Exactly, and Barack Obama is a Muslim.. you hear he isn't enough times you subsconsciously believe it's true.

BTW, could the blind woman hear the anguished soul of the space-saver spare Excel driver?

Maybe they should have used a Prius for that American Idol crappy skit. It could have sneaked up on them while they were "singing" and mowed them all down!
Yippee Kayay Quiet Prius!

Take THAT, Beardy!

Finally, someone finding a way to tie V-8-powered SUV use in with the safety of the children.

Summary of video for those who would like to save time: A kid turned his bike in front of a Prius because he was too stupid to look before he turned. His mother does not blame the Prius driver, astonishingly enough. Blind people hate quiet cars enough to attempt to force legislation through to make them noisy.

Hilarious post Matt, by the way.

@sgodun: Don't forget the kids advice to blindies everywhere: Always Look!

As far as they've mentioned, the kid isn't blind. He should have looked. If he continues to pretend he's blind while riding his bike, next time he'll be hit by a Crown Vic with whistle tips.

CNN has not had any actual news content for some time.

Because, after all, we all know how the news media is a stickler for accuracy.

I think that all hybrid cars need to have the Jetsons air car sound running all the time when they are moving.

I want a bumper sticker that says "Loud Electrons Save Lives."

[www.geocities.com]

So, if I get a Prius, does that mean I can go around running over blind people and children? Of course, with a Tesla, I could run them over at much higher speeds.

two things. stupid kid should've looked behind him. the driver should've known there's an 8yr old punk on a bicycle that probably isn't paying attention and could do anything. besides, it'd probably be pretty funny to watch the kid jump out of his skin and maybe wipe out when you bump the horn a little to let the kid know you're there(that's the way i was taught. bump the horn if ur unsure they know you're behind them).

@Tanshanomi: hahaha

@B: Like your style.

"It was quiet... TOO QUIET!" I thought that kid was just gonna say "I like turtles."

+ Watch video

It's often a question of "CO2 emissions vs. human life"

Europe already takes tens of thousands of years off people's lives each year due to the mass acceptance of diesel (due heavily to low CO2 emissions). Sad, but true side-effect of diesel, as much as I like it.

/just because i speak truth doesn't mean I'm not a troll

@snarktastic: I would love that! It would make traffic so muh more fun.

My daughter hit a kid with a Camry. Well the kid didn't have a Camry, my daughter did. Oh just nevermind. I'm not sure what their point is. I'm not even sure what mine is.

My daughter sat on the curb and cried while the kid she hit and the cop tried to console her. He dented the hood with his ass. No blood or anything.

Toughen up, America. There was no CNN when I, aged 11, was hit on my bike by my friend's mom driving her LTD. Luckily, she was screeching the brakes from about 25 mph and I was quick enough to move my leg away from the front bumper. I basically catapaulted from the banana seat to the pavement. Net result: bent fork and skinned knees and palms. Kids do stupid stuff; life goes on.

Didn't the kid hear the Phish music coming from the CD player???? Or Smell the Patchouli????

Non of these media beat-ups in Australia. If we have a slow news day we creatively manufacture accidents by having our news cameras hog the overtaking lane in tunnels! The first casualty in a ratings war is a Mercedes Benz.

+ Watch video

The fact that people can't hear it running them down is the ONLY good quality the prius has. Taking that away would be like taking away the el camino from jalopnik!

j/k guys :)

Hey, lady. Your kid's not supposed to be riding his bike in the street.

@beercheck: i nuked this little thread, if you want to talk about this call talk radio, it's way OT in the bad way. Let's get back to enjoying kids getting mowed down by quiet vehicles.

@Ash78:

Actually, if you knew anything about European diesel, you might be more interesting- read a book.

"...takes tens of thousands of years off people's lives each year..."

How does that work? Did I lose 10,000 years off my life sucking in diesel in Paris? Damn........

No, you're not a troll- trolls have an IQ.....

@Matt Hardigree: No prob, and good call. It definitely wasn't going any direction I saw coming.

"Poor poor boy, victim of the modern age!"

The story is that hybrid cars are capable hitting pedestrians?

I'd rather get worse gas mileage than have blood on my hands...or the hood of my hybrid.

Yeah, and loud pipes save lives- hear all this in Daytona every year....

At idle, a new Civic isn't any more conspicuous than a Prius;

At speed, the most noise from a Prius or unmodified Civic comes from the tires, not the exhaust.

This "silent vehicle is dangerous" argument is specious- Maybe we should just put beepers on them, to preserve the kiddies too stupid to get out of their way.

Darwinism works- not seeing a problem here.

@cazin678: You must be new here :)

Just joking around, but there is a lot of truth to the carcinogens emitted by diesel (soot/particulates, oxides of nitrogen).

Of course, it's hard to quantify the ramifications, since the direct connection between diesel and ill health cannot be made solidly enough, at the exclusion of other (collinear) factors.

And bicycles make less noise than a Prius.
So I'll accept noise generators for hybrids if cyclists have to have the same.
Not because hybrids/bikes or drivers/cyclists are bad, but because we need to be "doin' it for da kids", and the blind, and people who wear sunglasses at night, and the undead.

Also re:diesel...

