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There's a move afoot to make hybrid cars noisier. That's right, they're too quiet -- at least for certain people who think every car should be required by law to make at least a little bit of noise. In fact, they depend on that noise as a matter of life and death.
Imagine trying to cross a street when you can't see, and the oncoming car is a hybrid Prius running on its electric motor. During a demonstration put on by the Utah Center for the Blind today, several students did just that.
"Let me know when you can hear it coming," instruction coordinator Ray Martin told the students.
The wet pavement gave them and other instructors a bit of warning. They heard only tire noise from 20 feet away. "We need at least 100 feet to be safe," Martin said.
When the Prius crept up on them, they didn't know it was there until it hit their white canes. "It came up, and it was right there. We had no idea it was even coming," student Chad Wilburn said.
On days with dry pavement, they say electric cars are almost completely silent. "It's just like playing Russian Roulette," Martin said. "Maybe 1 out of 100 of these [vehicles] out on the street now? You have about 1 out of 100 chances a bullet will go off."
Thirteen-year-old Caroline Blair and her mother re-enacted a close call Caroline had walking with an instructor.
Caroline wrote her story in Braille and went to Washington to read it to Utah's five senators and congressmen. "I think it would be nice if the cars made just a little bit of noise," she said.
There's a national push for a pro-noise regulation. We're not anti-quiet cars. We are in favor of blind people maintaining their independence and being able to get out into the street," explained Ron Gardner, Utah president for the National Federation of the blind.
A bill was introduced in Congress a few days ago, and advocates plan another lobbying trip to Washington next week. They're not after a lot of noise, they say, just a little to give them better odds.
E-mail: jhollenhorst@ksl.com
