Brent

Bill requiring minimum auto sound levels expected - AutoWeek Magazine

I find silly the idea that cars need a minimum sound level. To be sure, noise is helpful for the blind, and I have (stupidly) come to rely on it when crossing a street, but I've also been surprised many times by engine-in-back buses and bicycles. I think the solution is not to mandate noise levels but to educate people to look both ways before crossing. For the blind we need better crosswalk technology, such as the beeping walk signals Santa Monica uses.

malcolm

Is there actually any evidence that hybrids are getting involved in a higher percentage of pedestrian accidents?

If people are managing to get themselves knocked down by existing ICEs, surely this line of reasoning suggests that we should all be knocking holes in our exhaust silencers.

vfx

The Noise Pollution Lobby will be all over this...

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The world loves to be deceived.

doug

At least it sounds like they're doing some kind of study first. I don't mean to be insensitive, but it really sounds like a solution in search of a problem.

We should also factor in the advantages of having a silent running car. (Language NSFW)

SByer

I'm sorry, but to even have gotten as far as it has without any sort of valid data whatsoever, it's the darned lamest thing. Once inner cities are filled with plug-in and pure electrics, there won't be a problem, the "lack of noise" will be normal. Tire noise is more than enough.

If there is some kind of continuous noise requirement I only hope that, like lame-ass DRLs, it'll be put on separate fuses so those of us who know better can immediately disable it.

domenick

Not to worry, the SAE is on the case.

Cobos

You all know there is an elegant solution for this problem ......

....

....

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the noisy diesel generator!!

You can even use it to recharge the batteries :-D

Cobos

malcolm

Of course! Set it to cut in every half a mile or so. It needn't charge the battery, just chug away making a noise.

Failing that there's always baseball-cards-through-the-spokes-of-the-wheels

vfx

The term "Noise Polluion" by itself has 1,410,000 hits on Google. Add words like "laws" and "organization" and it's clear that it is a problem. that people have identified. The very idea of adding noise to a silent car is insane. These quiet people need to step in here (hear?) and stop this madness.

I dashed off a note to these guys: Right to Quiet Society - Home Page


This is a clip that I pulled from the search had a noise causing death:
Dying for some quiet: The truth about noise pollution - health - 22 August 2007 - New Scientist

Dying for some quiet: The truth about noise pollution

• 22 August 2007
• Andy Coghlan
• Magazine issue 2618

FRANK PARDUSKI SENIOR could arguably qualify as the world's first anti-noise martyr. He died on 5 June in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, while attempting to slow down a 19-year-old motorcyclist who had been speeding back and forth outside Parduski's house. On impact, the 82-year-old was thrown 10 metres and died at the scene from multiple injuries.
Parduski's death came as a result of his sheer frustration at being subjected to unwanted noise. However, alarming new evidence from the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that thousands more people around the world may be dying prematurely or succumbing to disease through the more insidious effects of chronic noise exposure.
Though preliminary, the WHO's findings suggest that long-term exposure to traffic noise may account for 3 per cent of deaths from ischaemic heart disease in Europe - typically heart attacks. Given that 7 million people around the globe die each year from heart disease, ...

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The world loves to be deceived.

tonybelding

A few days ago I found myself at the gas pump, and there was a Prius at the next pump just a few feet away. As I got started filling my car, I turned in time to see the Prius starting to roll away. I hadn't even known there was anybody in it, it was spooky -- but very cool.

I look forward to startling a few people that way too. Except, I suppose, it'll have to be somewhere other than at the gas pump.