Comments on: Should electric cars be intentionally made noisier?

By: Alain Miville de Chêne

Alain Miville de Chêne — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:50:09 +0000

Everyone clamors for his suffering.
Some worried blind people attach reasons for worrying to the possible silence of electric vehicles.

Drivers are responsible for not hitting anyone with their vehicles.
We should be constantly on guard against children chasing balls into the street, cyclists going in the opposite direction to traffic, or not respecting traffic signals, pedestrians with their attention absorbed in other activities than crossing the street, stray animals, and so on.
We are also on guard for blind people cautiously approaching curbs with their white cane.

Sound has value when it contrasts with silence.
I have been in Cairo where all drivers honk their horn all the time. Each added honk serves very little in communicating with other drivers.
Electric cars are not silent, and they have horns with which a driver can warn an inattentive person that he is there with a big moving potentially dangerous mass.

I expect that visually handicapped people are very careful in how they move in their surroundings. Since I don’t know any blind people, I can only surmise. Maybe some blind person reading this could comment on what the experience really is to walk in a city without seeing anything.

I propose that we should be reducing noise instead of devising schemes to augment it.
The less the noise, the more the remaining sounds will stand out and convey meaning to all including the blind.
The greatest source of outdoor noise is the internal combustion engine.
Without its constant presence we wouldn’t have to turn up our earphones so much. I suspect the combustion engine noise to mask sounds that are important for blind people, and possibly cause accidents.
When most vehicles will be electric, the cities will be much more silent and we will easily hear the sound of tires rolling on the street, and gears turning in electric motors.

We are on the verge of having real time networked cars where each vehicle’ position, spped, and direction will be known by a computer, either on board or remote, enabling a host of services, one of which could be for blind people to carry a device signaling how far and from which directions vehicles are coming.

We can think deeper to find solutions that do not require the manufacturing of yet another material product (no good) which would moreover be designed to augment urban noise (no good) rather than diminish it.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:07:40 +0000

There are fewer blind people than there are cars. The obvious point to attack this “problem” is where there are fewer things to “modify.” Modify blind people by supplying them with some sort of sensor device. Perhaps cars could also include some sort of simple transmitter to help out, but make it the responsibility of the blind to help themselves.

By: A Siegel

A Siegel — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:12:34 +0000

RE 22

Sam — Bull’s eye, 100% agreement. The lack of noise is one of the joys of going electric, for the driver/passengers and the people nearby.

By: Bill Felsher

Bill Felsher — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:04:26 +0000

We are missing a business opportunity here. How about an aftermarket device for your electric car that enables you to select from a variety of sounds? Younger drivers might choose the “Fast and Furious” street racer exhaust sound. Those of us who are older and going through a mid-life crisis might choose the engine and exhaust sound of a classic Ferrari. Monty Python fans could choose the clopping of hoofs simulated by two coconuts.

By: Sam Clark, Jr.

Sam Clark, Jr. — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:16:01 +0000

Requiring electric vehicles to make noise would be comparable to requiring solar panel manufacturers to build in smoke generators to comfort people that miss smog from coal plants. In fact, the silence of electric cars is something to be promoted as a way to help address what is a well documented chronic problem of noise pollution in heavy traffic areas.

If there is in fact a problem to be addressed with quite cars (this has yet to be adequately demonstrated in my view), the answer lies inpromoting pedestrian safety, not in imposing yet more noise on urban dwellers.

Data are available that show that chronic exposure to noise in urban areas has serious adverse health effects. I believe that these effects cumulatively equal or surpass the death and disablility of accidents caused by failure to hear cars.

I suspect that the proponents of making electric cars noisy are in some cases supported and encouraged by manufacturers of internal combustion engine vehicles, who want to preserve the market for their outmoded products.

Do not make quiet cars noisy, rather make pedestrians better informed and keep them out of the way of cars with better traffic patterns!

By: Jonah

Jonah — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:24:39 +0000

Bravo #18 for hitting the nail on the head. Let’s not legislate minimum noise levels for cars with a certain technological composition, rather let’s solve the original problem: providing vision-impaired folks with a safe way to cross the street. I’m sure they’d be happier with a device that would tell them if there’s anything—hybrid, bike, truck, grand piano, or otherwise, heading towards them at speed.

By: russ

russ — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:41:19 +0000

A rather silly topic!

Certainly gets all the loonies wound up though!

No 19 Brent says it nicely except it is idiots in search of a problem.

By: Brent

Brent — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:29:56 +0000

I think it’s a mistake to think electric cars are completely silent. They aren’t, even at low speeds. When they aren’t heard, however, I’d argue that it’s mostly because their sound at lower speeds is much less than that of some gasoline powered cars. It will take us time to get used to it. Too, with quieter roads fully populated by electric cars, they’ll be heard just fine at any speed. All this talk of noisemakers looks like a solution in search of a problem.

By: question

question — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:35:22 +0000

The problem isn’t noise-less cars — the problem is blind people walking in front of quiet cars. So we should focus on the solution to that problem, not the problem of how to make cars noisy.

Is there another way to stop blind people walking in front of moving vehicles? Could a device be designed that a blind person would aim at the street to detect moving vehicles? Let’s be creative about focusing on solving the ultimate problem, not what appears to be the proximate.

By: Mike#22

Mike#22 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:27:48 +0000

Even before hydrids some of the more expensive Japanese cars, like a few Lexus models, have zero road noise when coasting. Ghosts. As a cyclist of about 45 years, I am always listening for the next car looking to pass, and a few coupes are impressively silent.

The Priuses have a faint whine when coasting or slowing. The Lexus hybrids can be really loud.

Old problem.

Anna has it right, a low tone. And as you approach a ped, cyclist, deer, etc, please tap your horn from about 100 yards back. Share the road.