Greetings. Here's great news on the hybrid car front. This message was forwarded to a guide dog list I'm on from another list. Enjoy.
***
Subject: Legislative Alert - Motor Vehicle Safety Act
Dear Fellow Federationists:
I am writing to report that all of our hard work on the issue of silent cars
is paying off. Language that will protect the blind and others from the
danger posed by silent hybrid and electric vehicles has been favorably
reported to the United States House of Representatives by the Committee on
Energy and Commerce as part of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010 (H.R.
5381). This legislation, which is a comprehensive bill to address numerous
vehicle safety issues raised by the recent Toyota recalls, now includes
language agreed to by the National Federation of the Blind, the Alliance of
Automobile Manufacturers, and the Association of International Automobile
Manufacturers. If passed by the House of Representatives and adopted by the
Senate, this language will require the Department of Transportation to issue
regulations requiring a minimum sound standard for hybrid and electric
automobiles.
This victory is a product of our hard work and the cooperation of the
automobile industry, but we will need to remain vigilant to make sure this
bill becomes law. We will keep you apprised of developments and let you
know if action needs to be taken to secure this victory.
Thank you again for all you do.
Sincerely,
Jesse M. Hartle
Government Programs Specialist
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Showing posts with label Hybrid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hybrid. Show all posts
Friday, May 28
Thursday, October 16
Quiet cars survey
Greetings. If you have been involved with a quiet car, such as in an acccident, then please read the following message and consider taking action. I received this from an email list. Thanks.
***Please forward***
FYI. Pasted below is a letter from Debbie Stein, chair of NFB's Quiet Car
committee. She is conducting a survey of both sighted and blind people who
have experienced accidents or near accidents involving vehicles they could
not hear. Her contact info is at the bottom of this message. Please help
if you can.
---
Open Letter to Guide Dog Users
Hello,
As you probably know, many people in both the blind and sighted
communities are increasingly concerned about the hazard posed by
silently-operating hybrid and electric vehicles, as well as very quiet
cars with standard combustion engines. Because it is extremely difficult
to hear these vehicles under normal traffic conditions, cyclists and
pedestrians are often dangerously unaware of their presence and movements.
I chair the Committee on Automobile and Pedestrian Safety (CAPS--also
known as the Quiet Cars Committee) of the National Federation of the
Blind. We are gathering information from people who have had accidents or
near accidents involving vehicles they could not hear.
If as a pedestrian or cyclist you have been in an accident involving a
quiet car, or if you have had a frightening close call, please contact me.
I am conducting a short survey with people who have had quiet-car
incidents, and I would like very much to collect information about what
happened to you. The survey questions take ten to fifteen minutes.
The information you share will help us build a stronger case for the need
for a solution to the quiet-car problem. Thank you in advance for your
help!
Sincerely,
Debbie Stein
Committee on Automobile and Pedestrian Safety
National Federation of the Blind
dkent5817@worldnet.att.net
773-631-1093
***Please forward***
FYI. Pasted below is a letter from Debbie Stein, chair of NFB's Quiet Car
committee. She is conducting a survey of both sighted and blind people who
have experienced accidents or near accidents involving vehicles they could
not hear. Her contact info is at the bottom of this message. Please help
if you can.
---
Open Letter to Guide Dog Users
Hello,
As you probably know, many people in both the blind and sighted
communities are increasingly concerned about the hazard posed by
silently-operating hybrid and electric vehicles, as well as very quiet
cars with standard combustion engines. Because it is extremely difficult
to hear these vehicles under normal traffic conditions, cyclists and
pedestrians are often dangerously unaware of their presence and movements.
I chair the Committee on Automobile and Pedestrian Safety (CAPS--also
known as the Quiet Cars Committee) of the National Federation of the
Blind. We are gathering information from people who have had accidents or
near accidents involving vehicles they could not hear.
If as a pedestrian or cyclist you have been in an accident involving a
quiet car, or if you have had a frightening close call, please contact me.
I am conducting a short survey with people who have had quiet-car
incidents, and I would like very much to collect information about what
happened to you. The survey questions take ten to fifteen minutes.
The information you share will help us build a stronger case for the need
for a solution to the quiet-car problem. Thank you in advance for your
help!
Sincerely,
Debbie Stein
Committee on Automobile and Pedestrian Safety
National Federation of the Blind
dkent5817@worldnet.att.net
773-631-1093
Sunday, October 5
Quiet Hybrids a Threat to the Blind
Greetings. I received the following news story from an email list. In the article, it is said that a guide dog cannot detect a hybrid car. The only way I can see that this would happen would be if the car comes up behind the dog-human team. Otherwise, "detecting" the hybrid is just like the behavior during a trafic check, when a car crosses the path of a guide dog and they react by stopping, swerving, or backing up. I can attest to the effectiveness of these traffic checks during training, since my dog and I received quite a number of them, and she reacted correctly each time. In other words, we're still here. The main issue with hybrids in training is the student not knowing what the dog is reacting to. To the student's point of view, since they can't hear the car passing, the dog just stops all of a sudden and the student doesn't know why exactly. Of course, since this would usually happen in the street or a parking lot, it's not too hard to figure out. Anyway, keep this in mind when reading that statement. Enjoy, and as always, please excuse any formatting errors.
Quiet hybrids a threat to the blind
By Isabel Mascareñas,
Tampa Bay's 10 News
September 26, 2008
Palmetto, Florida - Hybrid cars offer better mileage and less pollution but when the vehicle switches from its gasoline engine to an electric motor, it's
virtually silent.
For Helen Arnold, that silence can be deadly for her and her guide dog Corki. She's been blind since birth.
"We cannot hear the hybrid in non-operation mode. We don't know you are there," says Helen. It's not just the handler; guide dogs usually can't
detect hybrids either.
"The biggest challenge with the hybrid is it's so quiet," say Heidi Illgen, lead trainer at Southeastern Guide Dog, Inc.
The Southeastern Guide Dog facility in Manatee purchased a hybrid this year to enhance its training. Illgen takes Troy, an Australian Shepherd, through this life saving lesson. Illgen says dogs have a visual span of about
three feet from side to side and six feet up. The hybrid car requires they expand that visual perception outside of that straight line of travel.
"It's a lot more responsibility for the dog," says Illgen.
The guide dog learns through repetition.
"If the dog gets too close to the vehicle, we tap the vehicle, tell the dog 'no,'
back up and have the car surge back towards us again. If the dog stops at a reasonable distance we consider safe, we pour the praise on," says Illgen.
The trainer says it's not just the dog that must change its ways the student
must also recognize the dog's signals.
"What we need to do now is teach the student to really pay attention to
what the dog is saying we call it intelligent disobedience. Sometimes a dog will refuse to do an action we're calling for could be because of a safety,"
says Illgen.
"Traveling with guide dog is a team. You have the human factor, the canine factor work as a team. I listen, she sees," says Arnold.
Troy will soon be Arnold's new guide dog after Corki retires. She hopes
hybrid owners will use caution and use their eyes and ears when approaching an intersection.
Arnold says, "Be careful, travel a bit slower."
The National Federation of the Blind has asked the auto industry to add a sound to hybrids so the visually impaired and pedestrians can hear one coming.
Quiet hybrids a threat to the blind
By Isabel Mascareñas,
Tampa Bay's 10 News
September 26, 2008
Palmetto, Florida - Hybrid cars offer better mileage and less pollution but when the vehicle switches from its gasoline engine to an electric motor, it's
virtually silent.
For Helen Arnold, that silence can be deadly for her and her guide dog Corki. She's been blind since birth.
"We cannot hear the hybrid in non-operation mode. We don't know you are there," says Helen. It's not just the handler; guide dogs usually can't
detect hybrids either.
"The biggest challenge with the hybrid is it's so quiet," say Heidi Illgen, lead trainer at Southeastern Guide Dog, Inc.
The Southeastern Guide Dog facility in Manatee purchased a hybrid this year to enhance its training. Illgen takes Troy, an Australian Shepherd, through this life saving lesson. Illgen says dogs have a visual span of about
three feet from side to side and six feet up. The hybrid car requires they expand that visual perception outside of that straight line of travel.
"It's a lot more responsibility for the dog," says Illgen.
The guide dog learns through repetition.
"If the dog gets too close to the vehicle, we tap the vehicle, tell the dog 'no,'
back up and have the car surge back towards us again. If the dog stops at a reasonable distance we consider safe, we pour the praise on," says Illgen.
The trainer says it's not just the dog that must change its ways the student
must also recognize the dog's signals.
"What we need to do now is teach the student to really pay attention to
what the dog is saying we call it intelligent disobedience. Sometimes a dog will refuse to do an action we're calling for could be because of a safety,"
says Illgen.
"Traveling with guide dog is a team. You have the human factor, the canine factor work as a team. I listen, she sees," says Arnold.
Troy will soon be Arnold's new guide dog after Corki retires. She hopes
hybrid owners will use caution and use their eyes and ears when approaching an intersection.
Arnold says, "Be careful, travel a bit slower."
The National Federation of the Blind has asked the auto industry to add a sound to hybrids so the visually impaired and pedestrians can hear one coming.
Tuesday, August 12
Lotus 'Safe & Sound' system makes hybrid, electric vehicles audible
Greetings. I received the following article, originally posted on CNet, from an email list. After reading this, it sounds like someone is starting to take notice and do something about the hybrid car issue. Please excuse any formatting errors and enjoy.
Lotus 'Safe & Sound' system makes hybrid, electric vehicles audible
"Due to the almost silent operation of hybrid and electric vehicles
running
on electric power at slow speeds, blind and partially sighted
pedestrians
may
be at risk while crossing roads or walking through parking lots since
they
cannot hear the vehicles as they approach.
Lotus Engineering, a name most commonly associated with lightweight
sports
cars, has announced that it has developed a system to synthesise
external
sound
on electric and hybrid vehicles to make them more audible to
pedestrians
and
cyclists. A simulation of a real engine sound is used on
Lotus' Safe &
Sound
Hybrid technology demonstrator vehicle, making it instantly
recognisable that the vehicle is in motion.
The demonstration vehicle is a
Toyota Prius
equipped to demonstrate the sound synthesis application. The
solution
Lotus
has devised is a re-application and development of its Sound
Synthesis technology, a suite of technologies originally
designed to reduce the amount of
cabin
noise in a conventional motor vehicle by using active sound
cancellation.
An artificial engine sound is played through a waterproof
loudspeaker in
the
car's nose, compensating for the lack of engine noise emitted by the
vehicle
when running on an electric motor. Because it's just a speaker, Lotus
can
make any sound they want, but they've stuck to using an
existing engine sound that makes the vehicle instantly
recognisable, with the pitch and
frequency
helping to identify its distance and speed. Front-facing
speakers mean
that
once the vehicle has passed, the sound is no longer heard.
In electric-only vehicles, the system is always on, but for
hybrids the system only operates when the vehicle is using
electric power. If the hybrid's engine starts operating -
either at higher speeds, higher throttle demands, or lower
battery levels - the control system automatically stops the
external
synthesis.
It is all completely automatic and, according to Lotus, the
driver hears almost none of the additional sound."
Lotus 'Safe & Sound' system makes hybrid, electric vehicles audible
"Due to the almost silent operation of hybrid and electric vehicles
running
on electric power at slow speeds, blind and partially sighted
pedestrians
may
be at risk while crossing roads or walking through parking lots since
they
cannot hear the vehicles as they approach.
Lotus Engineering, a name most commonly associated with lightweight
sports
cars, has announced that it has developed a system to synthesise
external
sound
on electric and hybrid vehicles to make them more audible to
pedestrians
and
cyclists. A simulation of a real engine sound is used on
Lotus' Safe &
Sound
Hybrid technology demonstrator vehicle, making it instantly
recognisable that the vehicle is in motion.
