Washington to Require That 'Quiet' Cars Get Alert Sounds

NKDietrich said:
Terrible idea. The reduced noise pollution of electric vehicles is one of the big benefits. Sorry blind folks, I feel bad for you, and your disability must rob you of so much, but we can't cater the whole world to an extreme minority.
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I agree. Making sound come out of speakers in our car is such an extreme proposition! :eek:
 
PWMK2 said:
I agree. Making sound come out of speakers in our car is such an extreme proposition! :eek:
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Up next we can add some big obnoxious flashing lights to small, more difficult to see cars. Or maybe require that low emission cars emit the old school pre-catalytic-converter exhaust smell. Hell, lets require that all cars be painted high-vis orange.

All those things would improve safety, but they would be extremely freaking stupid.
 
Y'all do know that like hsa been mentioned before, its not like they want to so loud nobody can hear you talk. They can make it half the typical dB level of most average cars and that would be a huge improvement over noise pollution of cars and still allow people ot hear it coming.
 
PWMK2 said:
Cliffs:
1. Don't be emo.
2. These cars will probably be cooler than any silent car anyway. If any of you spend all day enlarging trying to enlarge your e-peen, I seriously can't see how this is a loss for you.
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Extra weight, extra battery usage, less travel in electric mode.
 
Hmm... here's an idea. How about people watch where the spork they're going? How about teaching people how to actually drive? Not operate a cell phone, or text, or do their nails... but, you know, pay attention to their surroundings and operate a vehicle with the same seriousness that you'd operate a firearm? The problem is not with blind pedestrians, it's with blind DRIVERS. This noise maker idea is just a band-aid for the larger problem of stupid and arrogant motorists. If you cannot see a blind person crossing the road, you do not deserve the privilege of operating an automobile.

I also cannot believe that anyone is complaining about cars being too quiet. When there are no longer jackasses driving cars that can rattle windows a half mile away with that bass thumping crap, then you can worry about cars being too quiet. Anyone here that drives around making noise like that, no, nobody likes it, so please stop. If you want to blow your hearing out then get some good headphones instead of pissing the world off. If you do it just to be an ass to others... well, you know what you are then, and I hope life teaches you a stern lesson about respecting others.
 
Idiots. Part of the appeal of hybrids/electrics is tooling around in near silence. I'm not saying that people don't get injured by these vehicles...but they're going to have to adapt. When the auto first came out, some laws required that the driver stop at every cross-street and fire a pistol. Glad that isn't required anymore. Can we just have some sanity in our laws? I guess I'm asking too much.
 
The amount of my neighbors that have those priuses... If i was woken up at 3AM because the prius is driving by going AOOOOOOOOGAH AOOOOOOOOGAH... I'd lose my mind.
 
I'm not in agreement with this, even if it means that blind people are more in danger without noise on vehicles. We're making concessions for disabled people that take a step back in technology, in the ideal peaceful environment without needless environmental noise. If blind people can't cross the road safely with quiet cars, they need to find a way on their own to do so. For all this talk about social responsibility, I don't feel it's my responsibility to pamper these people.

This is very much the same for protecting people with genetic diseases that weaken the human race. We've become so "socially responsible", that regardless of what long-term consequences exist, we can't seem to avoid the notion of "saving everyone".
 
Motivator said:
The amount of my neighbors that have those priuses... If i was woken up at 3AM because the prius is driving by going AOOOOOOOOGAH AOOOOOOOOGAH... I'd lose my mind.
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That's a good point. At what speed does this device kick in? Will it make obnoxious noises as I'm pulling out of my driveway in the middle of the night? At higher speeds the device is pointless since cars at that speed make the loudest sound from aerodynamic and tire noise, not the engine.
 
rkatapt said:
BubbRubb.jpg
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_JtoW7GrdY

Woo woo!
 
Stupid to you Steve, but not to my blind friend that walks to work each day. Most yuppies driving this crap care more about gas than people's lives.

Stupid: making car noises
Smart: make some type of audible noise that alerts them wisely, while not annoying the public.
 
I'm actually okay with this; I almost got hit by a prius in electric only mode because I didn't hear it and couldn't see it because it was so short it was hidden behind a parked SUV.
 
jroe52 said:
Stupid to you Steve, but not to my blind friend that walks to work each day.
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Trust me, blind people are far safer than normal people are when it comes to being a pedestrian. Ever see a blind guy jay walk? Nope. Think about it. :cool:

jroe52 said:
Smart: make some type of audible noise that alerts them wisely, while not annoying the public.
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I agree.

Zepher said:
lol, that is a quiet muscle car. ;)
What's in there, a V6?
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Almost twice as many cubic inches than that Firebird. ;)
 
I imagine cyclists would want this, as well. How often do cyclists cycle into lanes without checking? Probably a lot, when there are no noisy vehicles around, assuming silence equals clear...
 
Buckus said:
Idiots. Part of the appeal of hybrids/electrics is tooling around in near silence. I'm not saying that people don't get injured by these vehicles...but they're going to have to adapt. When the auto first came out, some laws required that the driver stop at every cross-street and fire a pistol. Glad that isn't required anymore. Can we just have some sanity in our laws? I guess I'm asking too much.
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LOL
 
I don't see the problem.

