[PHOTO/CAPTION: Debbie Stein]

[PHOTO/CAPTION: Debbie Stein]

The Braille Monitor
June
2005
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Stop, Look, and Listen:
Quiet Vehicles and Pedestrian Safety

by Deborah Kent Stein

Debbie
Stein

From the Editor: Debbie
Stein is a leader of the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois. She also
chairs a relatively new NFB committee. The following article discusses the issue
with which this committee is grappling and what you can do to help. This is
what she says:
Twenty-five years ago I
read a futuristic article about technologies that might some day free the world
from dependence on fossil fuels. Among the developments we could expect by the
twenty-first century, the article proclaimed, was the electric-powered automobile.
Electric vehicles would be powered by a rechargeable battery rather than the
traditional gas-burning combustion engine. They would be safe and efficient.
Furthermore, such vehicles would alleviate noise pollution along our roads and
highways. Electric cars would be virtually silent.
I read the prediction about
electric cars with deeply mixed feelings. I applauded the idea of cleaner air
and a reduction in greenhouse gases, a benefit to the entire planet. Yet, because
I am blind and travel using a long white cane, the thought of silent vehicles
filled me with apprehension. Like countless other blind people I walk safely
and confidently, judging traffic patterns by sound. Whether I'm crossing a suburban
parking lot or a busy avenue in the Chicago Loop, sound gives me the information
I need about the vehicles in my environment. How could blind people travel independently
in a world filled with silent electric cars?
Troubled, I raised my concerns to a number of blind friends
and colleagues. Nearly everyone agreed that silent cars would pose a devastating
threat to independent travel for blind people. But again and again I heard the
comforting refrain, "They won't let that happen.... They'll figure something
out.... If they develop that technology, they'll be sure to make it safe for
us." Such thoughts were very heartening. Besides, I had faith in my capacity
to find useful cues in my surroundings, no matter how subtle those cues might
seem to others. I was convinced that I would be able to hear even the quietest
electric car if I paid close attention.
More than two decades have passed since I first read about
electric cars, and the future is upon us. Fully electric-powered vehicles have
not become popular yet, but a number of cars and pick-up trucks now operate
using a combination of electricity and gasoline. These vehicles are known as
hybrids because they blend combustion-engine and electric-motor technologies.
Excess energy from the combustion-engine energy, which is wasted in conventional
vehicles, charges the battery that runs the hybrid's electric motor. When it
is in operation, the hybrid vehicle shifts automatically from one power mode
to the other. How often and when the vehicle uses electric power varies widely
according to model and design. In keeping with those long-ago predictions, the
engine is silent when operating in electric-power mode.
I encountered my first hybrid car when Jim, a family friend,
dropped by one morning driving a brand-new Toyota Prius. He explained that the
Prius uses electric power when running at speeds up to about twenty mph and
periodically switches to electric power at faster speeds as well. He added that
the car is extremely quiet in its electric mode--so silent, in fact, that car
dealers have affectionately dubbed it a stealth vehicle. "It'd be a great
burglar's car," Jim said. "You could glide down the street in the
dead of night, and nobody would hear a thing."
Eager to prove to myself that I would be able to hear the
Prius, no matter what the dealers boasted, I asked Jim to conduct an experiment.
He agreed to take the Prius for a short test drive while I listened from the
sidewalk in front of my house on a quiet side street. I heard him climb into
the car and slam the door on the driver's side. Then I waited, listening for
him to start the engine. Nothing happened. I heard only the sparrows chirping
in the trees and the distant roar of a lawn mower. At last the car door opened
again and Jim asked, "Could you hear it?"
"Hear what?" I demanded. "Why didn't you
start up?"
"I did start up," he said. "I drove to the
end of the block. Then I backed up and went about three houses past yours. Then
I drove back and parked here in front of you again."
I went to the curb and rested my hand lightly on the passenger
door. Again Jim started the engine. I felt the car move forward. Uncannily,
eerily, it did not make a sound. With horror I realized that I could easily
step straight into the path of an oncoming Prius with no hint of peril.
Since that unsettling experiment I have become very aware
of the sounds that help me locate the cars in my environment. When a gasoline-powered
vehicle is idling, accelerating, or moving at a speed of less than twenty to
twenty-five mph, the sound of the engine predominates. On some surfaces, such
as a gravel driveway or a rain-spattered street, sound from the tires is also
audible at low speeds. When a car moves faster, most sound comes from the tires
on the pavement and the rush of wind. At high speeds, therefore, a hybrid such
as the Prius can be heard as easily as any other vehicle. 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.
Hybrids are not the only vehicles that pose a challenge
to blind pedestrians on today's streets. Throughout the automotive industry
manufacturers are seeking to make cars quieter. Many gasoline-fueled engines
are now almost as quiet as those that use electric power. Manufacturers are
even developing tires that produce less friction with the road surface. Such
tires will increase fuel efficiency and at the same time cut down on noise.
The increasing prevalence of quiet vehicles may seriously
affect the ability of blind people to travel safely. Low-noise vehicles are
