Couldn't they just require one of those bike-bell thingies?

Sometimes I am left just scratching my head:

Electric and hybrid vehicles may be better for the environment, but the California Legislature says they're bad for the blind.

It has passed a bill to ensure that the vehicles make enough noise to be heard by visually impaired people about to cross a street.

The measure would establish a committee to study the issue and recommend ways the vehicles could make more noise.

The state Department of Motor Vehicles says more than 300,000 of the vehicles are on state roads. Officials say they don't keep statistics on pedestrian accidents involving those vehicles.

Comments

[odograph]

I doubt there have been any increases in accidents.

I think (see yesterday's link to the Time Magazine article) this is a case where, again, humans over-react to new and novel risks.

(A Prius is only electric when it is moving as fast as a golf or utility cart, and is about as loud as an electric cart in those situations.

If future high-speed electric cars could be made truly silent that might be worth considering ... I've wondered why they don't give James Bond a Tesla and then sound-effects it down to silent.)

[odograph]

(one thing you notice in a Prius, if you have windows down and the radio off in electric mode, is that the tires actually make a lot of noise.)

[Peter Brown]

"Electric and hybrid vehicles may be better for the environment, but the California Legislature says they're bad for the blind.

It has passed a bill to ensure that the vehicles make enough noise to be heard by visually impaired people about to cross a street.

The measure would establish a committee to study the issue and recommend ways the vehicles could make more noise."

Is this a direct quote from the Bush Administration or what? Too Quiet!? Wow stop the press. Lets have the law require that you have at least a V8 engine, measuring a minimum of 70 decibels of sound while driving to ensure that the Oil monopolies can still afford to pay for their nannys, drivers, and private pilots.

Too Quiet!?

[jason blanchard]

How did Bush get brought up again, sheesh folks. Give it a rest. This is the good ole State of California making ridiculous laws as they've always done. Liberal Democrats thinking they need new laws every day to protect everyone from themselves. I have not read of a SINGLE accident blamed on the lack of noise from a hybrid. You know it would be front page news if it had happened....it has not. What a waste of CA taxpayer money. No wonder everything is so expensive in CA. Keep that to yourselves, please.