The demonstration vehicle is a
Toyota Prius
equipped to demonstrate the sound synthesis application. The
solution
Lotus
has devised is a re-application and development of its Sound
Synthesis technology, a suite of technologies originally
designed to reduce the amount of
cabin
noise in a conventional motor vehicle by using active sound
cancellation.
An artificial engine sound is played through a waterproof
loudspeaker in
the
car's nose, compensating for the lack of engine noise emitted by the
vehicle
when running on an electric motor. Because it's just a speaker, Lotus
can
make any sound they want, but they've stuck to using an
existing engine sound that makes the vehicle instantly
recognisable, with the pitch and
frequency
helping to identify its distance and speed. Front-facing
speakers mean
that
once the vehicle has passed, the sound is no longer heard.
In electric-only vehicles, the system is always on, but for
hybrids the system only operates when the vehicle is using
electric power. If the hybrid's engine starts operating -
either at higher speeds, higher throttle demands, or lower
battery levels - the control system automatically stops the
external
synthesis.
It is all completely automatic and, according to Lotus, the
driver hears almost none of the additional sound."
Monday, July 7
Hybrids Pose Silent Threat to the Blind
Greetings. Here's an article from the Associated Press on the dangers of hybrid cars to the blind. Please excuse any formatting errors and enjoy.
Hybrid vehicles pose silent threat to the blind
By Associated Press | June 24, 2008
WASHINGTON - Advocates for the blind want the government to set minimum
sound standards for new cars and trucks, pointing to potential safety
hazards for blind pedestrians who can't hear silent gas-electric hybrid
vehicles.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration held a daylong hearing
yesterday to discuss the issue, which has been raised by organizations
that
represent about 1.1 million legally blind Americans. "For us, these cars
are
invisible," said Deborah Kent Stein of the National Federation of the
Blind.
Stein and representatives of other organizations for the blind said hybrid
vehicles are difficult for blind pedestrians to detect, since they use
traffic sounds to determine when it's safe to cross the street. They asked
the government to conduct more research into the issue and require cars to
emit minimum decibel levels.
Industry officials said they hoped to begin preliminary testing later this
year to quantify typical noise emissions from vehicles. But they said the
issue is complicated because so many things contribute to traffic sounds:
engines, tires hitting the road, wind resistance, and background noise.
"There are a lot of things that we simply don't know at this point," said
Chris Tinto, a Toyota Motor Corp. vice president who is leading an
industry
panel reviewing the issue.
During the meeting, researchers played audio tapes comparing the sounds of
hybrids with vehicles that have conventional engines. In one experiment,
blindfolded listeners couldn't hear a 2006 Toyota Prius until it was about
11 feet away, compared with a 2004 Honda Accord, which the listeners
detected from a distance of about 36 feet.
Some lawmakers are taking notice. US Representatives Ed Towns, a Democrat
from New York, and Cliff Stearns, a Republican from Florida, introduced
legislation in April that would require a two-year study of the issue by
NHTSA.
Hybrid vehicles operate on battery-powered electric motors at low speeds
and
when idling, reducing the amount of sound from the vehicle compared with
conventional cars and trucks.
Hybrid vehicles pose silent threat to the blind
By Associated Press | June 24, 2008
WASHINGTON - Advocates for the blind want the government to set minimum
sound standards for new cars and trucks, pointing to potential safety
hazards for blind pedestrians who can't hear silent gas-electric hybrid
vehicles.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration held a daylong hearing
yesterday to discuss the issue, which has been raised by organizations
that
represent about 1.1 million legally blind Americans. "For us, these cars
are
invisible," said Deborah Kent Stein of the National Federation of the
Blind.
Stein and representatives of other organizations for the blind said hybrid
vehicles are difficult for blind pedestrians to detect, since they use
traffic sounds to determine when it's safe to cross the street. They asked
the government to conduct more research into the issue and require cars to
emit minimum decibel levels.
Industry officials said they hoped to begin preliminary testing later this
year to quantify typical noise emissions from vehicles. But they said the
issue is complicated because so many things contribute to traffic sounds:
engines, tires hitting the road, wind resistance, and background noise.
"There are a lot of things that we simply don't know at this point," said
Chris Tinto, a Toyota Motor Corp. vice president who is leading an
industry
panel reviewing the issue.
During the meeting, researchers played audio tapes comparing the sounds of
hybrids with vehicles that have conventional engines. In one experiment,
blindfolded listeners couldn't hear a 2006 Toyota Prius until it was about
11 feet away, compared with a 2004 Honda Accord, which the listeners
detected from a distance of about 36 feet.
Some lawmakers are taking notice. US Representatives Ed Towns, a Democrat
from New York, and Cliff Stearns, a Republican from Florida, introduced
legislation in April that would require a two-year study of the issue by
NHTSA.
Hybrid vehicles operate on battery-powered electric motors at low speeds
and
when idling, reducing the amount of sound from the vehicle compared with
conventional cars and trucks.
Monday, June 23
NPR story on hybrids
Greetings. I received the following story via an email list. Though the text below the link is almost a carbon copy of the text in the audio story itself, I encourage you to follow the link below to the NPR page, and click on the Listen Now link to hear the story itself. The reason: its fascinating to hear what sorts of sounds are used in the demonstrations, and to "not hear" the hybrid that is also demonstrated. Incidentally, there are several items on the NFB national convention agenda during the first afternoon of general sessions on Wednesday, July 2, having to do with the hybrid issue. Whether you listen online or are at the convention itself, I'd encourage you to not miss those hybrid items. Anyway, enjoy the following, and as always, please excuse any formatting errors.
Listen to the story at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91751319
All Things Considered, June 21, 2008 · Hybrid vehicles are touted for
their environmental benefits and, given the spiraling price of
gasoline, their economic benefits. But for visually impaired
pedestrians, who rely on sound cues from oncoming traffic, the
relative silence of hybrid engines poses serious safety concerns.
Stanford graduates Bryan Bai and Everett Meyer have developed a
technology to make hybrid cars sound more like, well, cars. Their
system uses miniature, all-weather audio speakers that are placed on
the wheel wells and broadcasts specific sounds based on what the car
is doing.
"It sounds essentially like a vehicle, except the sounds are more
intelligently projected," says Meyer, who along with Bai co-founded
Enhanced Vehicle Acoustics Inc. in Santa Clara, Calif.
"If a person is in drive mode and moving forward, the sounds are only
projected in the forward direction," he tells guest host Guy Raz. "If
the driver decides to turn left or right, the sound changes on the
left or right appropriately. So it minimizes noise pollution and
maximizes acoustic information for pedestrians."
Hybrids like the Toyota Prius can become eerily silent when driven at
speeds less than 25 mph or, say, when idling at a stoplight. At these
low speeds and in stop-and-go traffic, the vehicles switch from
traditional combustion engines to electric power. This boosts fuel
efficiency — but it also increases the risk for pedestrians.
The system created by Bai and Everett's company, which was formed with
the help of a grant from the National Federation of the Blind, emits
sound when the cars go into silent mode.
The federal government and a handful of states are considering
legislation to set minimum sound levels for hybrid cars. In April,
Reps. Edolphus Towns (D-NY) and Cliff Stearns (R-FL) introduced the
Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008. The bill proposes a two-
year study to determine the best strategy for tackling safety concerns
about hybrids among the visually impaired.
Everett acknowledges that his company's devices could be viewed as
adding to the noise pollution of traffic. But, he notes, "there's a
different between noise and sound, and we view our system as producing
sounds which have a purpose."
Listen to the story at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91751319
All Things Considered, June 21, 2008 · Hybrid vehicles are touted for
their environmental benefits and, given the spiraling price of
gasoline, their economic benefits. But for visually impaired
pedestrians, who rely on sound cues from oncoming traffic, the
relative silence of hybrid engines poses serious safety concerns.
Stanford graduates Bryan Bai and Everett Meyer have developed a
technology to make hybrid cars sound more like, well, cars. Their
system uses miniature, all-weather audio speakers that are placed on
the wheel wells and broadcasts specific sounds based on what the car
is doing.
"It sounds essentially like a vehicle, except the sounds are more
intelligently projected," says Meyer, who along with Bai co-founded
Enhanced Vehicle Acoustics Inc. in Santa Clara, Calif.
"If a person is in drive mode and moving forward, the sounds are only
projected in the forward direction," he tells guest host Guy Raz. "If
the driver decides to turn left or right, the sound changes on the
left or right appropriately. So it minimizes noise pollution and
maximizes acoustic information for pedestrians."
Hybrids like the Toyota Prius can become eerily silent when driven at
speeds less than 25 mph or, say, when idling at a stoplight. At these
low speeds and in stop-and-go traffic, the vehicles switch from
traditional combustion engines to electric power. This boosts fuel
efficiency — but it also increases the risk for pedestrians.
The system created by Bai and Everett's company, which was formed with
the help of a grant from the National Federation of the Blind, emits
sound when the cars go into silent mode.
The federal government and a handful of states are considering
legislation to set minimum sound levels for hybrid cars. In April,
Reps. Edolphus Towns (D-NY) and Cliff Stearns (R-FL) introduced the
Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008. The bill proposes a two-
year study to determine the best strategy for tackling safety concerns
about hybrids among the visually impaired.
Everett acknowledges that his company's devices could be viewed as
adding to the noise pollution of traffic. But, he notes, "there's a
different between noise and sound, and we view our system as producing
sounds which have a purpose."
Saturday, June 14
Comments on quiet cars
Greetings. I received the following message from an email list. It looks like the information on the dangers of quiet cars is finally getting some attention. Enjoy, please excuse any formatting or web address errors, and consider submitting your own comments to the relevant people. Also, thanks to Larry from the Disability Nation podcast for submitting his comment on the May 17th post on quiet cars. Please read what he has to say and visit their site to hear the quiet cars podcasts that he has.
***
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2008-0108]
Quiet Cars Notice of Public Meeting and Request for Comments
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of public meeting, request for information.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: NHTSA is having a public meeting to bring together government
policymakers, stakeholders from the blind community, industry
representatives and public interest groups to discuss the safety of
blind pedestrians encountering quiet cars including hybrids, all-
electric vehicles and quiet internal combustion engine vehicles. This
public meeting and the request for information, is an opportunity for
an exchange among interested parties, as well as the public, on the
technical and safety policy issues related to increasingly quieter cars
and blind pedestrians. The date, time, location, and framework for this
public meeting are announced in this notice.
DATES: Public Meeting: The public meeting will be held on June 23,
2008, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Grand Hyatt Washington, Washington,
DC.
Comments: Written comments may be submitted to the agency and must
be received no later than August 1, 2008.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mrs. Debbie Ascone, Office of the
Senior Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety, NHTSA, telephone
202-366-4383, e-mail
Debbie.Ascone@dot.gov
. She may also be reached at
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590.
ADDRESSES: Public meeting: The public meeting will be held at the Grand
Hyatt Washington, 1000 H Street, NW., Washington, DC 20001, telephone: 202-
637-4764.
Written comments: Written comments on this meeting and topic must
refer to the docket number of this notice and be submitted by any of
the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to
http://www.regulations.gov
. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
Mail: Docket Management Facility, M-30, U.S. Department of
Transportation, West Building, Ground Floor, Rm. W12-140, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590.
Hand Delivery: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140,
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., between 9 am and 5 pm Eastern Time, Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Regardless of how you submit your comments, you should mention the
docket number of this document.
You may call the Docket Management Facility at 202-366-9826.
Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments, see
the Procedural Matters section of this document. Note that all comments
received will be posted without change to
http://www.regulations.gov,
including any personal information provided.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
According to R.L. Polk & Co, registration for new hybrid vehicles
rose to 350,289 registrations in 2007.\1\ While hybrid vehicles remain
a small portion of new registered vehicles, registrations of hybrids
increased 38% from 2006 to 2007. A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is
more commonly defined as a vehicle which combines a conventional
propulsion system (such as a gasoline or diesel engine) with an
electric motor and has an on-board rechargeable energy storage system
(such as batteries) to achieve better fuel economy than a conventional
vehicle. HEVs prolong the charge on their batteries by capturing
kinetic energy via regenerative braking, and some HEVs can use the
combustion engine to generate electricity by spinning an electrical
generator (often a motor-generator) to either recharge the battery or
directly feed power to an electric motor that drives the vehicle. All
HEVs have a start/stop system which can turn off the engine at idle and
restart it when needed. Some hybrids are capable of being driven by
only the electric motor at lower speeds (generally up to 25 mph). As
such, these vehicles can be significantly quieter than conventional
gasoline powered vehicles.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\
http://usa.polk.com/news/latestnews/news--2008--0421--hybrids.htm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deborah Kent Stein discusses an emerging problem with HEVs in the
following:
``When the hybrid is traveling at low speeds, the electric motor
is very quiet. The problem arises when a hybrid car, powered by its
electric motor, is traveling at slow to moderate speeds--as when it
moves along a side street, emerges from a driveway or parking lot,
or starts up after a red light or stop sign. Under these
circumstances the engine is silent, and there is little or no sound
from tire friction or wind resistance. In addition nearly all
hybrids come to a full stop at red lights or stop signs, shutting
off the engine completely. The engine does not idle, emitting a low,
telltale purr. It makes no sound at all. A blind traveler has no
indication that a car is present and preparing to move forward at
any moment.'' \2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Stop, Look, and Listen: Quiet Vehicles and Pedestrian Safety
by Deborah Kent Stein; from: The Braille Monitor, June 2005.
Mrs. Stein, chairman for the National Federation of the Blind
(NFB), Committee on Automobile and Pedestrian Safety/Quiet Cars made
this statement in the article ``Stop, Look and Listen: Quiet Vehicles
and Pedestrian Safety,'' in the June 2005 issue of The Braille Monitor.
NHTSA recognizes this is a potential safety problem and is responding
to the concern and investigating the hazard of quieter vehicles to
pedestrians, cyclists and others who need to be aware of approaching
cars that are out of their line of sight.
While the size of the specific problem is currently unknown, the
total number of pedestrian crashes in 2006 was 65,404 resulting in
4,784 fatalities and an estimated 61,000 injuries.
Since August 2007, NHTSA has been working through the Society of
Automotive Engineers International (SAE) to identify effective ways to
address the safety issue with quieter vehicles. The Alliance of
Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of International
Automobile Manufacturers, along with the SAE have formed the Vehicle
Sound for Pedestrians Subcommittee under the SAE Safety and Human
Factors Committee.\3\ This subcommittee, Vehicle Sounds for Pedestrians
(VSP), created the three following Task Forces to gather information to
assist in determining the technical approaches to address the problem:
Audience for specification, target sound level, and type of sound and
driving conditions for the sound. The VSP subcommittee is currently
working to both define the issue and understand the conditions in which
these types of incidents occur and expects to propose and evaluate
different methods to address the issues as these factors are better
understood.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\
http://www.sae.org/servlets/works/committeeHome.do?comtID=TEITSSHF.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Further work of the VSP subcommittee will explore: who will benefit
from the establishment of a minimum sound level for motor vehicles,
what that sound level should be and the type of sound that will be
necessary to have the desired effect, and under what vehicle and
ambient conditions the sound is required to be heard and measured. The
subcommittee is currently in the data gathering stage: what incidents
have happened, where, and under what conditions. Different data sources
have been identified and approached. Concurrently, the task force on
sound measurement is preparing an outline for a test procedure to
measure vehicle operating sounds.
Thus far, this group of human factors experts also includes a
member of the American Council for the Blind and a representative of
NHTSA. The group is regularly meeting at four-week intervals to study
possible ways of improving the detection of quiet cars by pedestrians
and to explore the feasibility of proposing an SAE Recommended
Practice. In addition to the SAE initiative, NFB has commissioned Dr.
Lawrence Rosenblum at the University of California-Riverside to
investigate the sound made by hybrids and people's ability to detect
them. At Stanford University, with financial help from the NFB,
researchers have developed a prototype sound generating device that
receives information about the vehicle function and transmits the
information to speakers placed on the vehicle. While this vehicle-based
system is one potential countermeasure for quieter vehicles, NHTSA, the
automotive industry and the SAE subcommittee will continue their
efforts to identify the most appropriate and effective countermeasures.
In the United States House of Representatives, a bill has been
introduced entitled the ``Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008,''
which, if enacted, requires the Secretary of Transportation to study
and establish a motor vehicle safety standard that provides for a means
of alerting blind and other pedestrians of motor vehicle operation.\4\
Additionally, in December 2007, NHTSA met with representatives of the
NFB to discuss this issue.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:1:./temp/~c110LBBXF7::.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 31189]]
Public Meeting
NHTSA is having this public meeting to discuss the technical and
safety policy issues associated with the increasing presence of quieter
cars and the risks to blind pedestrians. The meeting will bring
together State and local government policy makers, stakeholders in the
blind community, industry representatives and public interest groups.
The meeting will be open to the public, but presentations will be
by invitation only. Time will be designated for open floor discussion
by the general audience. Meeting participants and the public are also
invited to submit comments on this issue to the docket. All materials
to be presented are asked to be submitted to NHTSA in advance for
appropriate dissemination to visually impaired attendees.
The sections below describe the discussion of topics for the
meeting.
Statement of Problem
Representatives of the blind community will discuss the problem
facing blind pedestrians around quieter vehicles. The discussion should
include the explanation and known size of the problem. The
presentations should identify specific situations in which vehicles are
hard to hear, the sound cues that are necessary in detecting a vehicle
and which of those cues are absent in those problematic locations. To
gain a better understanding of the desired outcome to this problem,
representatives of the blind community should discuss general ways to
increase the safety of blind pedestrians and potential solutions--both
desirable and undesirable to the blind community.
Pedestrian Safety
Pedestrian safety is a difficult but important issue both
nationally and internationally. Presentations should discuss pedestrian
safety in general as well as specifically related to the blind
community. Any known incidents with pedestrians, in general and
involving the blind, and quieter vehicles will be detailed. Data
collection challenges should also be discussed as well as the needs to
improve this data collection. There will also be discussion of current
technologies to aide the blind community in safer pedestrian travel. A
NHTSA representative will discuss ongoing and planned activities for
pedestrian safety, identifying potential activities that could be
enhanced for the blind. A representative from the international vehicle
safety community will present information about the problem globally as
well as work in other nations to address pedestrians and quieter
vehicles. The discussion should also include international standards
for pedestrian safety and any potential solutions for this problem that
have been researched internationally.
Sound Measurement and Mobility
In developing a solution to assist blind pedestrians around quieter
cars, a few fundamental questions must be addressed. Presentations on
this topic should include discussions of which sounds of a vehicle
should be measured and the means by which to measure that sound. Any
studies into this area should also be included. Sound experts should
also describe average noise levels as reference points for the audience
as well as extreme noise levels--both low and high extremes. A mobility
expert should discuss sound cues for blind individuals and any
measurement studies related to the field. There should also be
discussion on mobility in rural areas and locations that lack the
infrastructure for technology.
Automotive Industry Perspective
A representative from the automobile industry should speak about
how the industry is addressing the problem. The discussion should
include information on what current and future vehicles would qualify
as quiet cars as well as what features of the car cause the reduction
in sound. The automobile industry representative should also discuss
what the industry is willing to commit to, product development and lead
time for vehicle-based solutions.
SAE Work and Status
As was discussed previously, SAE has a subcommittee dedicated to
this topic and has active working groups looking at specific details.
An SAE spokesperson will discuss the process in general and the current
status of this work. Additional details of the working groups should be
laid out at the meeting and the representative should describe the
needs of the subcommittee to continue work and expedite both the work
and the process.
Potential Solutions
Research into potential ways to address this issue should include
vehicle-, person-, and infrastructure-based approaches. Presentations
should include current and past research into each of these areas,
literature and conclusions from such. Product development,
effectiveness, lead time, cost and public acceptance of solutions
should also be discussed. Any potential solution that is currently
marketed or planned for market would be included in this discussion as
well as the history of the development of the product.
Noise Abatement
While the lower sound of vehicles presents a safety concern for
blind pedestrians, it also provides a solution to the health concern
arising from noise pollution. Presentations on this topic should
include federal and local perspective on noise pollution as well as the
jurisdiction of noise pollution laws. The discussion should also
include studies about what levels of sound are dangerous to health and
studies into the magnification of sound presented by large numbers of
vehicles or vehicles in confined spaces. Current or planned efforts to
reduce the sound emitted by vehicles should also be discussed along
with supporting research into determination of said maximum levels.
Procedural Matters
The meeting will be open to the public with advanced registration
for seating on a space-available basis. Individuals wishing to register
to assure a seat in the public seating area should provide their name,
affiliation, phone number and e-mail address to Mrs. Debbie Ascone
using the contact information at the beginning of this notice. Should
it be necessary to cancel the meeting due to an emergency or some other
reason, NHTSA will take all available means to notify registered
participants by e-mail or telephone.
The meeting will be held at a site accessible to individuals with
disabilities. Individuals who require accommodations such as sign
language interpreters should contact Ms. Debbie Ascone by June 16,
2008. All written materials to be presented at the meeting will be
available electronically on the day of the meeting to accommodate the
needs of the visually impaired. A transcript of the meeting and other
information received by NHTSA at the meeting will be placed in the
docket for this notice at a later date.
How can I submit comments on this subject?
It is not necessary to attend or to speak at the public meeting to
be able to comment on the issues. NHTSA invites readers to submit
written comments which the agency will consider in its research and
proceedings with the safety of quiet cars and pedestrians.
How do I prepare and submit comments?
Your comments must be written and in English. To ensure that your
[[Page 31190]]
comments are correctly filed in the Docket, please include the docket
number of this document in your comments.
Your primary comments must not be more than 15 pages long (49 CFR 553.21). However, you may attach additional documents to your primary comments. There is no limit on the length of the attachments.
Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on
April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78) or you may visit
http://regulations.gov.
How can I be sure that my comments were received?
If you wish Docket Management to notify you upon its receipt of
your comments, enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard in the
envelope containing your comments. Upon receiving your comments, Docket
Management will return the postcard by mail.
How do I submit confidential business information?
If you wish to submit any information under a claim of
confidentiality, send three copies of your complete submission,
including the information you claim to be confidential business
information, to the Chief Counsel, National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., Washington, DC 20590.
Include a cover letter supplying the information specified in our
confidential business information regulation (49 CFR part 512).
In addition, send two copies from which you have deleted the
claimed confidential business information to Docket Management, 1200
New Jersey Ave., SE., West Building, Room W12-140, Washington, DC
20590, or submit them electronically, in the manner described at the
beginning of this notice.
Will the agency consider late comments?
We will consider all comments that Docket Management receives
before the close of business on the comment closing date indicated
above under DATES. To the extent possible, we will also consider
comments that Docket Management receives after that date.
Please note that even after the comment closing date, we will
continue to file relevant information in the docket as it becomes
available. Further, some people may submit late comments. Accordingly,
we recommend that you periodically check the docket for new material.
How can I read the comments submitted by other people?
