Electric vehicles required to make noise - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Brian Carlton · #31 03-25-2013, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jorn

The eye-rolling because I've lived my entire life in the city, don't tell me how to survive the urban jungle.

If you're an experienced city dweller, you wouldn't ordinarily walk in the middle of the street and depend on hearing an approaching vehicle..........would you?

In NYC, there are specific traffic laws designed to allow pedestrians to cross at designated crosswalks. There are traffic lights at every intersection that dictate when the vehicle can go and when it must stop.

The only time the pedestrian is in danger is if he violates the law and crosses the street without a crosswalk and against the traffic signal.

So, I fail to understand how a louder vehicle would make a pedestrian in NYC any safer than they currently are.

Of course, your city might be different and you might depend on hearing the vehicle to get out of the way. But this implies a very casual relationship between pedestrian and driver whereby the vehicle and traffic laws designed to keep both parties from colliding are non-existent or not enforced.

MTI · #32 03-25-2013, 10:02 AM

Electric car vs. Pedestrian Texting While Walking . . . hmm, Darwinism at work?

spdrun · #33 03-25-2013, 10:06 AM

Exactly.

Mr.Kenny · #34 03-25-2013, 10:13 AM

In our neighborhood next to a university there are a lot of electric cars and bicycles.
I learned early on NOT to rely on just my hearing when stepping out into the street. Always Look both ways, lest you are run down by a ghost.
(Experience taught me this lesson.)

Eskimo · #35 03-25-2013, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmbdiesel

Whoever is pushing this through NHTSB should have their position eliminated.
We the people should not be paying someone for this kind of crap.
Sequester that entire department.

If that's how you feel about it, then you might start with Congress - see the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010.

spdrun · #36 03-25-2013, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eskimo

If that's how you feel about it, then you might start with Congress - see the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010.

Betcha it was passed on recommendation from the NHTSA.

cmbdiesel · #37 03-25-2013, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eskimo

If that's how you feel about it, then you might start with Congress - see the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010.

Thanks John Kerry.... what a douche.

Can't believe that our government sits around wasting time and resources on this kind of BS.

Maybe we would be better off if Congress was sequestered....
Cut their pay in half and have them in session every other year. (I originally wrote 'work every other year', but that didn't seem to accurately describe what they do...)

Thanks for the pointer Eskimo... didn't make me feel any better, but most everything I hear about how our elected officials spend their time and our money has that effect....

JamesDean · #38 03-25-2013, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jplinville

Look at the market that would be opened up...downloading customized engine sounds. Imagine an electric shoe box emitting a customized Powerstroke clatter engine sound. Better yet, that same little car sounding like a dragster.

The possibilites are endless....

The Dilemma (2011) - IMDb

That was part of the plot of this movie!

whunter · #39 03-25-2013, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spdrun

Nissan, Mitsubishi tell NHTSA requiring electric vehicles to make noise will turn buyers away

So basically, we'll lose one of the major advantages of electric cars to appease a small group. I love lobbyists

Hopefully the noise in the noise-maker can be customized -- if I'm going to be causing noise pollution, I'd like mine to yell "OUT OF THE WAY STEVIE WONDER!" in a Zarvox Apple voice.

What's next: forcing bicycles to put cards in the spokes to be audible to blind people? Why not have blind people carry some sort of transponder that turns the noisemakers on, instead of having them on all the time, annoying the sighted?

The official government mandated politically correct electric car 95db noise makers. Required to be on full blast as long as the key is in the vehicle.

https://www.google.com/search?q=jesse+jackson&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US

fficial&client=firefox-a

https://www.google.com/search?q=Louis+Farrakhan&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US

fficial&client=firefox-a

.

Mark DiSilvestro · #40 03-26-2013, 11:36 AM

For truely enhanced traffic safety, let's bring back the 'Red Flag Act'!

Happy Motoring, Mark

sloride · #41 03-26-2013, 11:56 AM

I read a car review I think from a BMW model and as an option you can have piped in recorded engine noise into the same cars cabin, if you want to hear more of your own cars engine sounds as the mufflers are to effective at quieting it for some people.

anghrist · #42 03-26-2013, 02:05 PM

What? These people can't hear the high pitched whine of the electrical control system when the car is on?!?

Oh yeah, most people loose the ability to hear higher frequencies as they get older.

