I have been compiling all the arguments against requiring EVs to add noisemakers into one document. I have "borrowed" form here, Bob Wilson over on Prius Chat, and ABG commenters. Darrell's comments are well represented too. Can anyone add new thoughts to this semi-comprehensive list? Darell can you introduce it to Bob for his input?
Thanks.
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Quiet cars to stay quiet. I apologize in advance for a long rant and a completion of old and unaccredited new and old thoughts and ideas.
First off, I think the addition of sounds to automobiles should include ALL automobiles. Every manufacturer’s new models and existing car should be decibel tested (like smog checks) and have quiet cars have a noise emitter attached.
Luxury cars like Mercedes, Lexus, Infiniti, etc., are all virtually low-speed silent already. If this idea is forced on Electric Cars then lawmakers need to have the decibel level of ALL cars measured. Makers like Lotus, Fisker, and GM are voluntarily working on noisemakers for their EVs probably because they do not want to add noise to their luxury cars. If this idea is forced, the high-end automakers that have struggled for decades to achieve this quiet, and the rich people who buy them will then kill this idea really quick.
Insanity:
Where is the evidence that this is needed? Have there been a disproportionate amount of incidents? Has anyone, anywhere, at anytime actually conducted a peer reviewed study to determine if EVs or hybrids do, in fact, pose a danger to the blind?
Golfers can hear Electric golf carts just fine. It’s the ICE traffic that drowns out EV noise.
Here in the quiet mountains I can hear cyclists coming up next to my EV. Blind are even more attuned to sounds than my Rock and Roll damaged ears. Do the blind get hit by bicycles? In urban areas the only reason you can't hear a quiet car is because there is so much noise from the cacophony sounds from cars with internal combustion engines. Adding noise compounds the problem.
History repeats itself.
Red flag laws - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Though our issue is even more ridiculous because we are subjecting 100 percent of the population to a noisemaker for a tiny percent of blind.
There are OSHA rules that require hearing protection in certain environments, and then require alarms to be loud enough to overpower whatever hearing protection is used. The actual specs were originally written so that it was not possible to be in compliance with both requirements. (Since changed)
How many tax dollars are wasted building ugly Sound Walls for noisy gasoline cars? Our freeways are miles of concrete troughs that only allow drivers to see smog filled skies.
Should we outlaw dangerous rear engine busses, RV and cars? This article finds that honking busses is not the answer.
To Avoid Pedestrians, Des Moines Buses Honk : NPR
Personal Responsibility:
Stop, Look, and Listen. Look BOTH ways way before crossing the street.
How about this: make it a nationwide rule that pedestrians have the right of way. When motorists see people crossing the street at a crosswalk or intersection, blind or not, they stop and let them go before they continue.
“Naked” roads without signs, curbs and lines show that owners take more care when driving. The same is for new drivers of Evs.
Naked Roads
BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Can 'naked roads' kill speed?
The more silent cars there are on the road the more drives will be aware of them. Transportation went from noisy clop clop to EVs before, it can do it again.
According to a study by researchers at the University of New South Wales, the number of collisions decreases as the number of bicycles in traffic increases. It sounds like a paradox, they say, but motorists are more likely to drive carefully and respectfully when there are more cyclists on the road.
Bike Accidents Decline As Ridership Rises | Autopia | Wired.com
The sound issue is temporary because:
1. As EVs become more popular, people will start getting used to looking both ways before crossing the street (what a concept!)
2. Even now, there are cases of pedestrians getting hit because they're listening to their Ipods and not watching where they're going.
Blind:
If noisy cars kill Blind people should they be louder and covered with cushions?
What about requiring the US 250 million cars to carry a transmitter? The 10 million Visually Impaired could carry a receiver that emits a directional tone or vibrates when a car approaches. In Japan cellphones have proximity detectors to alert owners of nearby friends with phones. Most everyone has a Cellphone and millions are thrown away that could go to the needy. Perhaps a simple Bluetooth solution. A device could even be put in a cane or ring.
