Remember when we mentioned the problem with the new ENV hydrogen motorcycle being too silent? You could be zipping down the road and people would walk out in front of you because they never heard you coming. It seems the new hybrid cars are running into the same problem when in their all electric mode. You start backing up in a parking lot and bang!, you hit a pedestrian.
Motor Trend magazine has an article about many Prius drivers seeing this happen all the time. Blind pedestrians are particularly vulnerable since they listen for car sounds before proceeding into the street. All of this is learned behavior because we have for so long been accustomed to engine sounds and now the technology is changing and habits have to change along with them. Maybe people have to actually start looking again before they walk out into traffic. What the blind will do isn’t clear. The idea of backup alarms on cars like we hear on big trucks may be a first attempt, but as one person said in the article, imagine walking in a mall parking lot with a hundred backup alarms beeping, it would drive you nuts. Of course, with a hydrogen motorcycle, we can just put playing cards in the spokes, problem solved.
On a positive note, with vehicle noise gone, the complaints about noise pollution should diminish.
Just one more unintended consequence of this brave new world.
Motor Trend via Autoblog
sigint says
I guess I never grew up on using engine sounds to tell if a car is coming. I’ve alway used my eyes. I guess school really pounded into our skulls “Look both ways before you cross”. Even on one way streets, it’s just a habit.
Matthew says
Other than my bike, I’ve been driving a Prius for the last 5 years or so. I’ve had to learn to watch out of the people rather than the other way round. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had a pedestrian simply walk out in front of me in a parking lot without a single glance.
coho says
It’s surprising to me that, unlike most motorcyclists, the vast masses of pedestrian America have not internalized the fact that having the right of way does not in any way render one indestructible. And that, when dead or in a persistent vegetative state, having the legal high ground is small consolation.
sfan says
I have a hard time believing the noise safety debate is anything more than urban myth. 1) most modern cars make less engine noise than tire noise 2) the engine noise they make is projecting rearward away from possible collision risks 3) all other vehicles are in their own cones of silence from the outside world 4) increasingly urban pedestrians are in their own mp3 headphone fog or otherwise subject to significant ambient noise.
Dave says
I do a bit of off-road riding in the UK on what we call green lanes, which we share with walkers and horse riders. Our 250cc trials bikes are a little noisy and hence we face some criticism. I’m looking forward to trying a silent electric or hydrogen bike as this may be seen as more acceptable. It may also allow us to use tracks that currently do not allow motorised vehicles
todd says
Oh don’t worry, as soon as you start riding your new electric bike on the new tracks THE MAN will find out a way to prohibit that as well.
-todd
sfan says
Although a tangent from this thread, I’d like to know more about the logical extension of hybrid design (near term, pre-hydrogen fuel cell). It seems to me that it is something along these lines:
– small engine, tuned for maximum fuel efficiency, exclusively driving an electric generator;
– generator stores energy in battery bank; and
– full-time electric drive.
Full efficiency is best with no acceleration and infrequent stops and starts.
The engine/generator run in a narrow rpm band charging the batteries as needed. Electric power, with high torque is well suited to energy efficient acceleration and should be as good as gas/diesel for maintenance of steady-state speed.
This type of configuration has been used on trains for decades. It may well be better suited to cars than motorcycles because of the weight & bulk of current battery technology.
– Does this make sense?
– What is the most efficient fuel-engine design for this type of operating requirement (turbine/TDI/etc.)?