The whole Ipod/ “on your left” thread got me thinking. What’s going to happen when all the cars on the road are hybrids or electirc and we can’t hear them coming?
Granted, at the rate the auto industries moves, my kid’s kids will be dead…
Not to mention that sulfurous stench they tend to make. I’ll take desiel fumes to those, thank you.
Yea I almost walked in front of a Prius in a parking lot the other day. At low speed it is very stealth like
i believe that most of the noise from an oncoming car is from tire scrub and wind noise, not so much engine/exhaust … the engine you mostly hear as it’s passed (run over) you … which is why mufflers make such a difference in the db level cars generate … plus, there will always be noise from gear whine, brake squeal, pot hole impact / suspension compression …
personally, i think the death of us will come from cell phone, sat. nav. and dvd’s used by the drivers … on a run last night i was waiting at a crosswalk as five consecutive cars passed, each with their driver holding a phone to their ear, and none of them letting me pass despite the fact that they were all stopping for a red light just ahead … inattention by the drivers seems to be far more dangerous than lack of noise by cars.
My other past time at work (besides slowtwitch) is reading Yahoo News. I remember a few months ago reading a story about an english company that made an electric motorcycle prototype. The riders didn’t feel safe because it was basically inaudible. The solution was to put a speaker system on it that made fake engine noises. How annoying would that be?
A quiet car is a more efficient car, so I could easily see the trend running in that direction.
I’ve heard of whistles you can put on the front of cars (sounded by the oncoming air) which make a noise at a frequency non perceptable by the human ear, but perceptable to wild life to keep them away. Maybe something like that could be incorporated for cyclists?
The “death of us” is our current lifestyle, not the ways for a sustainable future.
“Us” was refering to Slowtwitchers not the world population as a whole.
I think most of “us” have a pretty healthy, albeit obsessive, lifestyle.
My other past time at work (besides slowtwitch) is reading Yahoo News. I remember a few months ago reading a story about an english company that made an electric motorcycle prototype. The riders didn’t feel safe because it was basically inaudible. The solution was to put a speaker system on it that made fake engine noises. How annoying would that be?
A great science fiction story I read decades ago was about a guy stranded on an alien world. He had a “ray gun” that disintegrated anything it hit, soundlessly. Turns out there are packs of these dog-like creatures on the planet that go after him. He shoots and shoots, but they keep coming.
Years later, his rescuers ask him if the gun helped him survive. “Oh yeah, couldn’t have done it without it”, as he pounds some nails using the gun. Without any noise, the creatures never associated the gun with death.
The “death of us” is our current lifestyle, not the ways for a sustainable future.
No.
Here in Houston they installed several miles of light rail through downtown and some of the surrounding areas. The train has been running for about a year and a half and there has been over 40 collisions. Most of them have been with drivers pulling in front of, or literally driving into the train.
The Metro folks had to install speakers to make the train louder so people would notice it. I don’t know how you miss a giant white train, but evidently its possible.
Anyone remember the Audi 5000’s? The engine was so quiet that idiots didn’t know they were pushing the accelerator rather than the brake. A lot of lawsuits over what turned out to be user error. They had to idiot proof the car by making sure you couldn’t shift out of park if you were pressing the accelerator.
I live in the northern California, the hotbed of hybrids and it’s not a problem compared to other cars. If you ride safely and always look before you turn, and pay attention as if your life depended upon it. I got passed by several whisper quiet Prius’s during my morning intervals and didn’t mind at all - better than some exhaust spewing oldie.
Agreed. I am not really sure what the issue is in theory. If you are observant, check all angles and blind spots as you should be you should not have a problem. Same for pedestrians. The problem is the observation skills and practices of your typical car driver and pedestrian are terrible! They are completely and totally focused on that little tunnel of vision in front of them or they are completely distracted and have no idea what is going on. Scary!
Fleck
You have actually identified a real issue for these car makers that many are concerned about.
In Japan, electric motorcycles have become quite common. A study of the increased accident/death rates of these quiet electic motorcycle drivers over gas powered motorcycles concluded that automobile drivers could not hear the electic bikes. As a result, the electice bikes were hit more frequently by cars.
They are trying to manufacture sound for these electric motorcycles.
Very similiar issue is the synthetic sound of expensive digital cameras. When first produced, they made no sound and people couldn’t tell they snapped a picture. So, the camera makers added a faux sound.
I think people really do use all of their senses without even knowing it. A quiet car can very well be dangerous to cyclist.
Who published this study? The only news item I could find remotely related to this stated that most of the electric motorbikes sold in Japan are used like scooters for short range trips around town.
If people get in accidents because they are not driving defensively instead of depending upon the noise of their motor, that’s their own fault, but that wasn’t addressed in your comment.
I welcome our incoming whisper quiet motorcycle overlords. The thundering drone of their gasoline cousins in the mountains around here is plenty loud from five hundred meters away.