You may read the materials placed in the docket for this document
(e.g., the comments submitted in response to this document by other
interested persons) at any time by going to
http://regulations.gov.
Follow the online instructions for accessing the dockets. You may also
read the materials at the Docket Management Facility by going to the
street address given above under ADDRESSES. The Docket Management
Facility is open between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30111, 30168; delegation of authority at 49
CFR 1.50 and 501.8.
Ronald L. Medford,
Senior Associate Administrator, Vehicle Safety.
[FR Doc. E8-12041 Filed 5-29-08; 8:45 am]
***
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2008-0108]
Quiet Cars Notice of Public Meeting and Request for Comments
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of public meeting, request for information.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: NHTSA is having a public meeting to bring together government
policymakers, stakeholders from the blind community, industry
representatives and public interest groups to discuss the safety of
blind pedestrians encountering quiet cars including hybrids, all-
electric vehicles and quiet internal combustion engine vehicles. This
public meeting and the request for information, is an opportunity for
an exchange among interested parties, as well as the public, on the
technical and safety policy issues related to increasingly quieter cars
and blind pedestrians. The date, time, location, and framework for this
public meeting are announced in this notice.
DATES: Public Meeting: The public meeting will be held on June 23,
2008, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Grand Hyatt Washington, Washington,
DC.
Comments: Written comments may be submitted to the agency and must
be received no later than August 1, 2008.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mrs. Debbie Ascone, Office of the
Senior Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety, NHTSA, telephone
202-366-4383, e-mail
Debbie.Ascone@dot.gov
. She may also be reached at
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590.
ADDRESSES: Public meeting: The public meeting will be held at the Grand
Hyatt Washington, 1000 H Street, NW., Washington, DC 20001, telephone: 202-
637-4764.
Written comments: Written comments on this meeting and topic must
refer to the docket number of this notice and be submitted by any of
the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to
http://www.regulations.gov
. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
Mail: Docket Management Facility, M-30, U.S. Department of
Transportation, West Building, Ground Floor, Rm. W12-140, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590.
Hand Delivery: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140,
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., between 9 am and 5 pm Eastern Time, Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Regardless of how you submit your comments, you should mention the
docket number of this document.
You may call the Docket Management Facility at 202-366-9826.
Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments, see
the Procedural Matters section of this document. Note that all comments
received will be posted without change to
http://www.regulations.gov,
including any personal information provided.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
According to R.L. Polk & Co, registration for new hybrid vehicles
rose to 350,289 registrations in 2007.\1\ While hybrid vehicles remain
a small portion of new registered vehicles, registrations of hybrids
increased 38% from 2006 to 2007. A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is
more commonly defined as a vehicle which combines a conventional
propulsion system (such as a gasoline or diesel engine) with an
electric motor and has an on-board rechargeable energy storage system
(such as batteries) to achieve better fuel economy than a conventional
vehicle. HEVs prolong the charge on their batteries by capturing
kinetic energy via regenerative braking, and some HEVs can use the
combustion engine to generate electricity by spinning an electrical
generator (often a motor-generator) to either recharge the battery or
directly feed power to an electric motor that drives the vehicle. All
HEVs have a start/stop system which can turn off the engine at idle and
restart it when needed. Some hybrids are capable of being driven by
only the electric motor at lower speeds (generally up to 25 mph). As
such, these vehicles can be significantly quieter than conventional
gasoline powered vehicles.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\
http://usa.polk.com/news/latestnews/news--2008--0421--hybrids.htm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deborah Kent Stein discusses an emerging problem with HEVs in the
following:
``When the hybrid is traveling at low speeds, the electric motor
is very quiet. The problem arises when a hybrid car, powered by its
electric motor, is traveling at slow to moderate speeds--as when it
moves along a side street, emerges from a driveway or parking lot,
or starts up after a red light or stop sign. Under these
circumstances the engine is silent, and there is little or no sound
from tire friction or wind resistance. In addition nearly all
hybrids come to a full stop at red lights or stop signs, shutting
off the engine completely. The engine does not idle, emitting a low,
telltale purr. It makes no sound at all. A blind traveler has no
indication that a car is present and preparing to move forward at
any moment.'' \2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Stop, Look, and Listen: Quiet Vehicles and Pedestrian Safety
by Deborah Kent Stein; from: The Braille Monitor, June 2005.
Mrs. Stein, chairman for the National Federation of the Blind
(NFB), Committee on Automobile and Pedestrian Safety/Quiet Cars made
this statement in the article ``Stop, Look and Listen: Quiet Vehicles
and Pedestrian Safety,'' in the June 2005 issue of The Braille Monitor.
NHTSA recognizes this is a potential safety problem and is responding
to the concern and investigating the hazard of quieter vehicles to
pedestrians, cyclists and others who need to be aware of approaching
cars that are out of their line of sight.
While the size of the specific problem is currently unknown, the
total number of pedestrian crashes in 2006 was 65,404 resulting in
4,784 fatalities and an estimated 61,000 injuries.
Since August 2007, NHTSA has been working through the Society of
Automotive Engineers International (SAE) to identify effective ways to
address the safety issue with quieter vehicles. The Alliance of
Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of International
Automobile Manufacturers, along with the SAE have formed the Vehicle
Sound for Pedestrians Subcommittee under the SAE Safety and Human
Factors Committee.\3\ This subcommittee, Vehicle Sounds for Pedestrians
(VSP), created the three following Task Forces to gather information to
assist in determining the technical approaches to address the problem:
Audience for specification, target sound level, and type of sound and
driving conditions for the sound. The VSP subcommittee is currently
working to both define the issue and understand the conditions in which
these types of incidents occur and expects to propose and evaluate
different methods to address the issues as these factors are better
understood.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\
http://www.sae.org/servlets/works/committeeHome.do?comtID=TEITSSHF.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Further work of the VSP subcommittee will explore: who will benefit
from the establishment of a minimum sound level for motor vehicles,
what that sound level should be and the type of sound that will be
necessary to have the desired effect, and under what vehicle and
ambient conditions the sound is required to be heard and measured. The
subcommittee is currently in the data gathering stage: what incidents
have happened, where, and under what conditions. Different data sources
have been identified and approached. Concurrently, the task force on
sound measurement is preparing an outline for a test procedure to
measure vehicle operating sounds.
Thus far, this group of human factors experts also includes a
member of the American Council for the Blind and a representative of
NHTSA. The group is regularly meeting at four-week intervals to study
possible ways of improving the detection of quiet cars by pedestrians
and to explore the feasibility of proposing an SAE Recommended
Practice. In addition to the SAE initiative, NFB has commissioned Dr.
Lawrence Rosenblum at the University of California-Riverside to
investigate the sound made by hybrids and people's ability to detect
them. At Stanford University, with financial help from the NFB,
researchers have developed a prototype sound generating device that
receives information about the vehicle function and transmits the
information to speakers placed on the vehicle. While this vehicle-based
system is one potential countermeasure for quieter vehicles, NHTSA, the
automotive industry and the SAE subcommittee will continue their
efforts to identify the most appropriate and effective countermeasures.
In the United States House of Representatives, a bill has been
introduced entitled the ``Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008,''
which, if enacted, requires the Secretary of Transportation to study
and establish a motor vehicle safety standard that provides for a means
of alerting blind and other pedestrians of motor vehicle operation.\4\
Additionally, in December 2007, NHTSA met with representatives of the
NFB to discuss this issue.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:1:./temp/~c110LBBXF7::.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 31189]]
Public Meeting
NHTSA is having this public meeting to discuss the technical and
safety policy issues associated with the increasing presence of quieter
cars and the risks to blind pedestrians. The meeting will bring
together State and local government policy makers, stakeholders in the
blind community, industry representatives and public interest groups.
The meeting will be open to the public, but presentations will be
by invitation only. Time will be designated for open floor discussion
by the general audience. Meeting participants and the public are also
invited to submit comments on this issue to the docket. All materials
to be presented are asked to be submitted to NHTSA in advance for
appropriate dissemination to visually impaired attendees.
The sections below describe the discussion of topics for the
meeting.
Statement of Problem
Representatives of the blind community will discuss the problem
facing blind pedestrians around quieter vehicles. The discussion should
include the explanation and known size of the problem. The
presentations should identify specific situations in which vehicles are
hard to hear, the sound cues that are necessary in detecting a vehicle
and which of those cues are absent in those problematic locations. To
gain a better understanding of the desired outcome to this problem,
representatives of the blind community should discuss general ways to
increase the safety of blind pedestrians and potential solutions--both
desirable and undesirable to the blind community.
Pedestrian Safety
Pedestrian safety is a difficult but important issue both
nationally and internationally. Presentations should discuss pedestrian
safety in general as well as specifically related to the blind
community. Any known incidents with pedestrians, in general and
involving the blind, and quieter vehicles will be detailed. Data
collection challenges should also be discussed as well as the needs to
improve this data collection. There will also be discussion of current
technologies to aide the blind community in safer pedestrian travel. A
NHTSA representative will discuss ongoing and planned activities for
pedestrian safety, identifying potential activities that could be
enhanced for the blind. A representative from the international vehicle
safety community will present information about the problem globally as
well as work in other nations to address pedestrians and quieter
vehicles. The discussion should also include international standards
for pedestrian safety and any potential solutions for this problem that
have been researched internationally.
Sound Measurement and Mobility
In developing a solution to assist blind pedestrians around quieter
cars, a few fundamental questions must be addressed. Presentations on
this topic should include discussions of which sounds of a vehicle
should be measured and the means by which to measure that sound. Any
studies into this area should also be included. Sound experts should
also describe average noise levels as reference points for the audience
as well as extreme noise levels--both low and high extremes. A mobility
expert should discuss sound cues for blind individuals and any
measurement studies related to the field. There should also be
discussion on mobility in rural areas and locations that lack the
infrastructure for technology.
Automotive Industry Perspective
A representative from the automobile industry should speak about
how the industry is addressing the problem. The discussion should
include information on what current and future vehicles would qualify
as quiet cars as well as what features of the car cause the reduction
in sound. The automobile industry representative should also discuss
what the industry is willing to commit to, product development and lead
time for vehicle-based solutions.
SAE Work and Status
As was discussed previously, SAE has a subcommittee dedicated to
this topic and has active working groups looking at specific details.
An SAE spokesperson will discuss the process in general and the current
status of this work. Additional details of the working groups should be
laid out at the meeting and the representative should describe the
needs of the subcommittee to continue work and expedite both the work
and the process.
Potential Solutions
Research into potential ways to address this issue should include
vehicle-, person-, and infrastructure-based approaches. Presentations
should include current and past research into each of these areas,
literature and conclusions from such. Product development,
effectiveness, lead time, cost and public acceptance of solutions
should also be discussed. Any potential solution that is currently
marketed or planned for market would be included in this discussion as
well as the history of the development of the product.
Noise Abatement
While the lower sound of vehicles presents a safety concern for
blind pedestrians, it also provides a solution to the health concern
arising from noise pollution. Presentations on this topic should
include federal and local perspective on noise pollution as well as the
jurisdiction of noise pollution laws. The discussion should also
include studies about what levels of sound are dangerous to health and
studies into the magnification of sound presented by large numbers of
vehicles or vehicles in confined spaces. Current or planned efforts to
reduce the sound emitted by vehicles should also be discussed along
with supporting research into determination of said maximum levels.
Procedural Matters
The meeting will be open to the public with advanced registration
for seating on a space-available basis. Individuals wishing to register
to assure a seat in the public seating area should provide their name,
affiliation, phone number and e-mail address to Mrs. Debbie Ascone
using the contact information at the beginning of this notice. Should
it be necessary to cancel the meeting due to an emergency or some other
reason, NHTSA will take all available means to notify registered
participants by e-mail or telephone.
