Disclosure: I know little about horses. When I was quite young, one
chore I had on occasion was grooming my grandfather's cranky Percheron
stallion. I'm pretty sure he tried to kill me a couple of times. That
likely colours my perceptions.
In my readings of early car-horse interactions, horses were reputed to
be frightened by the noise of the cantankerous gas cars circa 1900.
My surmise is that horses react to what is new to them as potential
threats, be it noisy cars or quiet cars and adjust with experience that
the new element is not a threat.
I also expect this is an anecdotal issue. 'Silent' cars have been about
for a while now in the form of hybrids like the Prius and Camry which
can move smartly without the ICE running.
I predict that a decade and a bit from now, people are going to be
complaining about the noisemakers being installed in the current
generation of OEM EVs because they pollute the soundscape.
On 3/16/2019 2:25 PM, ev-requ...@lists.evdl.org wrote:
Message: 7
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2019 09:56:59 -0500 (CDT)
From: brucedp5<bruce...@juno.com>
To:ev@lists.evdl.org
Subject: [EVDL] MP.uk Norman requires noisy-EVs> silent-EV made horse
go-bananas
Message-ID:<1552748219985-0.p...@n4.nabble.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/concerns-raised-parliament-electric-cars-danger-horses-681653
Concerns raised in parliament over electric cars? danger to horses
16 March, 2019 Sarah Radford
An MP has raised concerns in Parliament over the danger silent electric cars
pose to horses on the roads.
Simon Hoare, MP for North Dorset, questioned transport minister Jesse Norman
MP about whether protective measures would be brought in to safeguard riders
as the use of environmentally friendly vehicles increases.
Mr Hoare, whose wife and three daughters ride, and who has ridden himself
since childhood, said that while electric cars are ?environmentally
welcome?, their silence often presents ?a huge problem for riders? owing to
the ?nervousness that is often caused in horses by these silent vehicles
either going past or accelerating from a stop?.
?Will my hon. friend take this issue up with the car manufacturers to see
what can be done to ensure that there is safety and environmentalism on our
rural roads?? Mr Hoare asked the transport minister on 14 February.
Mr Norman replied that the government has recently been working to
acknowledge horse riders within the Highway Code review, noting the
?importance that we place on close passing?.
?(Mr hon friend] will also be aware that electric cars make a noise above a
certain speed because of vehicle tyre slap. At low speeds, vehicle type
approval regulations will mandate sound generators on new electric and
hybrid electric vehicles from July this year,? he said.
Mr Hoare told H&H he had been motivated to raise the question in the House
of Commons after a silent vehicle passed a friend of his who was riding,
making the horse ?go bananas?.
[image] Driver caught on camera skidding past horse at speed gets ?advice?
from police
Hat camera footage shows the car veering dangerously near the horse
?What seems to trouble horses is not the speed of the car but the movement
when there is no sound, particularly when a car has pulled in to allow
horses to go past and then suddenly starts to move with no warning,? he
said. ?It has been one of the unintended consequences of electric vehicles,
and I am not blaming manufacturers or users, improving air quality has to be
welcomed, as does less reliance on fossil fuels.?
The Conservative MP said he was ?really pleased to hear from the minister
that regulations are now in place so that all new electric vehicles will
produce a noise at low speeds.?
The new guidelines will not apply to vehicles on the road before July 2019.
[? horseandhound.co.uk]
--
Darryl McMahon
Freelance Project Manager (sustainable systems)
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