Electric vehicles pose concerns for blind pedestrians
I mentioned in my driving impression of the Chevrolet Sequel that engineers need to do something about the whooshing sound coming out of the tailpipe. The frequency and texture have absolutely no intrinsic connection to the automobile. Fortunately, you can barely hear it.
That's not good news for a blind person, however. I noticed a brief comment in a story from the San Luis Obispo Tribune about boot camps for blind students where they can learn more about navigating their surroundings.
"The biggest challenge is hearing a nearly silent electric car," said the story, noting that the students are taught to listen for tire sounds. That's great if the vehicle is running on 37-inch mud-terrain knobbies, but hybrids and electric vehicles are designed with low-resistance tires. They don't make any noise.
The story also said the National Federation for the Blind is working with automakers on a solution. So a quick search of the NFB Web site found an interesting presentation from Deborah Kent Stein. She asks: "How could blind people travel independently in a world filled with silent electric cars?"
Stein conducted a personal experiment when she heard a friend brought a new Prius. She had him drive by a few times and couldn't hear the car. She could feel no vibration or sense tire friction. With the backing of the NFB, Stein is a leader in reaching out to manufacturers and NHTSA to find a working solution. She has suggested starting up the cooling fan when the vehicle is a stop or have the vehicle emit a clicking noise when the axle turns. Another suggested a radio signal be mandatory so blind pedestrians could carry a beeper that signals when an electric vehicle is near.
This issue is not lost on the hybrid owners. A post on treehugger.com earlier this year was quite sympathetic to the problem, noting that one owner plays his music a little louder in parking lots to make sure he's heard.
[Source: National Federation for the Blind]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Mulad 8:38AM (9/21/2006)
I thought a major complaint about low-rolling-resistance tires was that they made more noise rather than less...
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Glenn 9:10AM (9/21/2006)
The most sensible, lowest cost solution could be to find the speed at which a given car's tires may be heard when the car is under electric only mode (in the case of a hybrid), ensure that new hybrid and fuel cell cars run their air conditioning condensor fans at speeds below that figure.
My 2005 Prius is nearly silent in electric mode; however, being I'm aware of this, I actually watch more carefully for pedestrians, bicyclists, and the blind. However, when the cooling or a/c fan(s) are on, the noise is just as loud as the same components on a conventional car - and incongruent to passers by who hear nothing then suddenly get a cacaphony of loud fan noise! It's a bit odd, but we'll get used to it.
Our grandparents and great-grandparents got used to "put-put" compared to "clop-clop" after all.
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Tony Belding 9:55AM (9/21/2006)
We've had some discussion about engine noise -- or lack of same -- over on the Tesla Motors Club forums: http://teslamotorsclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,3.0.html
Nobody thought about how it would affect the blind, but there have been questions asked about the risk of running down sighted pedestrians with quiet vehicles. I've already heard anecdotes about an electric motorcycle and an electric forklift that proved surprisingly hazardous in operation.
I'm not sure that a simple clicker or beeper will do the trick, as they really don't provide the kind of auditory information that we're accustomed to getting from a revving engine. At the same time, a lot of owners will probably object to having obnoxious sound-makers attached to their cars and will disable them if they can.
My answer is that electric car drivers will have to be even more alert for pedestrians and learn to get on their horns a lot more than they have been. (Where I live people virtually never use their horns, and its considered practically an insult if you do.) In other words, I hope that people -- both drivers and pedestrians -- can adapt their behavior.
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Howard Lee Harkness 11:14AM (9/21/2006)
A small transducer on the exterior of the car could be configured to emit a low-level tone in the range of 400-1000 Hz (The range of 400-1000 Hz is typically the last to go in age-related hearing loss), or perhaps a uniquely-modulated tone that could be associated with electric vehicles. For instance, a 600/605 mix alternated once per second with a 700/707 mix to give a varying beat frequency that would be easily distinguishable from other background noise even at very low levels. That could be positioned and/or attentuated enough that the occupants of the vehicle would not be annoyed. Different modulation schemes could be used for the front and back of vehicles (switched when in reverse), giving the blind more position/movement information.
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Glenn 12:32PM (9/21/2006)
The "noisemaker" might work and also probably would use a little less energy than my idea, Howard Lee, but the added cost and noise pollution annoyance wouldn't fly, IMHO, because let's face it - well and truly under .1% of the population are blind - while we want to protect them, why should it cost $100 or whatever, extra per car when in reality, most of us never even pass a blind pedestrian in 20,000 miles a year of driving? I've driven for 30 years and cannot tell you I've driven by more than 1 person with a white cane in that time.
The electric fans are already on the cars.
Certainly, no "extra" noise is needed in our cities, and most certainly, no "clicking" noises.
Gave that up when I was 10 after wearing out playing cards and mom's clothes pins, by making noise-makers on my bicycle wheels. Don't want to go back there!
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Ken 2:45PM (9/21/2006)
Wouldn't it make more sense to make adjustments to the crosswalks rather than making a car loud? Possibly a focused motion detector on the pole at the crosswalk that would emit a tone when it's supposed to be safe to walk but the cars haven't stopped? Simple to engineer and with a lower overall cost than putting "noisemakers" on Millions of cars...
(Merely a suggestion. I'm not up to par on how the blind function in everyday society.)
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Anne 12:43AM (11/06/2006)
I happen to live near one of the many Guide Dog for the Blind training centers and it seems to me that the majority of the blind people today have a Guide or Service Dog to assist them. The dogs certainly have excellent hearing and also use their vision as well. Since there are very few blind people, according to Glenn and I believe the majority of them have Guide Dogs, then the problem may not even really exsist. Just a thought....
