Jalopnik
Despite how ridiculous it sounds, the above headline is absolutely true. A bill is being introduced in Congress that will establish some kind of safety standards to protect the walking blind from hybrids. Hybrids and other electric cars pose risks to the blind because they are too quiet. The blind listen for cars when crossing the street and having fleets of too quiet hybrids poses a dangerous risk, New York representative Edolphus Towns said. There's research to prove it too!
A study at the University of California at Riverside showed that hybrids operating at slower speeds must be 40 percent closer to be heard by a blind individual. There aren't any standards set in place, but we would love to see a bill requiring hybrid owners to honk when approaching an intersection. We'll be damned, Al Gore. There is a downside to hybrids! [AP] (Image)
Comments
They should all make the sound of the Jetson's vehicle.
I vote for having them emit an ear-piercing shriek at all times. This will notify all citizenry that a superior being is nearing and allow us to all make appropriate gestures of awe and amazement.
On a side note, could the IT chipmunks be bribed to default the 'preview comment' checkbox to selected? It used to work thata way before they added the option...
Or the sound of a 454 with straight pipes.
[www.pix8.net]
How about a playing card in the wheel spokes.
So now every possible thing that might cause harm to the blind has to emit some sort of sound? What about guns? They emit a sound, but don't give you much time to duck. Especially the rifles.
Sounds to me like they're just picking on hybrids. There are a lot of really quiet gas-engine cars, too.
Oh sure, but they'll do nothing about protecting me from getting whacked in the shins with a red-tipped cane by Blindy McBlind-blind when he's strutting down the sidewalk.
do we have any blind commenters than can give us real-world feedback?
I don't see this being an issue in Hollywood as a Hybrid out here usually reeks of either patchouli or pretentiousness
[msnbcmedia.msn.com]
I'm still waiting for a bill to protect Jalopniks from hybrids...just sayin'
Ribbed tires for... pleasure
@camp6ell: If I could see the screen I would comment
@camp6ell: The electronic voice program that would read all the comments aloud? I want!
I vote for calliope music like they use at county fairs and circuses.
How about just pass a law that says if you're driving a hybrid/electric car you can't run over blind people.
Fines double for running over blind people.
I'm for it, as long as we can require all car alarms to be silent, except for a vibrating pager surgically implanted in the owner's buttcheek.
The blind are BFFs with my car. Of course, it would stand to reason that loud vehicles (gas and diesel) tend to have higher emissions.
Does this mean CARB secretly hates blind people?
What about a law to protect us folks that can see from Donks.
Don't they also make laws to make regular cars quieter?
The only friends the blind have are fat guys on Harleys and kids on sports bikes.
@nosirrahg: That would seriously be cool.
@camp6ell: I'm not blind but when I close my eyes and imagine crossing a street, all I can think about is that damn dead dog in the comic strip.
@RoninianHoon: It's called screen reader software. JAWS is a popular one.
Gawker has most certainly made the site accessible to screen readers. They're opening themselves up to a nasty lawsuit from the AFB if they don't.
The AFB represents a good cause (who wants to hate on blind people?), but they bludgeon the design community with their strong-arm tactics. I'm personally afraid of being sued the AFB.
@nosirrahg: I want mine to make the Flintstone xylophone sound.
Does this law also cover bicycles?
Do blind people really try and cross the street unaided based purely on whether they can hear a car? Has anyone asked blind people if they want this law?
"What!? Blind people can't see that I'm driving a Prius? C'mon, I bought it so everyone knows that I am reducing my carbon footprint. There should be a law..."
Off topic, sort of, I saw a commercial with Don Garlits endorsing Magnaflow mufflers.
I'd be stunned if Gar can hear *anything* at this point.
@mwood10: Technically, blind people cross where and when they're allowed by law. Which, you know, is probably a comfort to them if they get run over anyway.
At the scene of a hit-and-run:
"Looks like it was one of them high-brids done the crime, Jim."
"How kin yew tell?"
"None of them carbon footprints."
Damn you Al Gore, a quiet vehicle...who would possibly want that? I enjoy being awaken at 4am by the mustang cobra up the street!