Seriously though. The problen that Bjorn was pointing out is simply a matter of how drivers and pedestrians interact in SoCal in general. The drivers don't appear willing to yield right-of-way to pedestrians, regardless of the legal aspects. Pedestrians typically behave in an ambivalent manner toward drivers (i.e. crossing slowly, texting, jaywalking, walking down street in the lane, etc). These types of behavior would typically get someone killed in NYC or DC, but are just accepted norms here in SoCal.

I can't count the number of times I've nearly been mowed down in a crosswalk when I've had a 'walk' signal. I've literally had to run out of a designated non-intersection crosswalk as one driver refused to stop.

So how will electric cars making more noise will help the distracted pedestrian? I don't know. I still look left-right-left and over my shoulder when walking where a car may be present.

Yes, my Hybrid Jetta is pretty quiet. Yes, I do stop for pedestrians who do not hear the car or are not paying attention. Yes, it is my responsibility to watch for those pedestrians and not run them down in the parking lot. No, I do not assume that they will look for me, nor do I assume that they hear me. I simply slow down and watch for the unexpected.

pj67coll · #43 03-26-2013, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

It's a tough call. One day I had just pulled into a parking spot in the lot at a large hardware store. I was looking for something in the back seat and at one point I knelt down to look on the floor. All of a sudden, the Prius next to me started silently pulling away. I freaked out, not knowing for sure where my foot was in relation to his tires. I emerged unharmed but it was not a pleasant experience.

I had a similar experience some years ago. Woman moved in to my complex and had one of those Lexus SUV Hybrids. She was Asian and rather small and it had tinted windows so sometimes it was hard to see her in it at all. So I was walking past it from my car to the pathway leading to my apartment when this thing just started moving completely silently as it was on batteries at that point I guess so no engine noise. I was right behind the left rear and she was acellerating out of the bay having failed to see me in her blind spot i guess. I barely managed to leap out of the way in time or I'm quite sure she would have gone straight over me.

The look on her face when she finally saw me was priceless.

Made me think though because a completely silent vehicle was something I had never encountered before. Not certain that there should be a mandated noise maker in them though. I think people might just have to adapt.

On a related note. My cousin currently working in Hefei China relates that You have to be on constant alert when you walk around as a pedestrian because as a result of the Chinese complete lack of regard for traffic rules and the prevalence of completely silent electric scooters you often have to dodge these things as they apparently ride up on sidewalks for no apparent reason and you can't hear them coming.

- Peter

cmbdiesel · #44 03-26-2013, 08:45 PM

At the very least one should be allowed to create their own noisemakers....

I think I would like Ozzy yelling "get outta the way douche bag"....

anghrist · #45 03-27-2013, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark DiSilvestro

For truely enhanced traffic safety, let's bring back the 'Red Flag Act'!

Happy Motoring, Mark

Geez! That was obscure. I had to look it up on Wikipedia.

Red flag law in the UK
Main article: Locomotive Acts
In United Kingdom, the Locomotive Acts (also known as Red Flag Laws) was a policy requiring self-propelled vehicles to be led by a pedestrian waving a red flag or carrying a lantern[citation needed] to warn bystanders of the vehicle's approach.
Firstly, at least three persons shall be employed to drive or conduct such locomotive, and if more than two waggons or carriages he attached thereto, an additional person shall be employed, who shall take charge of such waggons or carriages :Secondly, one of such persons, while any locomotive is in motion, shall precede such locomotive on foot by not less than sixty yards, and shall carry a red flag constantly displayed, and shall warn the riders and drivers of horses of the approach of such locomotives, and shall signal the driver thereof when it shall be necessary to stop, and shall assist horses, and carriages drawn by horses, passing the same,The Red Flag Law was repealed in 1896, by which time the internal combustion engine was well into its infancy.[1]
Red flag laws in the US

In the United States, the state of Vermont passed a similar flurry of Red Flag Laws in 1894. The most infamous of the Red Flag Laws was enacted in Pennsylvania circa 1896, when legislators unanimously passed a bill through both houses of the state legislature, which would require all motorists piloting their "horseless carriages", upon chance encounters with cattle or livestock to (1) immediately stop the vehicle, (2) "immediately and as rapidly as possible... disassemble the automobile," and (3) "conceal the various components out of sight, behind nearby bushes" until equestrian or livestock is sufficiently pacified.[1] The bill did not become law, as Pennsylvania's governor used an executive veto.