Just increase the burden of proof on the driver of a silent/quiet car in any accident.
 
hey when i was younger and used to skateboard all the time id listen for cars to get out of the way so i see the point... kinda
 
jay walking should be illegal unless you have a beer in your hand. that way we dont get bothered when we are boozing this summer.

steve: i think we can all agree; having your electric car make fake noises= bigger dbag factor.

if you increase the dbag factor over the limit, god only knows what will happen.

the cars are primarily used by "elistists" already. not saying everyone shouldn't have one "someday" but to have one at 40-60k$ is not the average joe's sallary.

so their dbag ratio is already higher than the average person, adding sound effects... gosh just awesome.
 
i vote: make them sound like xwings or tie-fighters.

psshh zoom... then we would all be happy.
 
glutto said:
I imagine cyclists would want this, as well. How often do cyclists cycle into lanes without checking? Probably a lot, when there are no noisy vehicles around, assuming silence equals clear...
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All the god-damn time. Atleast once a day I've got someone that'll point left and then swerve right in front of me. And I drive one of these:
94805051990105-480.jpg

And it's got one of those CherryBomb exhaust things that the previous owner welded on after the muffler fell off.

It's tall (the Star Trek brake light makes it slightly taller than most SUV's because it's lifted slightly) and really freaking loud. In all honesty, I'm not worried about blind people getting hit by quiet cars. I'm worried about idiots that still haven't learned not to play in traffic.
 
I'd have the siren from the Ghostbuster's Ambulance, a tie fighter, the space turd from Star Trek 4, and a normal car approaching and driving away from you (Doppler Effect FTW!).
 
I have yet to hear a silent car....I've been around a few Teslas and they are anything but silent when moving. I'm assuming these "silent cars" have done away with engine noise, tire/road noise, and wind noise? Because that's amazing. Some co-worker friends of mine talked this over yesterday, and none of us has ever heard a silent car. Sure, engine noise is gone, but there's still some due to the electric motor. Plus no-one has invented a silent tire to go with a perfect road yet. Hell, when walking I can HEAR cyclists, and they don't even have an engine!

I agree though, I don't understand who this is really trying to save here. People still haven't learned not to play in the street to begin with.
 
Steve's a little slow with this - I read it a few days ago. :p

What a waste of DC's time, but that's what politicians do. :rolleyes:

I'm sure sound modding will have a huge after market. :cool:
 
Better to mandate that cars carry a direction-of-travel-broadcasting signals and use tax $ to provide alert necklaces/bracelets/whatever to the blind than mandate that everyone's ears be assaulted by screeching artificial noise.

However, common sense and Congress have nothing in common so we can expect, as usual, that 99% of everyone must suffer so that 1% can have the lamest possible solution to their (valid) issue.
 
I hope its just a sound bite that says "Arrogant smug prick coming through!"
 
People are used to being able to hear cars coming, blind or not. Pedestrians, bikers, and people crossing the street in general rely on the noise to help stay aware of their surroundings... thus this is a good idea. As has been said, it doesn't have to be a honking muffler-is-broken hotrod-type noise, but it's pretty myopic a view to not understand the point behind this.
 
GoldenTiger said:
People are used to being able to hear cars coming, blind or not. Pedestrians, bikers, and people crossing the street in general rely on the noise to help stay aware of their surroundings... thus this is a good idea. As has been said, it doesn't have to be a honking muffler-is-broken hotrod-type noise, but it's pretty myopic a view to not understand the point behind this.
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finally, someone with some sense.
for some reason, most commentators here are oblivious to the fact that we use sounds to help us navigate and avoid dangers all the time.

the problem with EV cars isn't on the highways - it's in your neighborhood!
it's walking on a sidewalk and getting hit by a car backing up from a driveway.
it's kids running after a ball that fell on the road because they didn't hear a car coming that was blocked from view by a parked van.
it's a cyclist that doesn't know there's a car coming up from behind him.
etc etc...

it has nothing to do with legally blind people, no matter their relative population size.
for all intents and purposes, we are all somewhat blind at times, when confronted by fast moving objects in a very noisy visual environment. that goes doubly so when we're distracted or not paying attention (and let's face it, this is the case more often than not).
 
I'll say it again, they aren't dead silent. Maybe if they are trying to be sneaky they are, if they are creeping along purposefully trying to. But I can make my truck just as silent by pushing in the cluch and coasting.

Impaler, in all your examples, you would see it before you heard it anyways. Kid running in the street? They do that regardless. Walking on the side walk, how many newer cars make excessive noise while idle in the driveway? A cyclist should be in his bike lane, and if there isn't one on that street, should have a mirror or something to help them see, not to mention the road noise a moving vehicle makes just from tire contact.

The noise arguement is still throwing out all the other noises a car makes even without the engine. The way you people are arguing is like if you sat on the side of the road and an electric car went by, you'd hear nothing.

Also, how loud is this going to be? Do we need it to be as loud as a siren on a emergency vehicle? That type of siren/sound has diminishing returns as speed increases, and is all but useless on the free-way since the reaciton time for a driver drops too much.
 
phide said:
The blind supposedly use the sound of cars to gauge where the boundaries of a crosswalk are, though I've never seen a blind person cross the street without SED assistance, so who knows.

Blind people don't go meandering into streets, though, so this "getting struck" nonsense sounds like just that. Tires still make a fuck of a lot of noise.
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They also know by stepping on the tactile curbs like these:

http://www.armor-tile.com/articles_docs/Tactile_Warning_Curb_Ramps.htm

They're all over Chicago.
 
Where are blind people crossing the street without intersections? Did it occur to them that they deserve to be run down for jwalking blind?
 
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