BALTIMORE, Oct. 3, 2007
Hybrid Cars Under Attack From The Blind
Blind People Say Hybrids, Nearly Silent At Slower Speeds, Pose Safety Risk
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President of the National Center for the Blind Marc Maurer sits in his office Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007 in Baltimore. Also pictured behind is Christopher Danielsen. Gas-electric hybrid vehicles are coming under attack from the blind because they make virtually no noise at lower speeds. (AP)
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Because hybrids make virtually no noise at slower speeds when they run solely on electric power, blind people say they pose a hazard to those who rely on their ears to determine whether it's safe to cross the street or walk through a parking lot.
"I'm used to being able to get sound cues from my environment and negotiate accordingly. I hadn't imagined there was anything I really wouldn't be able to hear," said Deborah Kent Stein, chairwoman of the National Federation of the Blind's Committee on Automotive and Pedestrian Safety. "We did a test, and I discovered, to my great dismay, that I couldn't hear it."
The tests, admittedly unscientific, involved people standing in parking lots or on sidewalks who were asked to signal when they heard several different hybrid models drive by.
"People were making comments like, 'When are they going to start the test?' And it would turn out that the vehicle had already done two or three laps around the parking lot," Stein said.
As gas prices continue to rise, along with concern about harmful emissions, hybrid cars are increasing in popularity. New hybrid vehicle registrations grew more than 49 percent nationwide in the first seven months of 2007 compared with the same period in 2006, according to R.L. Polk & Co., an automotive research firm.
Toyota Motor Corp. has sold nearly 460,000 of the most popular hybrid model, the Prius, since it hit the market in 2000, according to the company, which pegs total hybrid sales at just over 900,000.
Officials with the Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind are quick to point out that they're not advocating a return to gas guzzlers. They'd just like the fuel-efficient hybrids to make some noise.
NFB President Marc Maurer said he received an e-mail from an environmentalist who suggested that the members of his group should be the first to drown when sea levels rise from global warming.Fast FactNFB President Marc Maurer said he received an e-mail from an environmentalist who suggested that the members of his group should be the first to drown when sea levels rise from global warming.
"I don't want to pick that way of going, but I don't want to get run over by a quiet car, either," Maurer said.
The NFB, the leading advocacy group for 1.3 million legally blind people in the United States, made pleas to the auto industry and to federal and state agencies, with little concrete success so far. On Wednesday, the president of the NFB's Maryland chapter planned to present written testimony asking for a minimum sound standard for hybrids to be included in the state's emissions regulations.
But those regulations are crafted by the Maryland Department of the Environment, which has no oversight of auto safety, said Robert Ballinger, a spokesman for the department. He said the department would work with the NFB to press the issue with auto manufacturers and federal transportation officials.
Manufacturers are aware of the problem but have made no pledges yet. Toyota is studying the issue internally, said Bill Kwong, a spokesman for Toyota Motor Sales USA.
"One of the many benefits of the Prius, besides excellent fuel economy and low emissions, is quiet performance. Not only does it not pollute the air, it doesn't create noise pollution," Kwong said. "We are studying the issue and trying to find that delicate balance."
The Association of International Auto Manufacturers Inc., a trade group, is also studying the problem, along with a committee established by the Society of Automotive Engineers. The groups are considering "the possibility of setting a minimum noise level standard for hybrid vehicles," said Mike Camissa, the safety director for the manufacturers' association.
Officials with two separate arms of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Highway Administration, said they are aware of the problem but have not studied it.
While Stein said she would prefer that hybrids sound similar to conventional engines, other blind people said they'd be fine with any sound that was inoffensive but easy to detect. Both sides agree that it wouldn't be prohibitively expensive to outfit cars with an adequate noisemaking device.
"It's cheaper than an air bag or other safety devices," Kwong said. "Any kind of audio device is going to be relatively inexpensive."
The blind, however, will have to win over some hybrid owners as well as advocates for reduced noise pollution. Some think that making hybrids louder won't solve anything.
"To further expose millions of people to excessive noise pollution by making vehicles artificially loud is neither logical nor practical nor in the public interest," said Richard Tur, founder of NoiseOFF, a group that raises awareness of noise pollution.
Others believe that distracted pedestrians are at greater risk than blind people from quiet cars.
"The only way to function driving any car, forgetting the fact that it's a Prius, is to just be very careful and see who's around you," said George Margolin of Newport Beach, Calif., who runs a club for Prius owners with his wife. "We have to be as careful as anyone else and perhaps even more so."
Blind people are not the only ones who've had close calls. Linda Murphy, 57, a personal administrative assistant from San Marcos, Calif., has 20/20 vision when she wears her glasses, but she's almost been hit twice by hybrids.
"I'm walking right in back of it and it's moving and I didn't realize it until it nearly touched me," Murphy said, describing the first of her scares. "I never realized how dependent I was on my ears until I almost got hit."
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- Look them signs that sound like a bird or a bell don''t work for us legally blind as they are not safe we can''t hear the movements of the traffic when they go off a driver almost hit me when the bloody thing went off. Yer want yer car so quiet so ye can play yer music. When ye do I can hear the blasting music from yer car. I know where that one is. The problem is yer in a hurry to get to pt a, pt b, pt c pt d and so on. What bloody good is a shanking cane that can''t be used be us. It is the dumb sighted that need to be educated. It is not *me,myself and I* out there but selfcentred asres that think of them and them only.
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- I am legally blind born that way. And the bloody sighted and their wanting the car so bloody quiet. Yes I have been hit. There is a WHITE CANE LAW..READ IT AS IT IS ON COMPUTER. I have the right of way as a white cane user. So get off the cell. Yer duty as driver is be aware of us who must walk, I am tired yer running the WALK sign. mcg907. I am on yer side. To the dumb arse yer just the one I HOPE don''t go blind as yer have to use buses,it is change that you be not happy with and yer be whining. So I did not ask to be blind. I hate quiet cars .
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- foghorns.
big, loud foghorns. with a huge fat dude on every car constantly flatulating.- Reply to this comment
- Rather than add noise that is audible to all, lets provide the blind with an audible that they can either hear or feel. The car could be required to emit a very low powered signal that could be received by a sensor in the blind person''s cane and either vibrate the cane or emit a low audible sound when an automobile is moving in the general vicinity. I would suggest that the cane have a pushbutton to activate the sensor. This way, the blind can be protected and use their senses and the sighted can enjoy the quietness of the world around them
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- My husband is blind, but highly mobile with his cane. Cars that make no sound are a hazard to him and all the other blind and visually impaired people who are injured or killed by cars. As a nation we are graying and more and more people will develop various visual impairments or blindness. There is absolutely no reason that the motor vehicle companies cannot create a sound that emanates from under the car that will alert people who depend upon sound to locate vehicles.
Sighted people usually have no idea how many blind or visually impaired individuals are killed or injured by cars every year.- Reply to this comment
- Hilarious! Now the auto industry is getting complaints because cars are TOO quiet. Hu-yuk!
- Reply to this comment
- Maybe we should put baseball cards on the spokes, or some kind of kazoo. The incidents of pedestrians getting hit by cars is quite low in the U.S. Of more concern are little children and pets getting hit during backups.
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