The meeting will be held at a site accessible to individuals with
disabilities. Individuals who require accommodations such as sign
language interpreters should contact Ms. Debbie Ascone by June 16,
2008. All written materials to be presented at the meeting will be
available electronically on the day of the meeting to accommodate the
needs of the visually impaired. A transcript of the meeting and other
information received by NHTSA at the meeting will be placed in the
docket for this notice at a later date.
How can I submit comments on this subject?
It is not necessary to attend or to speak at the public meeting to
be able to comment on the issues. NHTSA invites readers to submit
written comments which the agency will consider in its research and
proceedings with the safety of quiet cars and pedestrians.
How do I prepare and submit comments?
Your comments must be written and in English. To ensure that your
[[Page 31190]]
comments are correctly filed in the Docket, please include the docket
number of this document in your comments.
Your primary comments must not be more than 15 pages long (49 CFR 553.21). However, you may attach additional documents to your primary comments. There is no limit on the length of the attachments.
Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on
April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78) or you may visit
http://regulations.gov.
How can I be sure that my comments were received?
If you wish Docket Management to notify you upon its receipt of
your comments, enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard in the
envelope containing your comments. Upon receiving your comments, Docket
Management will return the postcard by mail.
How do I submit confidential business information?
If you wish to submit any information under a claim of
confidentiality, send three copies of your complete submission,
including the information you claim to be confidential business
information, to the Chief Counsel, National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., Washington, DC 20590.
Include a cover letter supplying the information specified in our
confidential business information regulation (49 CFR part 512).
In addition, send two copies from which you have deleted the
claimed confidential business information to Docket Management, 1200
New Jersey Ave., SE., West Building, Room W12-140, Washington, DC
20590, or submit them electronically, in the manner described at the
beginning of this notice.
Will the agency consider late comments?
We will consider all comments that Docket Management receives
before the close of business on the comment closing date indicated
above under DATES. To the extent possible, we will also consider
comments that Docket Management receives after that date.
Please note that even after the comment closing date, we will
continue to file relevant information in the docket as it becomes
available. Further, some people may submit late comments. Accordingly,
we recommend that you periodically check the docket for new material.
How can I read the comments submitted by other people?
You may read the materials placed in the docket for this document
(e.g., the comments submitted in response to this document by other
interested persons) at any time by going to
http://regulations.gov.
Follow the online instructions for accessing the dockets. You may also
read the materials at the Docket Management Facility by going to the
street address given above under ADDRESSES. The Docket Management
Facility is open between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30111, 30168; delegation of authority at 49
CFR 1.50 and 501.8.
Ronald L. Medford,
Senior Associate Administrator, Vehicle Safety.
[FR Doc. E8-12041 Filed 5-29-08; 8:45 am]
Saturday, May 17
Quiet car observations
Greetings. I received the following email from a list. The original list that this was posted on was the Quiet Cars list. Incidentally, if you'd like to join this list, send a message to:
Quietcars-request@nfbnet.org
And put the word subscribe in the subject of the message. Leave the body blank and send, then just reply to the confirmation message, and you will be subscribed.
***
Hi Everyone-
It's Larry Rosenblum writing - the perceptual psychologist conducting
research on quiet car audibility. I thought that as you contact your
congressional representative, you might find the following
information useful. Pasted below is an op-ed piece I wrote that's
been published in a few newspapers. The piece makes the following
main points:
1) Research shows that the human brain is exceptionally sensitive to
approaching sound sources.
2) This brain sensitivity means that the audibility of moving
vehicles is an issue for everyone, blind and sighted alike.
3) This brain sensitivity means that only a very subtle enhancing
sound for quiet cars, at only low speeds, will be sufficient to fix
the problem. Loud beeps or chirps will not be necessary.
Hope this helps,
Larry R.
Don't worry: Hybrid cars won't beep, chirp, or make the world noisier
It's a noisy world, and getting noisier. This is likely why there has
been such strong reaction to a new congressional bill designed to
examine whether hybrid cars should be made more audible for
pedestrians, especially the blind. But as a scientist studying the
problem and advisor to the Society of Automotive Engineers, I bring
good news. We can have it both ways. Hybrid cars can stay quiet, and
still provide enough sound to be safe for us all.
The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008, introduced last month,
proposes a two year study determining the most practical way for
hybrid and electrical vehicles (EVs)-cars that are functionally
silent at slow speeds-to provide non-visual cues for pedestrians. The
solution will likely establish a minimal sound level for these cars.
The automotive industry will then have two years to incorporate this
change into new vehicles.
Sound noisy? Well it isn't, and here's why. First, hybrid and EVs are
functionally silent only when traveling in electric mode below 20
miles per hour. Faster than that, and all cars produce enough tire
and aerodynamic noise to be audible from a safe distance. Of course
it is at slow speeds that cars are closest to pedestrians, whether in
parking lots or backing out of driveways, and where the greatest
danger exists. But it is only at these slow speeds that some change
is necessary.
Secondly, only a subtle enhancement of sound will be needed. Hybrids
will not beep, or chirp, or produce an alarm. Beeps and chirps turn
out to be much more distracting than they are perceptually useful.
The enhancing sound, used only at slow speeds, will likely be either
the simulated sounds of a very quiet engine (think cooling fan), or
of rolling tires. For purposes of both auditory utility and simple
familiarity, the safest sounds are car sounds. And these sounds will
be barely noticeable for most of us. Not much sound is needed for the
auditory system to warn us about hazards, as long as it's the right
sound.
You have your brain to thank for this. The human brain is exceedingly
sensitive to approaching sounds. Research shows that when you hear a
sound approach-vs. recede or remain stationary-brain regions
associated with attention and motor action are quickly recruited. The
auditory brain also possesses a disproportionately large number of
cells sensitive to increasing sound loudness: one of the primary cues
for perceiving approaching sounds. Our brains have been designed to
use approaching sounds to avoid hazards. And this is true of
everyone's brains, blind and sighted alike.
This sensitivity of the brain likely means that we all use car sounds
to keep us safe, even if we are unaware of doing so. The auditory
system often works at an implicit level in warning of nearby dangers,
allowing us to concentrate on more conscious tasks. Your ability to
safely cross a parking lot while talking to a friend, manage your
children, or daydream, is facilitated by this implicit auditory
warning system. If there is too little sound to engage the system, as
is the case with hybrids at low speeds, then any normal distraction
becomes hazardous.
Thus, while the proposed bill was initiated by the needs of the
blind, a slight enhancement of quiet car sounds at low speeds will be
safer for us all. This will be even more true as the mean age of the
country increases, and more of us become sensory compromised. Perhaps
in ten years, we'll be thanking the blind community for making us all
safer.
While there are not yet definitive data showing that hybrids are
involved in more pedestrian accidents, these cars are still too new
for solid data to emerge. There are data however, suggesting that a
majority of the hybrid early adopters are particularly conscientious
drivers. But as hybrids and EVs become cheaper, and come in more
styles (a hybrid sports car appeared this year), a wider range of
drivers will be behind the hybrid wheel: a good reason to address the
problem preemptively. And needless to say, waiting for concrete
evidence of injury or death before addressing an obvious hazard is
not a sensible approach. This is especially true when the solution is
so simple and unobtrusive. Hybrids don't need to be made loud, they
just need to be made audible at slow speeds.
If you've not yet been surprised by the seemingly spontaneous
appearance of a moving hybrid in a parking lot or driveway, you will
be. Let's hope that when this happens, neither you or the driver are
talking to a friend, managing children, or daydreaming. Better yet,
let's hope you'll soon hear that hybrid make just enough quiet sound
so that you're not surprised at all.
--
Lawrence D. Rosenblum
Professor
Department of Psychology
University of California
Quietcars-request@nfbnet.org
And put the word subscribe in the subject of the message. Leave the body blank and send, then just reply to the confirmation message, and you will be subscribed.
***
Hi Everyone-
It's Larry Rosenblum writing - the perceptual psychologist conducting
research on quiet car audibility. I thought that as you contact your
congressional representative, you might find the following
information useful. Pasted below is an op-ed piece I wrote that's
been published in a few newspapers. The piece makes the following
main points:
1) Research shows that the human brain is exceptionally sensitive to
approaching sound sources.
2) This brain sensitivity means that the audibility of moving
vehicles is an issue for everyone, blind and sighted alike.
3) This brain sensitivity means that only a very subtle enhancing
sound for quiet cars, at only low speeds, will be sufficient to fix
the problem. Loud beeps or chirps will not be necessary.
Hope this helps,
Larry R.
Don't worry: Hybrid cars won't beep, chirp, or make the world noisier
It's a noisy world, and getting noisier. This is likely why there has
been such strong reaction to a new congressional bill designed to
examine whether hybrid cars should be made more audible for
pedestrians, especially the blind. But as a scientist studying the
problem and advisor to the Society of Automotive Engineers, I bring
good news. We can have it both ways. Hybrid cars can stay quiet, and
still provide enough sound to be safe for us all.
The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008, introduced last month,
proposes a two year study determining the most practical way for
hybrid and electrical vehicles (EVs)-cars that are functionally
silent at slow speeds-to provide non-visual cues for pedestrians. The
solution will likely establish a minimal sound level for these cars.
The automotive industry will then have two years to incorporate this
change into new vehicles.
Sound noisy? Well it isn't, and here's why. First, hybrid and EVs are
functionally silent only when traveling in electric mode below 20
miles per hour. Faster than that, and all cars produce enough tire
and aerodynamic noise to be audible from a safe distance. Of course
it is at slow speeds that cars are closest to pedestrians, whether in
parking lots or backing out of driveways, and where the greatest
danger exists. But it is only at these slow speeds that some change
is necessary.
Secondly, only a subtle enhancement of sound will be needed. Hybrids
will not beep, or chirp, or produce an alarm. Beeps and chirps turn
out to be much more distracting than they are perceptually useful.
The enhancing sound, used only at slow speeds, will likely be either
the simulated sounds of a very quiet engine (think cooling fan), or
of rolling tires. For purposes of both auditory utility and simple
familiarity, the safest sounds are car sounds. And these sounds will
be barely noticeable for most of us. Not much sound is needed for the
auditory system to warn us about hazards, as long as it's the right
sound.
You have your brain to thank for this. The human brain is exceedingly
sensitive to approaching sounds. Research shows that when you hear a
sound approach-vs. recede or remain stationary-brain regions
associated with attention and motor action are quickly recruited. The
auditory brain also possesses a disproportionately large number of
cells sensitive to increasing sound loudness: one of the primary cues
for perceiving approaching sounds. Our brains have been designed to
use approaching sounds to avoid hazards. And this is true of
everyone's brains, blind and sighted alike.
This sensitivity of the brain likely means that we all use car sounds
to keep us safe, even if we are unaware of doing so. The auditory
system often works at an implicit level in warning of nearby dangers,
allowing us to concentrate on more conscious tasks. Your ability to
safely cross a parking lot while talking to a friend, manage your
children, or daydream, is facilitated by this implicit auditory
warning system. If there is too little sound to engage the system, as
is the case with hybrids at low speeds, then any normal distraction
becomes hazardous.
Thus, while the proposed bill was initiated by the needs of the
blind, a slight enhancement of quiet car sounds at low speeds will be
safer for us all. This will be even more true as the mean age of the
country increases, and more of us become sensory compromised. Perhaps
in ten years, we'll be thanking the blind community for making us all
safer.
