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Should EVs Make Artificial Sounds at Low Speeds?

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#345
Tdave said:
I was hoping that actual data was about the noise levels of various electric, hybrid, and ICE cars at slow speeds. Better yet, it would also include various ICE cars from 5, 10, and 15 years ago.
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Please post the data when you've compiled it! What Mark has done here is quite good and relevant to the proposed law. Tabulating the actual decible level of various vehicles would also be interesting.
 
#346
John Volecker comments on Mark's data: Sounds For Silent EVs: Solving a Problem That May Not Exist

... Larson really only addresses half the issue. Fatalities from accidents are one data point, but injuries would be another--and are far more common than deaths.

Since hybrids and electric vehicles are at their quietest at low speeds--below 15 miles per hour, say--we'd suggest that if there is a danger from silent vehicles, it would be reflected not in deaths but in injuries.
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I agree with the above. It would be nice to have some injury data to finally put this thing to bed. But the clear lack of fatalities strongly suggests that silent cars are not the deadly menace that noise advocates make them out to be. I suppose it's stating the obvious, but people aren't typically killed by a slow moving vehicle (unless it's a drive-by).
 
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#347
doug said:
John Volecker comments on Mark's data: [URL="http://www.gr... It would be nice to have some injury data to finally put this thing to bed. But the clear lack of fatalities strongly suggests that silent cars are not the deadly menace that noise advocates make them out to be. I suppose it's stating the obvious, but people aren't typically killed by a slow moving vehicle (unless it's a drive-by).
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I would think there is not much data on injuries. I was hit while riding my bicycle by Jag once. Messed up the bike pretty good and I was bruised and sore but never reported it. We probably all have non-reporting car indecent stories.
Perhaps we should secretly get the Auto Body repair association on our side.



It seems half the commenters out there are people who were on the corner or in parking lots "startled" by an approaching quiet car. Just because the were unnerved does not mean they were going to get hit. These folks will just have to re-learn the look both ways rule fro their childhood.
 
#351
Sounds For Silent EVs: Solving a Problem That May Not Exist

Sounds For Silent EVs: Solving a Problem That May Not Exist

There's just one problem: Accident data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show no increase in deaths for blind people in pedestrian accidents during the 10 years that hybrid-electric vehicles have been sold.

http://www.greencarreports.com/blog...lent-evs-solving-a-problem-that-may-not-exist
 
#354
The 2008 National Pedestrian Crash Report published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration​



Lots of interesting information - and not one mention of hybrid or electric vehicle sound or noise

  • The majority of killed pedestrians were male, elderly, White, Non-Hispanic, and had no alcohol involvement, yet they carried out one or more unsafe actions during the crash.​
  • The majority of drivers in fatal pedestrian crashes were male, between the ages of 21 and 25, were not drinking, and were not speeding.​
  • Bad weather does not necessarily contribute to a pedestrian death, but a bad light condition does.​


    [*]Nearly 46 percent of pedestrian fatalities are alcohol-involved.
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#355
Alternatively, this is an initial report for the UK's Department of Transport looking at Shared Spaces.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/sharedspace/stage1/pdf/stage1.pdf

A characteristic of many Shared Space schemes, which highlights the departure from conventionally designed streets, is the minimal use of traffic signs, road markings and other traffic management features. With less, or no, traffic management or clear indication of priority, motorists are encouraged to recognise the space as being different from a typical road and to react by driving more slowly and responding directly to the behaviour of other users (including other motorists) rather than predominantly to the traffic management features. This approach takes place against a backdrop of concern at the proliferation of features such as pedestrian guardrailing, traffic signs and highway regulation which, it is argued, can tend to reduce users’ understanding of the complexity of the street environment and their personal responsibility for safe and appropriate behaviour.
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#357
My wife & I have logged over 240,000 km in hybrids since 2005 (Lexus 400h / Lexus GS450h / Lexus RX450h).

We both noticed early on in 2005 (when hybrids were more of a novelty) that we could "surprise" a lot of pedestrians in mall parking lots at a speed of under 30 km / hour...today, with many more hybrids being on the road, I think the general public is far more aware of them and we rarely surprise pedestrians anymore...save the hard of hearing, the general public will adapt imo.
 
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