundings rather than fiddling with cellphones, makeup and radios. (end rant)

Now...the sollution. Someone (not me, because I suck at this) needs to come up with a little device with a speaker that can be mounted in the grille that activates and plays a preloaded sound when we enter stealth mode. I suggest this as a sound file....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLtcPj5o9T4
What do you all think?

 

Here we go again... I'm all for helping the handicapped but I'm also for creating a level headed approaches and don't trust legislators to even begin to get this right.

I think some people are looking at this issue from the wrong angle. As best I can find, there are 1.5 Million legally blind people in the U.S. (and I maintain that not all of them are impaired enough that the can't detect moving objects or that all of them are mobile enough to walk into traffic). Unless some radically better technology is invented the number of hybrid/EV vehicles will far eclipse that number (if they don't already).

As a matter of simple economics, it would be far better to supply a legally blind person with device (watch or similar) to alert them to any approaching vehicle than trying to make every vehicle louder. Technology to do this already exist and could be adapted to service more than just the blind.

[begin my rant]
Almost every afternoon I hear my wife enter our driveway in our FEH. It's in EV mode and she's going less than 15MPH. Here's the kicker... I do this by hearing her through double pane glass windows and with a rebuilt (man-made) eardrum. Now if I can hear her approach in this situation, there's little excuse for a person with normal hearing to miss it. Now, if they have vision AND hearing problems, an alert device with beep/vibrate capability would still work.
[/rant]

 

See...thats the voice of reason. Each day in the country people become roadkill because of various reasons. Most of those reasons are either the driver not paying attention or the pedestrian walking with his/her head in the clouds. The onus should not be on the hybrid manufacturer to fix human errors. Drivers should pay attention to the road and pedestrians should pay attention to their surroundings. I still have central sight and I can get around NYC. A buddy of my who lost all his vision can also get around NYC without becominig knatsplat on some cabs windshield. If a visually impaired person is having problems crossing the street they need more mobility lessons. If a driver hits a pedestrian they need A.D.D. meds. lol Or to learn how to pay attention while driving.
I guess I just needed to blow off some steam because I was hoping this was a dead issue (in the visually disabled world) but apparently its not.
Its survival of the fittest, if you get creamed while crossing the street because your not paying enough attention, in my mind, you fall into the same catagory as those who killed themselves rocking vending machines or the person responsible for the Dr. Peper bottle having the warming "contents under presure, open away from face". lol

 

I just use the already supplied noise maker.
(I roll down the windows and crank the volume on whatever I have in the CD player at the time)

 

I vote for the keychain / pager that beeps or vibrates when an EV approaches to be put in the hands of the blind.

Bob Wilson has proposed giving the blind a transmitter that activates the alarm or horn "chirp" on all ( almost all ) vehicles these days.

This way, the blind are alerted to you, and you are alerted to them.


I can see a few teen-agers standing on the school-yard corner making cars chirp as they pass for a few laughs, but I think the "novelty" will wear off faster than the Pokemon fad, and then serve the intended purpose.

 

LOL... I do the same thing Glenn.

I purposely keep a CD in my CD changer with plenty of base... For example, U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb... Just keep playing Vertigo... lol

Rich

 

I was just going to clothes pin some playing cards to the inside of my 5 spoke rims....

John

 

I am NOT in favor of making hybrids louder for aiding the blind but what you state is simply not possible. No way anyone can hear a FEH through windows/walls unless you have a bionic ear. We have a FEH and even when I am standing in the driveway when my wife approaches with it in EV mode, it's barely audible.....and I have above average hearing.

 

I respectfully disagree.

Like I said in my original post, I can tell when my wife is home before she turns in the drive. I am sitting at my desk which puts me within a foot or so of the window, but I have to move the blinds to actually see her pull in. The house is about 4-5 car lengths from the road.

On a related note, I can also hear the neighbor's kids drive by on their electric golf cart. Maybe it depends on the type/surface of the road? I find tire noise to be loud enough to hear in all but high background noise situations or if someone is really creeping along.

 

Unfortunately, this is a different story for me. I can here EVERY freakkin' sound my neighbor's kids make.....and they make a lot of sounds. I have had to go outside at 7:30 on a Sunday morning to ask them to keep it down. On occasion, I can even hear noises they make when they are inside their house if I am in my driveway. Sometimes, I wish I lived on 137 acres of property in the country.

Perhaps, like you said you are hearing more of the tire noise than the vehicle itself. In that case, I think it would be entirely possible for you to hear the Mrs. as she approaches.