Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[skreminegul07]

[Congress to Introduce Bill to Protect Blind People From Hybrid Cars
Tuesday , April 08, 2008


A bill intended to protect blind people and other pedestrians from the dangers posed by quiet cars will be introduced Wednesday in Congress.

The measure would require the Transportation Department to establish safety standards for hybrids and other vehicles that make little discernible noise, including an audible means for alerting people that cars are nearby.

"The beneficial trend toward more environmentally friendly vehicles has had the unintended effect of placing the blind and other pedestrians in danger," said Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns, who's sponsoring the bill with Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns.

The Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind has pushed for the legislation to protect those who rely on their hearing to know when to cross the street.

While the organization is not aware of people being struck by cars they couldn't hear, NFB President Marc Maurer has said he fears it's only a matter of time.

Preliminary results of an ongoing study at the University of California-Riverside have indicated the cars pose some risk. The study found that hybrids operating at slow speeds must be 40 percent closer to pedestrians than combustion-engine vehicles before they make enough noise for their location to be detected.

Hybrid vehicles operate on battery-powered electric motors when idling and traveling at slow speeds; internal combustion engines, with their distinctive rumble, kick in when the cars speed up.

The bill would require the Transportation Department to conduct a two-year study before issuing safety standards. Automakers would than have two years to comply.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is planning a listening session this spring to consider possible solutions to the quiet-car problem and is already working with manufacturers.

Wade Newton, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said he couldn't comment on the bill's specifics but added that manufacturers were eager to address the issue.

Clarence Ditlow, president of the Center for Auto Safety, said he favored enhanced safety standards for quiet cars but wasn't sure a two-year study was necessary.

"It seems to me that if we can put audible signals on walk signs for the blind, then we can put an audible signal on a hybrid," Ditlow said.

I guess we can use this as an arguement too.

[VAZHOG]

If loud pipes save lives, then how come people are hit by trains???

[grc]

Perhaps the legislators from Wisconsin could insert a requirement in the bill that all hybrids have a V-twin from H-D under the hood.  The clatter should provide plenty of warning, and the extra business for H-D would keep those fat profits rolling in even during the recession.  As long as it's not actually expected to propel the vehicle, sounds like a plan.

Seriously, do any of the idiots who come up with this stuff actually live in the real world?  On a typical busy city street corner, between the normal ambient noise levels and the sounds of the cross traffic, how is a blind person going to pick out the sound of even a regular car coming toward them?  Or a bicycle, for that matter.  People who are truly blind shouldn't be crossing busy streets without either a service dog or a human to assist them.  And if someone blows the traffic signal, which they do quite often in Chi town and the surrounding areas, sighted persons get clobbered too.  So obviously it isn't a sound related issue, or even a sight related issue.  It's a failure to yield to a pedestrian issue.  Perhaps a little enforcement of the current laws concerning blowing through traffic control devices would be a better idea?

Jerry

[skreminegul07]

GRC,

What I find amusing (not) is that as usual, the liberals are searching for a solution (two year study) for a non existant problem.  I'd like to be in the pool of political hacks that have made a lifetime career out of being on committees, boards, and study groups.  They must be just sitting around waiting, as most people need a real job and couldn't just take a few months off to do a study.
 

[FLYNDYNA]

Well, I couldn't hear the mute guy shouting as I was blindsided by a deafening hybrid wolf car...huh?  I think there should be a study done on people who do studies and the possible ramifications of doing studies without having anything real to-um-study...

[BigR55]

Well, I couldn't hear the mute guy shouting as I was blindsided by a deafening hybrid wolf car...huh?  I think there should be a study done on people who do studies and the possible ramifications of doing studies without having anything real to-um-study...

And conversley the inverse prodcues a positve result which indicates it is in fact true.