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Steve 9:40AM (9/22/2006)
How about some sort of sonar / radar activated device which is held by the pedestrian? This would be useful regardless of location (crosswalks, parking lots, jaywalking...). The proliferation of cell phones, PDAs, GPS devices, etc, would seem to indicate that this is convenient enough for users.
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kaoss 3:06PM (9/22/2006)
I say leave it alone .... one less blind person on the streets ... hit em .. and sue there family for damages and emotional stress ... this is a win win situation for the govt and the people {1 less person on social security can be a good thing}
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Doug 3:16PM (9/22/2006)
I wouldnt want a loved one of mine who is blind trying to navigate streets alone...
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James 5:03PM (9/23/2006)
there is a school for the blind not to far from my home. and you don't see them out with guide dogs.
they use their canes. [i only know one with a dog]and in being pedestrians we as drivers have to pay attention anyway.so if you want a silent car great just use a little caution so everybody can go home at night
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Mike 1:30PM (9/25/2006)
I understand that this new E85 Corn fuel that is to help curve our dependence on foreign oil is somewhat of a rouse, for it take about 1.5 gallons of fuel to produce 1 gallon of corn fuel. Where is the logic in this? Now I am reading that Electric cars might be bad for Blind people because they cannot hear them, and I'm reading that the batteries could explode, curious no mention about Fuel being even more explosive? I really do believe that this free enterprise system of ours is no different from the old communistic system, the Rich powerful money grubbers thru many different methods still influence and control what ever they want to. Will we ever be a system that promotes a cure for an illness rather then a treatment? Is Money power, or ultimate power? I want clean Air, I want Green Tech, I want clean water, I don't want the same people who make money on lies making money on this conversion, can you understand what I am saying? There are powers to be out there in control of everything, we can continue to bury our heads in the sands of denial or stand up and demand Change. I hope we do for our futures sake.
Thank you
Concerned citizen
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Harold Bosnia 6:39PM (9/22/2006)
The answer -- for those who are blind, at least -- clearly is some form of wireless transponder signal that a receiver can pick up and transmit to the wearer, via vibration if not audio (as having to wear an ear piece could interfere with other audio.
Transportation technology is moving towards wireless radar in cars to avoid accidents. Medical technology is evolving towards more sophisticated interfaces with the human nervous system from sensory prosthetic devices (hearing and sight). And computer/cellphone/PDA technology has already delivered the short-range wireless data link in the form of either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. A dedicated frequency, channel, or protocol could be used to separate critical information interactions (like vehicle alerts) from more commonplace transmissions in order not to complicate the cost of either the transmitter or receiver to have to process general traffic and filter out the alerts.
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Don M 3:58PM (9/22/2006)
I remember in California, heavily populated with deer, you can buy a plastic thing that hooks into your radiator grill. The wind from the moving car makes the plastic thing whistle, allowing deer on the road ahead to get frightened of the oncoming noise and moving off the road. A similar attachment to electric vehicles would allow a dopplar effect for the blind to judge the distance and speed of oncoming cars...wouldn't it?
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David 3:55PM (9/22/2006)
How about we cure blindness??
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Harold Bosnia 6:38PM (9/22/2006)
My previous post was from the perspective of what would work best for a blind person. I suggested that the best solution involved using near-field wireless transponder in automobile to digitally signal approach of vehicle to a blind person equipped with a wireless alert receiver (or possibly piggy-backed into/onto some other mobile device such as a cellphone, iPod-like, PDA, or whatever ).
This solution for the blind would, however, at some point in time, most likely be perverted for evil use, given the sick nature of the times we live in. Can you imagine a better way to set off an IED than to use the alert signal of an approaching vehicle ? :(
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Michael 4:05PM (9/22/2006)
You really have got to be kidding me! If and I say if because in my 50,000 miles per year of dxriving I have seen one blind person attempting to cross the street. I knew he was blind because he had the trademark cane and dark glasses. I slowed down and if he had in the slightest made any indication of crossing the street I would have stopped and honked to oblige him. Now, I ask seriously, should we further punish by additional cost the Green Driver by adding irrelevant features? I mean give us all a break here. Fact < Hardly happens. Fact < Give me some credit for observation. Enough with the goody two shoes crapola.
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Butch Conrad 4:13PM (9/22/2006)
Wouldn't it make more sense to put grooves in the pavement before an intersection or stop. Than to make a wonderfully quiet car make noise. Aside from the blind predicament wasn't it another thing to make our cars less of problem in nature.The grooves could be set at certain distancesa at intervals so they would emit a rhythm from the cars as they pass over. PLus,now,all cars would be heard for sure hybrid or not.
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Butch Conrad 4:13PM (9/22/2006)
I say instead of modifying a perfectly great feature about these cars put grooves in the pavement at staggered intervals on all intersections or stops. They would not only make a noise that the pedestrian could here but would remind drivers of an approaching intersection or stop.They already do it in some places to warn drivers they are too far to the right and to get back on the road.
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Joe Ford 5:15PM (9/22/2006)
I live in Paris part-time, and we sighted people constantly rely on car sounds to avoid being hit. There are many cars from many directions, and pedestrians overflow off narrow sidewalks on some smaller streets.
I think Paris and other large cities would have potentially serious problems if silent cars were on the road, although the cars would work well in dense populations. It's a dilemma.
In addition, older people everywhere with diminished senses could be at risk of devastating injuries.
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