While there are not yet definitive data showing that hybrids are
involved in more pedestrian accidents, these cars are still too new
for solid data to emerge. There are data however, suggesting that a
majority of the hybrid early adopters are particularly conscientious
drivers. But as hybrids and EVs become cheaper, and come in more
styles (a hybrid sports car appeared this year), a wider range of
drivers will be behind the hybrid wheel: a good reason to address the
problem preemptively. And needless to say, waiting for concrete
evidence of injury or death before addressing an obvious hazard is
not a sensible approach. This is especially true when the solution is
so simple and unobtrusive. Hybrids don't need to be made loud, they
just need to be made audible at slow speeds.
If you've not yet been surprised by the seemingly spontaneous
appearance of a moving hybrid in a parking lot or driveway, you will
be. Let's hope that when this happens, neither you or the driver are
talking to a friend, managing children, or daydreaming. Better yet,
let's hope you'll soon hear that hybrid make just enough quiet sound
so that you're not surprised at all.
--
Lawrence D. Rosenblum
Professor
Department of Psychology
University of California
Saturday, May 3
Another story on hybrids
Greetings. This time, its a short video which shows the training of guide dogs on how to deal with a hybrid car. The dogs in question are from Leader Dogs for the Blind. The other major schools likely use similar methods with their dogs. Enjoy the video on training dogs to recognize hybrids.
Sunday, April 13
Another hybrid article
Greetings. Below is another article on hybrid cars, this time from Phoenix, AZ. Enjoy, and as always, please excuse any formatting errors. Also, you might participate in the pole link toward the end of this article.
Lawmaker calls quiet hybrids peril to the blind
By Daniel Scarpinato
Arizona daily star, Feb. 25, 2008
PHOENIX - If you live near a busy street, you probably like the sound of
cars getting quieter. But one state lawmaker, alarmed that hybrid cars
are
getting too quiet, is seeking to actually make them noisier.
The concern is centered on the danger quiet hybrids could pose to the
blind
- with their technology so good at muting sound that they have become
unnoticeable to the ear.
"Hybrid cars are amazing, and I think one of the unintended consequences
of
this new technology is that it is so effective in reducing noise on the
streets, the fear is that our blind citizens are in danger crossing the
road," says
state Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe, who is pushing a bill in the Legislature
to
require hybrids to make more noise. "If you drive a hybrid, you're not
going
to want someone who is listening to cars stepping out into the road in
front
of your hybrid."
Ableser's bill, which has been cleared by a House committee, requires
the
Arizona Department of Transportation to adopt a "minimum sound standard"
for
vehicles sold and registered in the state.
Common hybrids run 15 to 25 decibels more quietly than traditional
internal
combustion engines, so Ableser's bill would require the hybrids to emit
an
artificial sound similar to a traditional engine. It also would be
retroactive - applying to those who already own the vehicles.
The technology doesn't yet exist because no manufacturer has implemented
the
standards, but the National Federation of the Blind is also pushing the
legislation in Virginia, Maryland and Hawaii. The organization says it
doesn't know if anyone blind has been hit by a hybrid for this reason,
but
it is a looming concern.
"We know that there have been a lot of close calls," said spokesman
Chris
Danielsen. "We would like action to be taken before there's actually an
injury, or heaven forbid, a death from this."
But with the state having spent $250 million on rubberized roadways to
make
traffic quieter, some see the move as counterintuitive and unnecessary.
"I can't imagine a blind person thinking I don't hear anything so I am
going
to just step out in the middle of the freeway," said state Rep. Mark
Anderson, R-Mesa. "It's a big gamble just to step out there."
But Danielsen, himself blind, says that argument is "based on ignorance"
and
assumes blind people should just stay at home and not leave the house.
Advocates also have argued that the bill could protect children and
cyclists.
Dan Taylor, a local cyclist, says he can see both sides, but he doesn't
see
noisier cars as making things any safer for him and his friends.
"If you're in harm's way of a car, you're probably doing something
wrong,"
said Taylor, a licensed acupuncturist. "Once you hear a car coming, it's
usually too close anyway."
There also are concerns from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
that
the bill could deter people from purchasing hybrids - particularly if
each
state had individual laws. Ableser said the hybrids industry will
flourish
either way.
"What this is doing is trying to encourage the automotive industry to
implement this mechanism," Ableser said. "I can't see anyone purchasing
a
regular car because all of a sudden hybrids now make a slight noise.
"People buy hybrids because they want to contribute to the conservation
of
our environment," he said.
On StarNet: Should the state legislature pass the law requiring hybrid cars to emit more noise? Participate in a poll at
http://go.azstarnet.com/hybrid
● Contact reporter Daniel Scarpinato at 307-4339 or
dscarpinato@azstarnet.com
Lawmaker calls quiet hybrids peril to the blind
By Daniel Scarpinato
Arizona daily star, Feb. 25, 2008
PHOENIX - If you live near a busy street, you probably like the sound of
cars getting quieter. But one state lawmaker, alarmed that hybrid cars
are
getting too quiet, is seeking to actually make them noisier.
The concern is centered on the danger quiet hybrids could pose to the
blind
- with their technology so good at muting sound that they have become
unnoticeable to the ear.
"Hybrid cars are amazing, and I think one of the unintended consequences
of
this new technology is that it is so effective in reducing noise on the
streets, the fear is that our blind citizens are in danger crossing the
road," says
state Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe, who is pushing a bill in the Legislature
to
require hybrids to make more noise. "If you drive a hybrid, you're not
going
to want someone who is listening to cars stepping out into the road in
front
of your hybrid."
Ableser's bill, which has been cleared by a House committee, requires
the
Arizona Department of Transportation to adopt a "minimum sound standard"
for
vehicles sold and registered in the state.
Common hybrids run 15 to 25 decibels more quietly than traditional
internal
combustion engines, so Ableser's bill would require the hybrids to emit
an
artificial sound similar to a traditional engine. It also would be
retroactive - applying to those who already own the vehicles.
The technology doesn't yet exist because no manufacturer has implemented
the
standards, but the National Federation of the Blind is also pushing the
legislation in Virginia, Maryland and Hawaii. The organization says it
doesn't know if anyone blind has been hit by a hybrid for this reason,
but
it is a looming concern.
"We know that there have been a lot of close calls," said spokesman
Chris
Danielsen. "We would like action to be taken before there's actually an
injury, or heaven forbid, a death from this."
But with the state having spent $250 million on rubberized roadways to
make
traffic quieter, some see the move as counterintuitive and unnecessary.
"I can't imagine a blind person thinking I don't hear anything so I am
going
to just step out in the middle of the freeway," said state Rep. Mark
Anderson, R-Mesa. "It's a big gamble just to step out there."
But Danielsen, himself blind, says that argument is "based on ignorance"
and
assumes blind people should just stay at home and not leave the house.
Advocates also have argued that the bill could protect children and
cyclists.
Dan Taylor, a local cyclist, says he can see both sides, but he doesn't
see
noisier cars as making things any safer for him and his friends.
"If you're in harm's way of a car, you're probably doing something
wrong,"
said Taylor, a licensed acupuncturist. "Once you hear a car coming, it's
usually too close anyway."
There also are concerns from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
that
the bill could deter people from purchasing hybrids - particularly if
each
state had individual laws. Ableser said the hybrids industry will
flourish
either way.
"What this is doing is trying to encourage the automotive industry to
implement this mechanism," Ableser said. "I can't see anyone purchasing
a
regular car because all of a sudden hybrids now make a slight noise.
"People buy hybrids because they want to contribute to the conservation
of
our environment," he said.
On StarNet: Should the state legislature pass the law requiring hybrid cars to emit more noise? Participate in a poll at
http://go.azstarnet.com/hybrid
● Contact reporter Daniel Scarpinato at 307-4339 or
dscarpinato@azstarnet.com
Saturday, April 12
Hybrid legislation introduced in the House of Representatives
Greetings. I received the following message from several different email lists run by the National Federation of the Blind concerning legislation on hybrid cars. I'm posting this here for those interested and politely ask you to contact your representatives to get them to co-sponsor this legislation, or if their name is listed below, to thank them. If we can get this legislation, or some similar, to pass, then it can start the process of making people, auto makers, and others more aware of hybrid cars and the possible danger they pose from someone (blind or otherwise) not hearing them.
***
Fellow Federationists:
It pleases me to write to you announcing that our silent car
legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives. Ed
Towns, Democrat of New York, and Cliff Stearns, Republican of Florida,
has introduced H.R. 5734, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008.
Therefore, your help is needed to gain cosponsors of this important
legislation.
This legislation assures that blind and other pedestrians
will receive the information needed to make proper judgments regarding
the presence of vehicles, in order that we can travel safely. It does
so by:
a.. Requiring the Department of Transportation to convene a study
within ninety days of its enactment;
b.. Requiring the study to determine whether a minimum sound standard
or some other approach will provide blind and other pedestrians the most
accurate information regarding speed, location, and direction of travel
for the vehicles;
c.. Requiring that, when making this consideration, the study must
evaluate the cost of each method examined, including the cost of
providing all pedestrians any technology they must possess under each
approach; and
d.. Requiring that the study consider which approach permits the
greatest amount of independent spontaneous travel for blind and other
pedestrians.
Once the study reaches its conclusions, the Department of
Transportation must report its findings to Congress, and within ninety
days of the study's end, the Department of Transportation must establish
a vehicle safety standard that implements the results of the study.
Finally, two years after the safety standard is implemented, all new
cars sold in the United States must comply.
This legislation is under jurisdiction of the House
Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection of the House
Committee on Energy and Commerce. This subcommittee and its full
committee are the most important members for this bill, though we want
all the members that we can get to cosponsor this legislation. Both of
our original sponsors are members of the subcommittee, and Stearns was
its chair when republicans controlled the House of Representatives.
Now that the bill has been introduced, we need cosponsors.
This is so because the attention gained will push Committee and House
leadership to conduct hearings that will help us get out the message
that, if solutions are not promptly found and implemented, silent cars
will place the independence of blind Americans in real peril. To help
with this task, it is critical that you get your representatives to sign
on to H.R. 5734. Recall that you can reach the Capitol switchboard by
calling (202) 225-3121. I am providing lists of the subcommittee and
full committee members, but you are urged to get all members of the
House to join as cosponsors. Thank you for all you do. Let us now make
a difference in assuring that we can hear cars now and in the future.
