Hybrid Cars Too Quiet For Pedestrian Safety?
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Important pedestrian safety issues have emerged with the advent of hybrid and electric vehicles. These vehicles are relatively quiet — they do not emit the sounds pedestrians and bicyclists are accustomed to hearing as a vehicle approaches them on the street or at an intersection. In a recent study, human factors/ergonomics researchers examined participants’ preferences for sounds that could be added to quiet vehicles to make them easier to detect.
Though the safety of quiet vehicles has become an issue for pedestrians in general, it is also of concern to the National Federation for the Blind, which has called for quiet vehicles to emit a continuous sound and for additional research on the subject. The authors suggest that older individuals with diminished sensory and motor skills should also be considered as solutions are developed.
In their paper published in the Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 52nd Annual Meeting, Patrick Nyeste and Michael S. Wogalter of North Carolina State University evaluated responses of 24 participants (mean age = 19.4 years) to six categories of sounds that might be added to quiet vehicles: engine, horn, hum, siren, whistle, and white noise. Three variations of each type of sound were tested.
Study participants rated automotive engine sounds by far the preferred category, followed by white noise and hum. The authors suggest that these categories of sounds rated highly because they are associated with the engine sounds of conventional motor vehicles.
Automakers have continually worked to refine passenger vehicle power trains to be smoother and quieter but now find themselves faced with demands to make their quietest vehicles louder. Noise pollution caused by adding sounds to these vehicles could be limited by the use of a “smart” system that would change the level of emitted sound depending on the levels of vehicle and background environmental sound. These systems would turn themselves off if the vehicle produces adequate sound on its own.
At least one automaker, Lotus Engineering, has attempted to address the quiet hybrid issue. The company introduced “Safe and Sound,” which mimics the sound of an internal combustion engine and operates when the vehicle is in electric-only mode.
The authors note that their research is also applicable to silent-engine vehicles such as electric golf carts, bicycles, wheelchairs, and Segways, which have caused injuries because of their quiet operation.
Research to further define the issues involved and develop possible solutions is being conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as well as by automobile manufacturers and the Society of Automotive Engineers International. The U.S. Congress is considering the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008, which would require the Secretary of Transportation to study and implement regulations for hybrid, electric, and other silent-engine vehicles to emit nonvisual alerts for pedestrians.
[Lois Smith @ Human Factors and Ergonomics Society]
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6 Comments
JMB
November 18th, 2008
at 6:18pm
meh, research for the sake of research if you ask me. The blind and elderly have real issues, but not the rest of us. And really only the elderly that have poor vision. The elderly are also just as likely to be hard of hearing as they are to have poor eye sight so not sure a noise will help the issue much.
The real issue? People texting while they drive, talking on their phones, generally not paying attention. Most of the problems would go away if drivers payed attention.
Problems that don’t get solved by drivers paying attention could be solved with pedestrians paying attention, same issues listening to your ipod while you walk(noise not gonna help these folks), talking/texting on the phone etc… Adding a noise to the car is not gonna help these people terribly much cause they are zoned out. The real problem IMHO is people just don’t pay attention to where they are and what they are doing, you wanna save lives work on that.
Urban Underbrink
November 19th, 2008
at 6:14am
I like a quiet car and don’t want some fool Politican passing laws to make them louder. Pedestrians should be required to look before crossing a roadway. Too many times they are on drugs or using a cell phone and would not notice a City Bus approaching!
laxoriginaity
November 19th, 2008
at 8:28am
“Look both ways before you cross the street.” Now that you’ve made me quote my mother, every elementary teacher and the safety officer I think the rest should be left to Darwin. Once again modern America seeks to blame an external source for internal stupidity.
Mike Wolf
November 19th, 2008
at 1:14pm
about this
http://www.lockergnome.com/news/2008/11/18/hybrid-cars-too-quiet-for-pedestrian-safety/
This is the first time i have commented on an story.
I think products like this are (noise maker) are stupid.
remember as you were taught as a kid, look both ways before crossing (of course this doesnt apply to the blind) but the thing is, people walk out infront of very noisy cars or trucks or large animals. so its not a problem of noise, its being aware of whats going on. I ride a bike a lot and have (knock on wood) never had a person step off a curb in front of me, though I hear it happens, but ppl step out infront of cars or trucks some with horns or sirens blaring.
I have yelled at a few cars (I yell louder than my bike bell) when i have seen them creeping with the possibility of pulling out but I think most of the times they saw me but didnt want to wait.
Rick
November 20th, 2008
at 2:06pm
How about this for a novel idea? Personal responsibility. How much hand-holding needs to be done for people who have been told since birth to look both ways before crossing a street? Life is dangerous. Only the smart survive.
DWDuck
November 28th, 2008
at 7:11pm
Actually, I agree with the comment about people not paying attention because they are ( mostly ) listening to their MP3 player and not paying attention to what is going on around them. As a pedestrian, I have almost been run over by OTHER pedestrians because they were not paying attention to what was around them. Adding a noise to a vehicle ( including bicycles ) will not change anything.getting rid of background noise reducing headphones will.
Having said that, I like a good pair of noise reducing headphones because I don’t have to turn my music up as load, thereby saving my hearing and the hearing of others… but still letting me hear some of what’s going on around me.