Quiet Hybrid Cars A Threat To Blind People

AP :

Gas-electric hybrid vehicles, the status symbol for the environmentally conscientious, are coming under attack from a constituency that doesn't drive: the blind.

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

Read the whole story: AP

Comments

[HotheadPaisen]

01:12 PM on 10/03/2007

Gee, this kinda smells like when Diebold helped blind people to 'see' that their machines WITHOUT any verifiable paper trail were the only machines that didn't trample their rights"
Please, you gotta know that Big Oil is behind this one, just like they killed the electric car.

[PaceSetter]

01:03 PM on 10/03/2007

Um... How many blind folks are getting offed each year because hybrid cars are sneaking up on them versus people dying worldwide from the burning of carbon fuels? I'm not saying we don't want blind people around, just that I bet we can come up with some new smarty-pants solution to alert people to quiet oncoming traffic. A noisy internal combustion engine was not invented to keep blind people alive.

What a red herring this stoopid story is.

[sandhi]

12:47 PM on 10/03/2007

I have a solution: Playing cards!!!

Remember when we were kids and would attach a card (from a deck of cards) to the spokes of our bikes with a clothes pin and it would make that really cool noise when you pedaled your bike?

[eddiestardust]

12:37 PM on 10/03/2007

The Americans with Disabilites Act does not mandate the entire world to be turned upside down for a person who is disabled.

It is there to help and of course it is a virtue to care for our neighbors especially if they suffer some sort of disability.

None of us though is perfect and all of us do have some type of thing that we are not good at
short of a truly disabling problem like blindness.

But does that mean the whole world stops?

No, it does mean that we have to work around our problem though.

Usually, I haven't used one in years, there is a
button on the traffic pole at the cross walk
that when pressed tells the light to change
allowing pedestrians to cross. Now I don't know
if they have a braille thumbprint on it...if
they do not, then it is something that we need
to do.

I have to wonder though, if these folks are
crossing inside of crosswalks? What about
using seeing eye dogs? Not being blind, I do
have sympathy but I have to wonder what is going
on here?

Of course, you don't even need to be blind.

Just the other day I was scared out of my wits
when a kid was riding his bike on my side of
the road, coming straight at me. It was late
afternoon and in my own neighborhood.

Of course, I swerved to avoid hitting the kid
but he was not following the rules of the road.

Some joggers are very dum too and some of the
worst are senior citizens.

Why can't these bikers and joggers follow
the simple and common sense laws that are well
known?

What about using side walks?

I guess some folks, whether they are disabled
or not, fail to engage their brains before they
go out and bike or jog or walk.

It is truly a tragedy when a pedestrian, biker
or jogger dies as it is a tragedy when anyone
does.

Why is it that we reward folks for not engaging
their brains?

[MGhamma]

12:06 PM on 10/03/2007

Well, then they shouldn't be driving them.

[sickofitall]

12:00 PM on 10/03/2007

ok... so ???
how about a beeping or chirping noise ?

or better yet- install something that makes that cool 'jeston' spacecar sound !!!
i think i'd buy one just to have that fun noise as a scoot down the road !

[konchster]

11:50 AM on 10/03/2007

One of those 11-ft wide Hummers with dual exhaust ought to do the trick If these people are relying on sound to be out walking around I guess bicycling will be their next target

[RandyRanson]

11:33 AM on 10/03/2007

What are blind people doing standing on the road?

We have traffic lights and sound signals.

What are they saying? Stop trying to put an end to smog and pollution, use up more energy, because we don't want to disturb the blind? Ridiculous!

You might think, they would actually appreciate the sound of silence.

[HumeSkeptic]

11:30 AM on 10/03/2007

Quiet Hybrid Cars A Threat To Blind People
---------

And to GM and Exxon-Mobil.

[getoffmedz]

11:59 AM on 10/03/2007

HumeSkeptic - on a unrelated topic.

From the AP via HumeSkeptic on Huffington Post, originally.

TEMECULA, Calif. - He was one of America's first defenders on Sept. 11, 2001, a Marine who pulled burned bodies from the ruins of the Pentagon. He saw more horrors in Kuwait and Iraq.

Today, he can't keep a job, pay his bills, or chase thoughts of suicide from his tortured brain. In a few weeks, he may lose his house, too.

Gamal Awad, the American son of a Sudanese immigrant, exemplifies an emerging group of war veterans: the economic casualties.

By JEFF DONN and KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press writers

AP EDITOR'S NOTE: Jeff Donn reported from Temicula, Calif. Kimberly Hefling reported from Woodlyn, Pa.; Harrington, Del.; and Washington, D.C.

Contact info: Gamal F. Awad, PO Box 893562, Temecula CA 92589
[phone]
[e-mail]

Note: Gamal is on the up and up, he answers his cell and he'll send you a financial statement upon your email to him.

PTSD is a terrible thing.

Get this info onto any blog that will post it ESPECIALLY CONSERVATIVE WAR-MONGERING BLOGS! (Conservatives have more disposable incomes than liberals - heh) Use their shame if need be. Gamal has until the 15th of October, his immediate needs are $6,700.

Employers with patience and compassion around Temecula can help, too.

Not spam!

[maxfusion]

11:26 AM on 10/03/2007

Ah, ah, keep in mind huffpuppies we must protect everyone, the government provides all. Sorry, but your green machine must go. The SUV being more visible (good for the deaf), and combined with a big diesel engine, better heard, is clearly the best safety choice. Environmentalists, willing to run over the disabled to further their agenda. Animals

[Tom95134]

11:21 AM on 10/03/2007

How about people just stop talking on their cell phones and pay attention to their driving.

[Porter]

11:18 AM on 10/03/2007

We have a Honda Civic hybrid that gets 45 miles per gallon, runs like a top and is extremely silent. It even turns off at stop lights, then turns on again once I take my foot off the brake, all to save on gas.

But I noticed early on that the car is so quiet that people walking or on bikes didn't hear it coming. So when I see a potentially dangerous situation (I am not a blind driver and am aware of what's around me and in front of me), I tap the horn and see an instant reaction from the walker or cyclist.

It's the obvious thing to do and if someone driving a hybrid can't figure that out, he or she shouldn't be driving.

[TJTelecaster]

11:13 AM on 10/03/2007

The hybrids are also a threat to the drivers who with windows closed lose all relationship to the actual speed they are traveling due to absence of the increase in motor noise in relationship to speed..

This from one who drove race cars and was track trained in speed and safety by Skip Barber and in the auto business for 10 years including product planning..oh for BMW and Porsche Audi so what do I know, and drove 512 BB Boxer Ferrari's..

Bellisimo..!

[rwe]

10:41 AM on 10/03/2007

Lets call Reid and Harkins and have those dasterdly vehicles censured

[AreYouSerious]

10:38 AM on 10/03/2007

Well lets hope the people driving the cars aren't blind!!!

This is ridiculous.