I’ve had my Toyota Prius for two years now…. I still like it, too. I had to learn to drive
it, though. No, it’s not stick
shift or anything else difficult to learn. The problem is it’s quiet. Too quiet.
Moving at less than 15 mph, it’s on electric power and, well, electric
power doesn’t make any noise….
In 2009, the National Highway Transportation and Safety
Administration found that EVs and HEV’s (electric vehicles and hybrid electric
vehicles like the Prius) were twice as likely to be involved in a pedestrian-related
crash as traditional vehicles. Of
course, it was a small test but the handwriting is on the wall: by 2015, 1.5
million electric vehicles are predicted to be on the nation’s highways. http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/09/07/what-should-electric-car-sound-like/
So, they want to do something to prevent pedestrian
injuries.
I know what they mean: moving through a parking lot—in
stealth mode—can be dangerous. I have to
remember that, even though I can see the people walking in front of me, they
cannot hear me. Moving at approximately
5-10 miles an hour, my little Prius doesn’t make any sound…
So, what to do? I
guess I could roll down the windows and play my Queen CD: I am sure that “We will, we will ROCK
YOU!” would garner their attention. Or would it?
Considering how my car vibrates at a stoplight, thanks to the car or
truck behind me playing “music” loudly, I wonder if anything I played would be
loud enough to be heard.
And what if it was raining?
Or freezing cold? How can I be
expected to roll down my windows and get drenched just to protect a pedestrian? No, that’s probably not the answer…
And then, there are the folks with their ear buds in their
ears…..but I talked about that in another blog.
The consequences of tuning out the world around us can have very
dangerous, fatal consequences.
So, with 100 different brands of electric vehicles, or
hybrid electric vehicles, projected to be available in 2012, I think something
has to be done. Even if I am paying
close attention to the pedestrians in front of me, nothing says that someone
can’t dart out in front of me in a split second. Too quickly for me to brake and avoid hitting
them….
Now, the question is: what noise will these
electric cars make? Of course,
we all know the sound that a truck makes when backing up. And the sound of sirens. Some of them “chirp” when the turn signals
are on. Or whirr…or whatever. There has
been a suggestion that EVs could sound like an engine revving, but that seems a
little aggressive to me.
What sort of computer-generated noise would “announce” to pedestrians
that an EV is behind them? What noise
wouldn’t become so mundane that people chose to ignore it? Perhaps that doesn’t matter. Perhaps all that matters is that EVs tried to
warn them….
Maybe with some sort of external, weather-proof speaker….and a little imagination….
Cali