Most cordially,
James McCarthy
Government Programs Specialist
National Federation of the Blind
FULL COMMITTEE on Energy and Commerce
John D. Dingell (MI), Chairman
(Ratio: 31-26)
Henry A. Waxman, CA
Joe Barton, TX, Ranking Member
Edward J. Markey, MA
Ralph M. Hall, TX
Rick Boucher, VA
Fred Upton, MI
Edolphus Towns, NY
Cliff Stearns, FL
Frank Pallone, Jr., NJ
Nathan Deal, GA
Bart Gordon, TN
Ed Whitfield, KY
Bobby L. Rush, IL
Barbara Cubin, WY
Anna G. Eshoo, CA
John Shimkus, IL
Bart Stupak, MI
Heather Wilson, NM
Eliot L. Engel, NY
John Shadegg, AZ
Gene Green, TX
Charles W. "Chip" Pickering, MS
Diana DeGette, CO, Vice Chair
Vito Fossella, NY
Lois Capps, CA
Roy Blunt, MO
Mike Doyle, PA
Steve Buyer, IN
Jane Harman, CA
George Radanovich, CA
Tom Allen, ME
Joseph R. Pitts, PA
Jan Schakowsky, IL
Mary Bono Mack, CA
Hilda L. Solis, CA
Greg Walden, OR
Charles A. Gonzalez, TX
Lee Terry, NE
Jay Inslee, WA
Mike Ferguson, NJ
Tammy Baldwin, WI
Mike Rogers, MI
Mike Ross, AR
Sue Wilkins Myrick, NC
Darlene Hooley, OR
John Sullivan, OK
Anthony D. Weiner, NY
Tim Murphy, PA
Jim Matheson, UT
Michael C. Burgess, TX
G. K. Butterfield, NC
Marsha Blackburn, TN
Charlie Melancon, LA
John Barrow, GA
Baron P. Hill, IN
Vacancy
SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, TRADE, AND CONSUMER PROTECTION
(Ratio: 16-13)
Bobby L. Rush (IL), Chairman
Jan Schakowsky, IL, Vice Chair
Ed Whitfield, KY, Ranking Member
G. K. Butterfield, NC
Cliff Stearns, FL
John Barrow, GA
Charles W. "Chip" Pickering, MS
Baron P. Hill, IN
Vito Fossella, NY
Edward J. Markey, MA
George Radanovich, CA
Rick Boucher, VA
Joseph R. Pitts, PA
Edolphus Towns, NY
Mary Bono Mack, CA
Diana DeGette, CO
Lee Terry, NE
Charles A. Gonzalez, TX
Sue Wilkins Myrick, NC
Mike Ross, AR
John Sullivan, OK
Darlene Hooley, OR
Michael C. Burgess, TX
Anthony D. Weiner, NY
Marsha Blackburn, TN
Jim Matheson, UT
Joe Barton, TX (Ex Officio)
Charlie Melancon, LA
John D. Dingell (Ex Officio)
***
Fellow Federationists:
It pleases me to write to you announcing that our silent car
legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives. Ed
Towns, Democrat of New York, and Cliff Stearns, Republican of Florida,
has introduced H.R. 5734, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008.
Therefore, your help is needed to gain cosponsors of this important
legislation.
This legislation assures that blind and other pedestrians
will receive the information needed to make proper judgments regarding
the presence of vehicles, in order that we can travel safely. It does
so by:
a.. Requiring the Department of Transportation to convene a study
within ninety days of its enactment;
b.. Requiring the study to determine whether a minimum sound standard
or some other approach will provide blind and other pedestrians the most
accurate information regarding speed, location, and direction of travel
for the vehicles;
c.. Requiring that, when making this consideration, the study must
evaluate the cost of each method examined, including the cost of
providing all pedestrians any technology they must possess under each
approach; and
d.. Requiring that the study consider which approach permits the
greatest amount of independent spontaneous travel for blind and other
pedestrians.
Once the study reaches its conclusions, the Department of
Transportation must report its findings to Congress, and within ninety
days of the study's end, the Department of Transportation must establish
a vehicle safety standard that implements the results of the study.
Finally, two years after the safety standard is implemented, all new
cars sold in the United States must comply.
This legislation is under jurisdiction of the House
Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection of the House
Committee on Energy and Commerce. This subcommittee and its full
committee are the most important members for this bill, though we want
all the members that we can get to cosponsor this legislation. Both of
our original sponsors are members of the subcommittee, and Stearns was
its chair when republicans controlled the House of Representatives.
Now that the bill has been introduced, we need cosponsors.
This is so because the attention gained will push Committee and House
leadership to conduct hearings that will help us get out the message
that, if solutions are not promptly found and implemented, silent cars
will place the independence of blind Americans in real peril. To help
with this task, it is critical that you get your representatives to sign
on to H.R. 5734. Recall that you can reach the Capitol switchboard by
calling (202) 225-3121. I am providing lists of the subcommittee and
full committee members, but you are urged to get all members of the
House to join as cosponsors. Thank you for all you do. Let us now make
a difference in assuring that we can hear cars now and in the future.
Most cordially,
James McCarthy
Government Programs Specialist
National Federation of the Blind
FULL COMMITTEE on Energy and Commerce
John D. Dingell (MI), Chairman
(Ratio: 31-26)
Henry A. Waxman, CA
Joe Barton, TX, Ranking Member
Edward J. Markey, MA
Ralph M. Hall, TX
Rick Boucher, VA
Fred Upton, MI
Edolphus Towns, NY
Cliff Stearns, FL
Frank Pallone, Jr., NJ
Nathan Deal, GA
Bart Gordon, TN
Ed Whitfield, KY
Bobby L. Rush, IL
Barbara Cubin, WY
Anna G. Eshoo, CA
John Shimkus, IL
Bart Stupak, MI
Heather Wilson, NM
Eliot L. Engel, NY
John Shadegg, AZ
Gene Green, TX
Charles W. "Chip" Pickering, MS
Diana DeGette, CO, Vice Chair
Vito Fossella, NY
Lois Capps, CA
Roy Blunt, MO
Mike Doyle, PA
Steve Buyer, IN
Jane Harman, CA
George Radanovich, CA
Tom Allen, ME
Joseph R. Pitts, PA
Jan Schakowsky, IL
Mary Bono Mack, CA
Hilda L. Solis, CA
Greg Walden, OR
Charles A. Gonzalez, TX
Lee Terry, NE
Jay Inslee, WA
Mike Ferguson, NJ
Tammy Baldwin, WI
Mike Rogers, MI
Mike Ross, AR
Sue Wilkins Myrick, NC
Darlene Hooley, OR
John Sullivan, OK
Anthony D. Weiner, NY
Tim Murphy, PA
Jim Matheson, UT
Michael C. Burgess, TX
G. K. Butterfield, NC
Marsha Blackburn, TN
Charlie Melancon, LA
John Barrow, GA
Baron P. Hill, IN
Vacancy
SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, TRADE, AND CONSUMER PROTECTION
(Ratio: 16-13)
Bobby L. Rush (IL), Chairman
Jan Schakowsky, IL, Vice Chair
Ed Whitfield, KY, Ranking Member
G. K. Butterfield, NC
Cliff Stearns, FL
John Barrow, GA
Charles W. "Chip" Pickering, MS
Baron P. Hill, IN
Vito Fossella, NY
Edward J. Markey, MA
George Radanovich, CA
Rick Boucher, VA
Joseph R. Pitts, PA
Edolphus Towns, NY
Mary Bono Mack, CA
Diana DeGette, CO
Lee Terry, NE
Charles A. Gonzalez, TX
Sue Wilkins Myrick, NC
Mike Ross, AR
John Sullivan, OK
Darlene Hooley, OR
Michael C. Burgess, TX
Anthony D. Weiner, NY
Marsha Blackburn, TN
Jim Matheson, UT
Joe Barton, TX (Ex Officio)
Charlie Melancon, LA
John D. Dingell (Ex Officio)
Saturday, April 5
Press release on hybrid cars
Greetings. Following is a press release on hybrid cars I received yesterday through email. Please excuse any formatting errors and enjoy.
University of California, Riverside Press Release:
Hybrid Cars Are Harder to Hear
Quiet vehicles may pose greater risks to pedestrians, UCR psychologist finds.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Hybrid cars are so quiet
when operating only with their electric
motors that they may pose a risk to the blind
and some other pedestrians, research by a
University of California, Riverside psychologist suggests.
Preliminary results of the on-going research
project show that hybrid cars operating at
very slow speeds must be 40 percent closer to
pedestrians than combustion-engine
vehicles before their location can be audibly
detected, said Lawrence Rosenblum,
professor of psychology. Those findings have
implications for pedestrians who are blind,
runners, cyclists, small children, and others, he said.
"There is a real difference between the
audibility of hybrid vehicles and those with
traditional internal combustion engines that
could have effects on the safety of
pedestrians which need to be studied," Rosenblum
said. "Our preliminary findings could
mean that there is an added danger with hybrid
cars, particularly at intersections and in
parking lots."
In a research project funded by the National
Federation of the Blind, Rosenblum made
audio recordings of hybrid and combustion-engine
cars in a quiet parking lot. The
vehicles moved no faster than 5 miles per hour
to assure that the hybrid car operated only
with its electric motor. Subjects in a lab
listened to the recordings and indicated when
they could hear from which direction the car
approached. Subjects could make these
judgments sooner when listening to the
combustion-engine car than when listening to the
hybrid car.
At speeds above 20 to 25 miles per hour hybrid
cars likely generate enough tire and
aerodynamic noise to make them sufficiently audible, Rosenblum said.
"This research provides evidence that hybrid
cars, when operating in silent mode, pose a
substantial risk to blind people and other
pedestrians. We hope that regulators and car
manufacturers will take notice of these results
and take steps to eliminate this risk," said
Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National
Federation of the Blind, a 50,000-member
advocacy organization for people who are blind or have low vision.
Rosenblum, who is an adviser to the Society of
Automotive Engineers and sits on
committees that make recommendations to the auto
industry, has spent many years
researching perception of approaching cars and
whether there are similarities between
visual and auditory perception of approach.
"I really do feel this is an issue for more than
those who are blind," he said. "We're also
talking about bike riders, runners and others.
Walking around with my kids in a parking
lot makes it very clear that I'm using hearing
and vision to determine where things are."
Rosenblum is continuing the study with greater levels of background noise and
eventually will test people who are blind in
parking lots to determine the level of risk. In
April he will meet with Stanford University
researchers who are developing different
sounds that would enhance the ability of
pedestrians to hear approaching hybrid and
electric cars.
"Everyone's aware of the issue," he said.
However, Rosenblum said, "We are not talking
about major changes to the way automobiles are
designed, but about slightly increasing
their audibility when they are traveling slowly.
Only a subtle sound enhancement should
be required."
University of California, Riverside Press Release:
Hybrid Cars Are Harder to Hear
Quiet vehicles may pose greater risks to pedestrians, UCR psychologist finds.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Hybrid cars are so quiet
when operating only with their electric
motors that they may pose a risk to the blind
and some other pedestrians, research by a
University of California, Riverside psychologist suggests.
Preliminary results of the on-going research
project show that hybrid cars operating at
very slow speeds must be 40 percent closer to
pedestrians than combustion-engine
vehicles before their location can be audibly
detected, said Lawrence Rosenblum,
professor of psychology. Those findings have
implications for pedestrians who are blind,
runners, cyclists, small children, and others, he said.
"There is a real difference between the
audibility of hybrid vehicles and those with
traditional internal combustion engines that
could have effects on the safety of
pedestrians which need to be studied," Rosenblum
said. "Our preliminary findings could
mean that there is an added danger with hybrid
cars, particularly at intersections and in
parking lots."
In a research project funded by the National
Federation of the Blind, Rosenblum made
audio recordings of hybrid and combustion-engine
cars in a quiet parking lot. The
vehicles moved no faster than 5 miles per hour
to assure that the hybrid car operated only
with its electric motor. Subjects in a lab
listened to the recordings and indicated when
they could hear from which direction the car
approached. Subjects could make these
judgments sooner when listening to the
combustion-engine car than when listening to the
hybrid car.
At speeds above 20 to 25 miles per hour hybrid
cars likely generate enough tire and
aerodynamic noise to make them sufficiently audible, Rosenblum said.
"This research provides evidence that hybrid
cars, when operating in silent mode, pose a
substantial risk to blind people and other
pedestrians. We hope that regulators and car
manufacturers will take notice of these results
and take steps to eliminate this risk," said
Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National
Federation of the Blind, a 50,000-member
advocacy organization for people who are blind or have low vision.
Rosenblum, who is an adviser to the Society of
Automotive Engineers and sits on
committees that make recommendations to the auto
industry, has spent many years
researching perception of approaching cars and
whether there are similarities between
visual and auditory perception of approach.
"I really do feel this is an issue for more than
those who are blind," he said. "We're also
talking about bike riders, runners and others.
Walking around with my kids in a parking
lot makes it very clear that I'm using hearing
and vision to determine where things are."
Rosenblum is continuing the study with greater levels of background noise and
eventually will test people who are blind in
parking lots to determine the level of risk. In
April he will meet with Stanford University
researchers who are developing different
sounds that would enhance the ability of
pedestrians to hear approaching hybrid and
electric cars.
