http://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/ Switched Comments for Federal Bill Says Silent Cars a Threat to Pedestrians http://www.switched.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.switched.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/http://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/Apr 25th 2009 10:40AMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/http://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/Apr 25th 2009 11:25AMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/http://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/Apr 25th 2009 11:59AMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/http://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/Apr 25th 2009 2:45PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/http://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/ If you look at who the two senators are that are proposing this, you will see that they represent states with large urban areas, thus they will be familiar with how big of an issue this is for everyone, not just the visually impaired.
This isn't just an issue about a few blind people in the suburbs not being able to hear some cars. This is an issue about every single pedestrian in all of the larger cities in the country, as well. This is about the children in those cities walking home from school everyday. We have enough pedestrians & bicyclists hit by cars everyday in my city, we don't need to make that number skyrocket, just because we can't hear the two tons chunks of metal barreling down the street anymore.]]>Apr 25th 2009 2:45PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/http://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/Apr 27th 2009 1:07PMhttp://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/http://www.switched.com/2009/04/25/federal-bill-says-silent-cars-a-threat-to-pedestrians/
Visually impaired pedestrians can still be protected using the same technology used to protect motorcyclists from cars in the Dakar race. The motorcyclists have an audible alert system that warns them of a car coming up behind them — fast. The car carries a transmitter that triggers the alert.

Let's keep the silent cars and equip them with forward-facing directional transmitters. The visually impaired can carry a tiny receiver that will warn them of an approaching vehicle. Heck, that receiver can be fancy and even indicate distance and speed.

It saddens me when politicians are so far out of touch with technology that they don't know that a solution to this problem has existed for years.]]>Apr 28th 2009 9:58AM