Al Gore Hates Blind People
most modern cars are nearly silent anyway except for cooling fan roar.
just make hybrids keep the cooling fan on all the time whether the gas engine is running or not.
or, stop making retarded laws.
You know how digital cameras make that shutter sound even though you and me know it's just to let stupid people know they took a picture? They should do something like that for hybrids.
And while we're on the subject of blind people. I'm sitting at an intersection one day minding my own business and watching people cross in front of me. Coming from each direction is a blind person with a cane (for a total of 2, you can see where this is going).
Apparently each one was a little too far to the right with the old cane there and they ran headlong into each other right in front of me. And they were pissed. "Can't you see I'm blind!" I almost peed my pants. Damn that was funny.
@badco/LoJ: "...they bludgeon the design community with their strong-arm tactics"
Luckily their aim isn't all that good.
We've done this before.
[jalopnik.com]
@mytdawg: Funny because nobody got hurt... Yeah, that's what I meant. But boy were they surprised.
They should force them to make the high pitched sputtering sound from The Jetsons: http://youtube.com/watch?v=DFbuulDiM_U But in reality, you know this is going to end up as some kind of lame-ass ringtone feature. Where everyone gets to specify the sound their car makes. Mine will roar like a dragon.
@nosirrahg: Dude! LMAO that would be so great.
The howling sound of airwolf or kitt would be sweet too.
I'd like to hear Microsoft Bob's voice repeat the word "driving" over and over for the sound.
And when you rev the engine up, he says it faster.
Yes, thank you.
@mytdawg: Actually, I believe the shutter sound is to prevent people from taking pictures without other people knowing it - some sort of anti-voyeur law somewhere that's been forced on to all of us.
@Mad_Science: OK, I smirked and had inner laughs with these comments until I got to yours, and then I snorted out loud in the office.
Actually, I think sighted people are more at risk because we are overconfident. I almost walked into a hybrid in a crowded parking lot because it was invisible amongst the larger, taller cars and it was defnitely silent.
For a second I thought it was unoccupied and rolling from a parking place out of gear--luckily I'm not a do-gooder, so I didn't startle the driver by flinging myself at his door to try to stop it. But I still felt like a moron. Damn new fangled silent horseless carriages.
@mytdawg: Not gonna lie, funniest story I've heard all day.
@andy: Because voyeurs won't be able to figure out how to turn it off?
My car is pretty loud (302 V8 with side exit exhaust and only glasspacks) and I was at Arby's the other day when I saw a blind guy coming up the sidewalk. I was just idleing waiting for my food but I'm sure with all of the echoing the blind guy was a bit confused. He took two steps into the driveway about 20 feet in front of me and then took an enormous leap backwards assuming I was about to plow him over. Blind guys jumping backwards apparently don't have the greatest coordination since he fell right on his butt. I didn't think it was appropriate to laugh at...but I just couldn't help it. He quickly got back up and went on his merry way.
@tek_nic: No, thank you.. now I have to clean off my keyboard.
That´s so stupid, remembers me the UK Red Flag Law in the infancy of cars: every motor vehicle must be led by a man on foot waving a red flag.
How about a new law: a man on foot with rhumba shakers.
@andy: actually, the first thing I did was turn that sound off on my camera. Not because I'm a voyeur, but because it's, like, really irritating.
There's a reason professional photographers, especially of the wedding variety, didn't use SLRs back in the film days. That mirror flipping up and down (which is what the electronic 'click' is supposed to duplicate) really annoyed crying mothers.
@jdepould: Well, Andy hasn't.
@TheTooth: Doh, Andy beat me to the response. Good show, Andy.
@TheTooth: And if I had at least the reading comprehension skills of a 4 year old, I'd have seen that Andy hadn't actually replied, but FreeMan was replying to Andy. LOL
Who needs edit buttons?
@elwood: I really don't get off on other people's misfortune (except maybe my ex) but it was such an overwhelming visual experience. The seconds leading up to it, the collision, the indignation - it was just so perfect. And yet, I don't think farts are funny so...