"Everyone's aware of the issue," he said.
However, Rosenblum said, "We are not talking
about major changes to the way automobiles are
designed, but about slightly increasing
their audibility when they are traveling slowly.
Only a subtle sound enhancement should
be required."
Monday, March 31
Pedestrians and quiet cars
Greetings. Below is an important article about quiet cars. This could be a growing problem for the blind or anyone that crosses streets by walking. I recognize that quiet cars means less noise in the environment. However, I also know that if I can't hear a car at an intersection, then that could pose problems for me as a blind pedestrian, or anyone who may not see the hazard, for whatever reason. Perhaps its a jogger enjoying their iPod too much, a mother with several kids, someone pulling or pushing a cart of some sort, etc.
The article references that Guide Dogs for the Blind in California has acquired a hybrid car to use in their training. A coworker recently told me that The Seeing Eye, a similar guide dog school in New Jersey, has also added a quiet car to their training of dogs and students. For those that may not be aware, these are the two largest and most well known, and two of the best, guide dog schools in the U.S. Having them add quiet cars to their training activities will hopefully be the beginning step in preparing the blind, the sighted, and other guide dog schools, in the awareness of quiet cars. Enjoy.
From the Los Angeles Times
Blind pedestrians may not hear hybrid cars
Cars that are quiet while in electric mode may provide
no warning to pedestrians.
By Martin Zimmerman
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 29, 2008
Are hybrid cars too quiet for their own good?
Jana Littrell certainly thinks so. Littrell, who is
blind, was walking through a bank parking lot in the
East Bay town of Albany a year ago when her foot
was run over by a Toyota Prius backing out of a
parking space. She wasn't injured and the driver
apologized effusively, she recalled. But the
experience
shook her up.
"It has definitely put me more on my guard," said
Littrell, who teaches Braille to newly blind adults.
"But I don't know how much good that's going to do
me if I can't hear the car coming."
Concerns are growing that quiet-running hybrids such
as the Prius pose a hazard to pedestrians, especially
the 1.3 million Americans who are legally blind.
The problem occurs when the cars are running at very
low speeds on electric power, making about as much
noise as a golf cart.
"There's this silent-but-deadly zone where we cannot
hear these cars," said Bryan Bashin, a Sacramento
management consultant. "We're not just worried about
blind people. It's a hazard to pets, joggers, young
children, cyclists, people who have their back turned.
. . ."
Federal traffic safety regulators report that no
deaths or serious injuries have been attributed to
quiet-running hybrids. But an ongoing study at UC
Riverside
has produced some of the first scientific evidence
that hybrids may pose a hazard to pedestrians,
according to preliminary results to be released today.
Meanwhile, the issue is drawing attention from the
auto industry, state lawmakers and federal regulators.
It even spawned at least one Silicon Valley start-up
that's trying to develop an audible pedestrian warning
system for hybrids.
Bashin, who is sightless, is working with the National
Federation of the Blind to push legislation that could
eventually require installation of "noise
emitting" devices on hybrids and other vehicles that
run at least part of the time on electric power.
That prospect doesn't sit well with some car owners.
The message board at
greenhybrid.com,
a website for hybrid enthusiasts, has seen lively
debates over the issue. In one recent post, a Toyota
Camry hybrid owner wrote that "the world around us
is getting louder and along come hybrids and WHAM!
They get blasted by a group claiming they are too
quiet."
The debate comes as hybrids are becoming increasingly
common. More than 350,000 were sold in the U.S. last
year, according to marketing information firm
J.D. Power and Associates.
Prius owner Sarah Forth of Silver Lake knows the issue
from both sides.
"I noticed the cars creeping up on me when I was
walking around," Forth recalled. "After I got one, I
put two and two together and realized, 'I'm a road
hazard in this car.' "
The vehicles are powered by a combination of gasoline
and electricity and are prized for their fuel economy.
They're particularly popular in California,
which buys almost half the hybrids sold in the U.S. by
Toyota Motor Corp., the leading hybrid maker.
And coming soon: cars powered only by electricity that
produce very little engine noise at any speed
(although, as with hybrids, air flow and tire noise
would become noticeable above 20 or 25 miles per
hour).
Currently, most of the concern is directed at the
top-selling Prius and vehicles such as the Camry that
use similar gasoline-electric engines. The Honda
Civic, the No. 4-selling hybrid in America, is noisier
because it employs a system that almost never switches
into electric-only mode.
The UC Riverside study has found that test subjects
had to be 40% closer to silent-running hybrids than to
cars with traditional gasoline engines before
they could hear them.
"Our preliminary findings could mean that there is an
added danger with hybrid cars, particularly at
intersections and parking lots," said Lawrence
Rosenblum,
a psychology professor doing the study.
Toyota engineers are looking for a solution, but have
yet to come up with one.
"Vehicle safety and pedestrian safety are at the top
of our list," spokesman Bill Kwong said. "At this
point, we're trying to balance the needs of
sight-impaired
people with other sociological concerns such as noise
pollution."
One problem has been in isolating exactly what sounds
most people associate with an approaching vehicle,
such as the engine revving, the fan belt, tire
noise or other sounds. Artificial warning cues "like
chirping or chimes are not identified by test subjects
as a vehicle at all," the automaker said.
Interim solutions include training guide dogs for the
blind to detect cars by sight as well as sound.
Training schools such as Guide Dogs for the Blind
in San Rafael and Guide Dogs of the Desert near Palm
Springs have added Priuses to their training regimens
partly in response to concerns about hybrid
cars.
Longer term, the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration has promised to launch a wide-ranging
investigation into the issue and several states are
considering legislation. A bill soon to be headed to
the governor of Maryland would create a task force to
conduct a study and recommend solutions.
A group of Stanford University students has formed a
company -- Santa Clara-based Enhanced Vehicle
Acoustics -- that is developing an after-market
product
for Toyota hybrids that goes beyond simply making a
noise to alert nearby pedestrians. For example, by
linking to the vehicle's computer, the system would
be able to direct its sounds to the right or left to
warn pedestrians that the car is about to make a turn.
Bashin and other advocates for the blind are
sympathetic to complaints from hybrid fans. But, he
asked, "what am I supposed to do, stay home?"
Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times
The article references that Guide Dogs for the Blind in California has acquired a hybrid car to use in their training. A coworker recently told me that The Seeing Eye, a similar guide dog school in New Jersey, has also added a quiet car to their training of dogs and students. For those that may not be aware, these are the two largest and most well known, and two of the best, guide dog schools in the U.S. Having them add quiet cars to their training activities will hopefully be the beginning step in preparing the blind, the sighted, and other guide dog schools, in the awareness of quiet cars. Enjoy.
From the Los Angeles Times
Blind pedestrians may not hear hybrid cars
Cars that are quiet while in electric mode may provide
no warning to pedestrians.
By Martin Zimmerman
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 29, 2008
Are hybrid cars too quiet for their own good?
Jana Littrell certainly thinks so. Littrell, who is
blind, was walking through a bank parking lot in the
East Bay town of Albany a year ago when her foot
was run over by a Toyota Prius backing out of a
parking space. She wasn't injured and the driver
apologized effusively, she recalled. But the
experience
shook her up.
"It has definitely put me more on my guard," said
Littrell, who teaches Braille to newly blind adults.
"But I don't know how much good that's going to do
me if I can't hear the car coming."
Concerns are growing that quiet-running hybrids such
as the Prius pose a hazard to pedestrians, especially
the 1.3 million Americans who are legally blind.
The problem occurs when the cars are running at very
low speeds on electric power, making about as much
noise as a golf cart.
"There's this silent-but-deadly zone where we cannot
hear these cars," said Bryan Bashin, a Sacramento
management consultant. "We're not just worried about
blind people. It's a hazard to pets, joggers, young
children, cyclists, people who have their back turned.
. . ."
Federal traffic safety regulators report that no
deaths or serious injuries have been attributed to
quiet-running hybrids. But an ongoing study at UC
Riverside
has produced some of the first scientific evidence
that hybrids may pose a hazard to pedestrians,
according to preliminary results to be released today.
Meanwhile, the issue is drawing attention from the
auto industry, state lawmakers and federal regulators.
It even spawned at least one Silicon Valley start-up
that's trying to develop an audible pedestrian warning
system for hybrids.
Bashin, who is sightless, is working with the National
Federation of the Blind to push legislation that could
eventually require installation of "noise
emitting" devices on hybrids and other vehicles that
run at least part of the time on electric power.
That prospect doesn't sit well with some car owners.
The message board at
greenhybrid.com,
a website for hybrid enthusiasts, has seen lively
debates over the issue. In one recent post, a Toyota
Camry hybrid owner wrote that "the world around us
is getting louder and along come hybrids and WHAM!
They get blasted by a group claiming they are too
quiet."
The debate comes as hybrids are becoming increasingly
common. More than 350,000 were sold in the U.S. last
year, according to marketing information firm
J.D. Power and Associates.
Prius owner Sarah Forth of Silver Lake knows the issue
from both sides.
"I noticed the cars creeping up on me when I was
walking around," Forth recalled. "After I got one, I
put two and two together and realized, 'I'm a road
hazard in this car.' "
The vehicles are powered by a combination of gasoline
and electricity and are prized for their fuel economy.
They're particularly popular in California,
which buys almost half the hybrids sold in the U.S. by
Toyota Motor Corp., the leading hybrid maker.
And coming soon: cars powered only by electricity that
produce very little engine noise at any speed
(although, as with hybrids, air flow and tire noise
would become noticeable above 20 or 25 miles per
hour).
Currently, most of the concern is directed at the
top-selling Prius and vehicles such as the Camry that
use similar gasoline-electric engines. The Honda
Civic, the No. 4-selling hybrid in America, is noisier
because it employs a system that almost never switches
into electric-only mode.
The UC Riverside study has found that test subjects
had to be 40% closer to silent-running hybrids than to
cars with traditional gasoline engines before
they could hear them.
"Our preliminary findings could mean that there is an
added danger with hybrid cars, particularly at
intersections and parking lots," said Lawrence
Rosenblum,
a psychology professor doing the study.
Toyota engineers are looking for a solution, but have
yet to come up with one.
"Vehicle safety and pedestrian safety are at the top
of our list," spokesman Bill Kwong said. "At this
point, we're trying to balance the needs of
sight-impaired
people with other sociological concerns such as noise
pollution."
One problem has been in isolating exactly what sounds
most people associate with an approaching vehicle,
such as the engine revving, the fan belt, tire
noise or other sounds. Artificial warning cues "like
chirping or chimes are not identified by test subjects
as a vehicle at all," the automaker said.
Interim solutions include training guide dogs for the
blind to detect cars by sight as well as sound.
Training schools such as Guide Dogs for the Blind
in San Rafael and Guide Dogs of the Desert near Palm
Springs have added Priuses to their training regimens
partly in response to concerns about hybrid
cars.
Longer term, the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration has promised to launch a wide-ranging
investigation into the issue and several states are
considering legislation. A bill soon to be headed to
the governor of Maryland would create a task force to
conduct a study and recommend solutions.
A group of Stanford University students has formed a
company -- Santa Clara-based Enhanced Vehicle
Acoustics -- that is developing an after-market
product
for Toyota hybrids that goes beyond simply making a
noise to alert nearby pedestrians. For example, by
linking to the vehicle's computer, the system would
be able to direct its sounds to the right or left to
warn pedestrians that the car is about to make a turn.
Bashin and other advocates for the blind are
sympathetic to complaints from hybrid fans. But, he
asked, "what am I supposed to do, stay home?"
Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times
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