The BBC reports on a problem that anyone driving electric vehicles knows well-people do not hear you when you approach. So while having a quiet car is good in many ways, for people who are sight impaired or just not paying attention having an acoustical cue that an electric or hybrid vehicle is approaching is a good thing.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration demands that the cars make a noise when travelling either forwards or backwards at speeds of less than 30km/h (19mph). The regulation covers vehicles with four wheels that weigh less than 10,000 pounds (4.5 tonnes).
The safety specification requires car makers to use a two-tone signal similar to that currently emitted by heavy vehicles when they are reversing. Estimates of injuries that could be prevented by electric and hybrid vehicle noise are about 2,400 annually in the United States. These new systems have a name -they are Vehicle Alerting Systems (AVAS), or “additional safety cues” for pedestrians.
I’m dangerous when I’m travelling either forwards or backwards at speeds of less than 30km/h (19mph). I do it rather quietly, too.
I think this is poorly quoted. There aren’t 2400 injuries per year currently, it’s meant to save 2400 injuries per year IIRC.
Also, for the Chevrolet Volt has a special second horn for pedestrians that’s not as loud as the normal one, so you can alert them of your presence without scaring the crap out of them. It makes a chirp sound.
Just what we need… more annoying beeps in the city. As if the ubiquitous backup alarms aren’t bad enough.
I’ll bet you don’t hear the alarm from inside the car. It will be a further degradation of the public realm in order to keep MVs motoring along with impunity while insulating the motorists from the negative consequences.
I agree. It is a problematic thing — we don’t need more sound in the city. We do need to be warned of approaching vehicles though. Audio cues are vital (to me) for safe cycling, and I can tell a lot about a motorist before I see them, by the sounds their internal combustion car makes. I don’t know what sound I would find relatively non-bothersome, yet distinct enough to know it’s an e-car coming. I’d settle for this I suppose.
It will probably be a wide band sound or a humming sound, they’re fairly commonly used instead of horns.