Shawn, I, too, like the little silence I get with our standard Prius. However, If I try to think/feel myself into the life of a blind person who might feel fearful of navigating through a world of mostly sighted people with only hearing as my major safety sense, I can see them wanted some other kind of auditory help in knowing where vehicles are. The loud backup beep of the Prius should provide that and that feature would (I think) be easy to place on a total electric just for backing (when it is most dangerous). For going forward what if we had a bumpersticker that said, "EVs Quiet, but Driver Super Aware"? Then we let the blind people know that we are taking their concerns to heart. Just brainstorming. Open to dialogue on this. Fran ----- Original Message ----- From: Jim Millener To: 'FLEAA Mailing List' Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 2:45 PM Subject: Re: [FLEAA] Blind advocates lobby for noisier hybrid cars
I was in the Publix parking lot across the street a week or so ago and a car began backing up out of a parking spot. While it was in reverse a voice was coming from it saying "This car is backing up" constantly. It didn't say anything when it went forward. Jim Millener [EMAIL PROTECTED] JCM II, Inc. 6574 N State Road 7 PMB 102 Coconut Creek, FL 33073 Ph: 954-345-2253 Cell: 954-803-3375 IM: Jim Millener ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Shawn Waggoner (FLEAA) Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 2:14 PM To: 'FLEAA Mailing List' Subject: [FLEAA] Blind advocates lobby for noisier hybrid cars Hi Everyone, I have heard this argument brought up a few times over the last year, and have been hearing it made more and more over the last couple of months. It seems the 'advocates' are making great headway with the media and getting great attention. While I agree that some hybrids and EV's are hard to hear, I think mandating that cars produce noise is not the right answer. What do you guys think? I personally enjoy the silence of driving an EV around. The driver should be responsible enough to observe his/her surroundings while driving. http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9874568-7.html?tag=nefd.pulse Shawn ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Florida EAA mailing list [email protected] http://www.floridaeaa.org
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