Hybrid Cars Criticized for Being Quiet
Hybrid cars are now being criticized by a group of blind people. When crossing or walking down the streets, a blind person’s only cue if there is a car running nearby is its sound. With the development of ultra quiet hybrid cars and electric cars, blind people doesn’t have a clue if there is a car nearby or not.
“I’m used to being able to get sound cues from my environment and negotiate accordingly. I hadn’t imagined there was anything I really wouldn’t be able to hear,” said Deborah Kent Stein, chairwoman of the National Federation of the Blind’s Committee on Automotive and Pedestrian Safety. “We did a test, and I discovered, to my great dismay, that I couldn’t hear it.”
The NFB the leading advocacy group for 1.3 million legally blind people in the United States made pleas to the auto industry and to federal and state agencies, with little concrete success so far. On Wednesday, the president of the NFB’s Maryland chapter planned to present written testimony asking for a minimum sound standard for hybrids to be included in the state’s emissions regulations.
I guess this can be solved by having some sort of noise, or probably music or a recorded car sound playing on these cars just enough for the blind people to have a clue of its presence nearby.
[via cnn.com ]
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