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Lawmaker Claims Hybrid Cars Too Quiet


Texsox

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How much of the noise that you hear coming down the road is due to the engine, though? Sure, if I've got my foot to the floor it'll be loud, but most of the noise is from the tires and air. Manufacturers have gone to great lengths to make the engines in most cars as quiet as possible.

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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 22, 2008 -> 02:34 PM)
PC collides with PC...

 

 

You mean PC collides with nanny state. I think we should introduce a bill that says if you get hit by a car because you weren't looking where you were going or dart into traffic then you should pay the repair cost to the car.

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QUOTE (NUKE @ Apr 23, 2008 -> 07:56 AM)
You mean PC collides with nanny state. I think we should introduce a bill that says if you get hit by a car because you weren't looking where you were going or dart into traffic then you should pay the repair cost to the car.

When I heard about this, it was because of blind people who were attempting to cross the street, but were unable to hear the cars at all (I didn't read the article about the bill, but I'm guessing that it has similar reasons).

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QUOTE (NUKE @ Apr 23, 2008 -> 06:56 AM)
You mean PC collides with nanny state. I think we should introduce a bill that says if you get hit by a car because you weren't looking where you were going or dart into traffic then you should pay the repair cost to the car.

 

It's about blind people.

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QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 23, 2008 -> 08:00 AM)
It's about blind people.

 

 

I don't have research to back me up on this but I will bet you my last nickel that blind people get hit by vehicles far less than idiots on cell phones or people who just never learned to look both ways before they cross the street.

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QUOTE (NUKE @ Apr 23, 2008 -> 08:03 AM)
I don't have research to back me up on this but I will bet you my last nickel that blind people get hit by vehicles far less than idiots on cell phones or people who just never learned to look both ways before they cross the street.

 

The theory is, with quiet hybrids, then blind people could be hit as often as those idiots talking on their cell phones.

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QUOTE (NUKE @ Apr 23, 2008 -> 07:21 AM)
What if the blind person WAS one of the idiots talking on his cell phone?

 

:lolhitting

Toss in a Starbucks double expresso and "driving" his dog with his knee, and he should get hit. :lolhitting

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QUOTE (NUKE @ Apr 23, 2008 -> 07:03 AM)
I don't have research to back me up on this but I will bet you my last nickel that blind people get hit by vehicles far less than idiots on cell phones or people who just never learned to look both ways before they cross the street.

 

So what? The law isn't meant to address those idiots. Kids down in Champaign would get hit by freakin' buses (you know, obnoxiously loud turbocharged diesel engines) because they were busy texting and listening to their iPod. This lawmaker's proposal wasn't about those people.

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My mom has a hybrid and I've always been amazed at how quite it is. However, Im not sure that it'd make any more/less noise than my civic does while riding down the road. As mentioned before I think most of the noise made from engine cars are from the tires and wind (whether they be hybrid or not).

 

I think it might be worth it for someone to do some real research into this though... couldn't hurt.

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QUOTE (southsidehawkeye @ Apr 23, 2008 -> 12:51 PM)
My mom has a hybrid and I've always been amazed at how quite it is. However, Im not sure that it'd make any more/less noise than my civic does while riding down the road. As mentioned before I think most of the noise made from engine cars are from the tires and wind (whether they be hybrid or not).

 

I think it might be worth it for someone to do some real research into this though... couldn't hurt.

 

I think the danger time would be at 5-30 mph. Not a lot of wind or tire noise. I'm thinking that would be most intersections where people would be crossing.

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QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Apr 23, 2008 -> 12:12 PM)
I'll admit it, I almost walked in front of a hybrid in my apartment complexes parking lot. Never heard it and I was looking the other way.

Maybe I just hear it more, but I actually tend to recognize the noise hybrids make more than the noise other cars make, because hybrid cars have a distinct hum, even when on the electronics. I can have a Highlander or an Escape drive past me while biking and I can tell its a hybrid by the noise because it's different from other cars.

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I had an opportunity to engage one of our campus security cops about pedestrian accidents and if he has noticed an increase recently. He said no and wondered why I asked. I talked about this and he was going to look up the accidents to see if there is a trend he can spot. There are probably so few accidents and so few hybrids it will probably be insignificant. His thinking was on campus someone is clearly wrong in almost every case. Pedestrians with iPods (he says #1 cause) and drivers ignoring crosswalks (usually not familiar with laws).

 

So while this will not change the first two, except perhaps a small increase when iPod meets hybrid, or hybrid does not understand pedestrian crosswalks. But I'm wondering if the biggest increase could be distracted pedestrians who might have otherwise heard.

 

Depending on the cure, I could be convinced this is too small a problem to legislate and wonder what industry is in the congressman's district.

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QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2008 -> 02:21 PM)
Maybe I just hear it more, but I actually tend to recognize the noise hybrids make more than the noise other cars make, because hybrid cars have a distinct hum, even when on the electronics. I can have a Highlander or an Escape drive past me while biking and I can tell its a hybrid by the noise because it's different from other cars.

so a "white noise" theory. interesting. never thought of that. We are so used to what it is supposed ot sound like we notice something unusual.

 

In my case, it was going only 5-10 miles per hour. So, there was very little noise produced by it.

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