Just like cigarette smoking, no rational person can say that inhaling ANY particular chemical is not harmful to health in some way, even if it's just basic upper respirator infections (which are more prevalent in urban areas with heavy diesel usage)

@SwapMeat: Ooh, nice footage. And then it springs in my head: Australia=RHD. Damn if that guy in the MB didn't crap himself, he's a lot tougher than I am.

So...much...foolishness......

It's not a trade-off of CO2 emissions and lives. CO2 emissions are costing lives today. Ask the rice-less millions in the developing world.

What ever happened to drivers looking at their surroundings and NOT HITTING THINGS!?!? Is that too much to ask in this modern world?

This whole blog entry is getting my rage up.

What happens if you put a fart pipe on a Prius? Does time stand still or something? Anti-matter and matter implosion?

I hereby move to require all Priuii to emit the sound of a turbo rice-rocket when running on electric only: BAAAAAAAAAAAA-PSHHHHHH-BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-PSHHHHHHHH-BAAAAA...

And don't the evil Priuii run elec-only when they are under 25mph or something? Above that the gas motor kicks in?

Gotta love the Communist News Network.

@mytdawg: What's wrong with your daughter!?!?! She should be suing him for denting her hood! Didn't you teach your kids anything? This is America, buddy - sue someone or leave!

/sarcasm

Yeah, women tend to be more emotional, but thanks for teaching her to care.

Back OT, how 'bout we just force hybrid/electric cars to have giant pillows on the bumper/hood for when they collect the blind/children/stupid?

That, and what's this kid complaining about? He's got an awesome story to share with his buddies for the next 50 years. Unless the next car he gets hit by is driving faster...

@SwapMeat: Excellent video! Only, I wouldn't consider that "all h*** breaking loose", more like "all bowels breaking loose". He needs to learn, though, next time you do the Pit Maneuver to get a lane, you've got to keep going the same direction, otherwise, you don't gain a position.

A couple of clothes pins and some playing cards in the spokes should do the trick. Worked for my Diamondback when I was a kid.

@Tanshanomi: COTD!

@al_beaton: You lost me when you started talking about protecting the undead. The only good zombie is a very dead zombie.

I just don't know if I'd be able to deal with the lack of ambient noise, after a series of cars that emit any variety of clatters, rattles, squeaks, or humming. But I support natural selection.

Damn those Brunk drivers!

@FreeMan: RE: Giant pillows.

You mean giant "Hello, Kitty" pillows!

U-Turn: "Got my whole crew driving 'em. They real quiet... good for sneaking up on motherfuckers. And kids."

+ Watch video

Y'know, based on previous stories about how silent hybrids are I did a little test to see if I could hear a car's engine when idling or moving at low speed. Turns out with most cars it's pretty hard. Econoboxes tend to be louder because they don't insulate for sound the way the more lux ones do, and the sporty ones often have been tuned to let you know they're sporty, but mid-priced, efficient sedans like the Accord are pretty damn quiet most of the time.

So what are we supposed to do? Set minimum sound levels for cars? Have a little ticker from the speaker on the side of the rearview mirror? Put playing cards in the wheels (as others have playfully suggested)?

The whole thing is absurd and makes me a little mad, both at the media that hype this sort of thing and the folks (and legislators) who want to make this world just one big padded playground so no one ever skins their knee again.

@JUST POLAЯ: Seconded.

I'll bet that kid's bike didn't make much noise either, preventing the Prius driver from advanced warning that he was going to turn in front of him. Maybe legislation is needed requiring all kids bikes to emit a loud audio signal that says "I'M NOT TOO BRIGHT, I RIDE IN THE STREET AND DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO CARS, PLEASE DON'T HIT ME DESPITE MY BEING A JUNIOR ASS-HAT"

Damn kids- stay out of the street!

Ah, the dangers of Brunk driving.

That story sounds like something my old grandad would say:
"By gum, if all cars were so silent, only the silent should have cars"

Nope, I don't really miss him.

This is stupid. Virtually ALL cars are silent at lower speeds these days, what with the super mufflering and what not that goes on.

Tire noise is a multiple of of engine noise even at decent highway speeds.

It's possible that the teeny wheel / tire combo on the Prius is quiet, but this to me is a retarded non-story from some hack who's looking for something to write about.

If you want to write an expose on the Prius I have one for you: the driving style of the hybrid driver likely causes cars around them to burn more fuel. I can't prove it yet, but I'll bet it's true.

Yeah the Prius is quiet, but clearly nobody took into account how slow and aerodynamic they are and the resulting probability of death by Prius strike is slim. Imagine not being able to go fast enough and anything you hit slip streams around you anyways. It's the future!

As soon as I saw this on CNN I knew it would turn up here.

And don't even get me started on CNN. (Or any national news on line, I guess.)I used to send them annoyed emails and then I realized that a)it ws futile and b) it was one step from the old cranks in my home town who constantly wrote tirades in the Letters to the Editor section of the newspaper. I'm sure all those ranters, who no doubt are long dead, are writing angry astral letters about how they died before the internet was invented, dammit!, and got cheated from the kind of full expression they always wanted.

i say open headers and straight pipe for everybody!!!!