Vibering concept warns of impending vehicles — Autoblog Green
Education might be an answer. EV's are not dead quiet. They just don't make that low frequency rumble that can be heard from miles away. Their noise is of higher frequencies and is somewhat quieter than ICE's noise. It's just a matter of getting used to the "new" sounds. Perhaps EV owners can contact a school for the blind might to bring by EVs to demonstrate the difference. Go to the head of the organization for a face-to-face talk.
Possible allies in the fight against making quite car noisy:
Apparently the "Blind Lobby" has a lot of pull in Washington. (No one wants to be the one fighting blind people) but there may be allies in the Anti-Noise Pollution advocacy groups.
Right to Quiet Society
http://www.quiet.org
Noise Abatement Society
The Noise Abatement Society
Bell The Hybrid
"Bell the Hybrid" ... it begins - PriusChat Forums
And more from Bob Wilson
bell the hybrid - Google Search
The World Health Organization has gathered a lot of data much on Noise Pollution. A search for WHO and Noise Pollution turns up many NP facts like this page:
WHO | Occupational and community noise
Article on the World Health organization and noise related deaths:
Dying for some quiet: The truth about noise pollution - health - 22 August 2007 - New Scientist
Are we going to see laws that require quiet cars to have back-up type beepers? Wouldn't crosswalk beepers be much quieter if the streets were filled with EVs?
Are the sounds that cars putting out omni-directional are the sounds going to only tightly directed out the front of cars in a cone shape? What about a low-tech solution like having a car's air conditioning or radiator cooling fans work automatically at low speeds?
What if the Blind carried a Cellphone/transponder that put out a local signal that triggers (same as key fobs do door locks) all nearby moving cars to run their fans? This is almost a firmware "fix". I would rather pay for research and supplying of radar devices to the tiny Blind population than regulate a new noisy world. So when a quiet car with an artificial noisemaker drives through a countryside or woods does that mean it's putting out a totally unnecessary sound disturbing the peace and wildlife like an irritating youth shaking a suburban neighborhood with a mega sound system? Driver responsibility and help: Some cars have night vision and collision awareness systems. I find that with an EV I have to be extra careful in parking lots. It's my job to be aware of pedestrians. Legal: where is the SAE on this?
The blind and electric drive cars: Death by silent hybrid committee — Autoblog Green id-commit/
Other arguments:
Every year, about 64,000 people in the United States die prematurely from heart and lung disease due to particulate air pollution (ref). Since EVs emit much less pollution (make that zero pollution when plugged into a clean power source), even when you figure in the chance of increased collisions with pedestrians, in the end it's clear that they save more lives. This line of thinking can be applied on all the various life saving reasons to switch to Plug-ins.
With over 2 million quiet Prius Electric Hybrids on the road (starting in 2000) there have been no suggested or statistical data to show they have a higher incident rate of collision with pedestrians of any kind. In fact this study shows the numbers are no different for hybrids and regular cars. (Find that study).
Give tax rebates for quieter cars and add a tax to loud vehicles. A sliding scale would have automakers working for the quiet car cause.
Who is funding these laws? John Kerry and others may be getting lobby monies from automakers that are trying to cripple the coming EVs.
Save the Popplebonk!
It Ain't Easy Bein' Green: traffic din could be ruining the sex lives of frogs — Autoblog
Compromise ideas (if forced):
I think Tesla missed the mark when they did not include a pedestrian warning muted horn-flash like the EV1 or the two-stage horn on the Vectrix. All Plug-ins should sport this feature as a matter of course. After the first EV/pedestrian accident, it will be a lot better to hear a reporter say, "The driver did not use his warning horn" than the proclamation; "We need to make all Electric Cars noisy"
The sounds are driver optional. Either on a momentary switch or a constant on. Second option, require all cars to have it but make it subject to regional laws.
If the AM radio in my car is on all I hear when moving is Motor noise. The sound frequency changes with the speed of the car/motor. A speaker at the front that fades off at a set speed would put out a natural sound that ties in with the cars true state giving multiple feedbacks to a pedestrian