also likely to affect the safety of sighted pedestrians and cyclists. Sighted
people rely on sound to alert them to the presence of vehicles outside their
line of vision. Hearing the approach of a car, they can glance in its direction
to gauge its speed and location. It is no accident that generations of schoolchildren
have been taught to "stop, look, and listen" at every intersection.
In 2003 the National Federation of the Blind passed two
resolutions (2003-05 and 2003-102) dealing with quiet cars. Resolution 2003-05
resolved that the NFB express its deep concern "that the safe and free
travel of blind pedestrians and all pedestrians may be significantly and increasingly
impaired by quiet vehicles." It also resolved that the NFB work with the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration within the Department of Transportation
to initiate research on the effect of quiet cars on pedestrians, both blind
and sighted, in order to propose safety-based solutions to the problem. Resolution
2003-102, approved by the NFB board of directors at its November meeting, calls
for the NFB to express its concern about low-noise vehicles to manufacturers
in the United States and overseas. The resolution further states that "it
is imperative that we adopt a device integrated into the design of each car
which will generate a noise sufficiently loud to allow for the detection of
these automobiles using nonvisual techniques."
In the spring of 2004 NFB President Marc Maurer appointed
a small committee to explore the quiet-car issue and asked me to serve as its
chairman. For the past year the Committee on Automobile and Pedestrian Safety
(CAPS) has approached the problem on several fronts. We have expressed our concern
to automobile manufacturers and to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA). We have reached out to pedestrian and cyclist activist organizations
and to other consumer groups concerned with traffic safety. Among ourselves
we have been engaged in an ongoing discussion about possible solutions to the
quiet car problem. A number of ideas have emerged from the committee's brainstorming.
Perhaps hybrid vehicles could be engineered so that the
radiator fan switches on whenever the car is operating in electric mode. The
fan would emit a hum audible to pedestrians. Perhaps a device built into the
axle could make a sound as the wheels rotate.
It has also been suggested that blind travelers carry a
device that would indicate when a hybrid or other quiet car is in the vicinity.
The signal could be auditory or tactile. A tactile signal would have the advantage
of not blocking other important sounds in the environment. In addition, it could
be of great help to blind people who also have impaired hearing. However, most
of us on the committee question whether any device, however sophisticated, could
give us all of the information we are able to gather from listening to traffic
sounds. By listening we can tell where a car is, how fast it is moving, whether
it is accelerating or slowing down, and whether it is turning or traveling straight
through an intersection. Furthermore, we can collect all of this information
about several vehicles simultaneously.
We fervently hope that one or more relatively low-tech,
inexpensive solutions to the quiet-car problem lie in the future. However, it
will require a highly focused and concerted effort to make such solutions a
reality. At this stage we are just beginning to raise public awareness that
quiet cars pose a safety hazard. Whenever we discuss our concerns with someone
for the first time, the response is invariably the same: "It never occurred
to me that quiet vehicles might be a problem. The quieter the better, right?
But what you're saying makes sense. We need to think about this " Such
exchanges are usually followed by a set of crucial questions: "What sort
of figures do you have? Have pedestrian injuries increased since cars have gotten
quieter? How many people have been killed or injured by quiet cars so far?"
Right now we have no answers to these questions. Extremely
quiet cars such as the Toyota Prius still comprise only a tiny fraction of the
vehicles on the road. It is currently difficult to isolate lack of sound as
a critical factor in pedestrian casualties. We suspect that a link between pedestrian
injuries and quiet cars will be more discernible as low-noise vehicles become
more common. But in the real world mere suspicion is a fragile basis for policy
decisions. We must support logic and intuition with facts and figures.
Before government agencies and the automotive industry
will give weight to our concerns, we need data to prove that quiet cars pose
a serious problem. CAPS is trying to gather statistics on pedestrian casualties
from traffic-safety organizations and from the insurance industry. We also need
to collect accounts of pedestrians and cyclists who have been killed or injured
in accidents involving hybrids or other quiet vehicles. We must document as
many instances as possible in which a vehicle's low sound level has contributed
to an accident. If quiet cars are shown to be involved in more accidents than
so-called noisy vehicles, we can build a case for nonvisual safety measures.
Tragically, casualties must occur before any steps will be taken to insure safety.
Years ago my friends and I told each other that "they"
would protect the safety of blind travelers if electric-powered cars were ever
developed. So far "they", whoever they may be, have done nothing of
the kind. As Federationists we cannot stand by while our ability to travel safely
and independently is whittled away. We must gather the facts, make our voices
heard, and take an active role in the quest for viable solutions. We have met
countless challenges in the past, and with resourcefulness and perseverance
we will meet this one as well.
NOTE: If you have had experiences
involving quiet cars or if you have ideas about solutions to the problem, please
contact Debbie Stein at <[email protected]> or (773) 631-1093.
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