>> I have had multiple blind friends state that it's difficult
>> to determine when a hybrid car is approaching their path,
>> with a recommendation that they should have such a beeper
>> running whenever the vehicle is moving.
=v= This is a sad indictment of our car-based society, where
folks have to depend on noise pollution and simultaneously
cannot trust car operators to watch out for them.
=v= Of course a silent bicycle poses the same difficulties,
though bicyclists are in fact far, far less dangerous. The
expectation here is that we don't quite exist, and escalating
an infernal racket as the new normal just makes it all worse.
=v= It's much like having garish day-glo signs and crossing
stripes, which serves to give motorists a "didn't see nothin'"
excuse at normal crosswalks and especially unmarked ones.
Or, for that matter, inventing jaywalking laws to make it
acceptable to run down pedestrians if you have a green light.
> Sounds that I do find helpful: car engines (so yes, I
> would be in favor of a whirr, not beep, added to hybrids),
> car horns (used judiciously), verbal notification of
> passing on shared use paths.
=v= A verbal notification from a motorist (whether hybrid
or infernal-racket combustion) would be more human.
<_Jym_>
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