Should cars be quiet?

[Dave2002]

I don't have a problem with quiet cars, but some people are concerned. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13417962

Also http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13416020

[Panjandrum]

Finally, we have the opportunity to create an environment free from the noise pollution of the internal combustion engine, and they're looking for ways to replace it.

[hackneyvi]

I work for people with low vision and the idea - in London - of motor vehicles silently storming crossings and red lights is a terrifying one.

I loathe noise pollution myself, but the solution to that is for others to drive less and clear cars off the road. I think the problem is the volume of traffic, not the noise that individual vehicles make. Except where the London police force are concerned ...

Late at night and in the small hours, they have taken to hovering their helicopter, low, over the area of my residence for long periods of time. I believe this is because the Chief Constable keeps dropping his keys.

They have to fly low, you see. There's no way they'd find the keys, otherwise. Be fair.

[Serial_Apologist]

The last time one came over here in the small hours, we shot it down. That put a stop to the problem.

[hackneyvi]

The last time one came over here in the small hours, we shot it down. That put a stop to the problem.

I love the 'we'. Community spirit is clearly thriving in your borough, SA, and I find your story strangely moving.

In 'ackney, we's affeared 'a they police helicopters is a bit like dragon's teeth. Bring one of 'em down and two'd spring up in her place.

Oh-ar!

:yokel emoticon:

[Dave2002]

I drive a quiet car. It has a rear view camera which I use to avoid mowing pedestrians and baby carriages down. Without that I think it could be dangerous, but with this aid my belief is that it's pretty safe. Drivers who rely on the vroom of their cars to help pedestrians avoid them should not be allowed out. It's the drivers who should avoid pedestrians, not the other way round.

It's the principle used in Boston, US, where on exiting the airport there used to be a sign that stated more or less - "In this state pedestrians always have priority".

[Flosshilde]

I drive a quiet car. It has a rear view camera which I use to avoid mowing pedestrians and baby carriages down. Without that I think it could be dangerous, but with this aid my belief is that it's pretty safe.

Goodness - do you usually drive sdrawkcab?

Drivers who rely on the vroom of their cars to help pedestrians avoid them should not be allowed out. It's the drivers who should avoid pedestrians, not the other way round.

Well, yes, they should, but unfortunately some will insist on not doing so. Hopefully they are the same ones who like vroom-vroom exhausts, so if cars become quite they'll find some way of replicating the effect & warning us of their approach.

[Stillhomewardbound]

We live in a car saturated era. The idea that a quiet car is a danger is a ridculous notion. They make our streets horribly noisy, night and day, and they really should be minimised for noise.

The real danger is the constant one that pedestrians pose to themselves. More and more, they spill on to the road, insisting on crossing away from the lights that have been installed for their safety, without checking for any oncoming traffic and while texting or chatting at the same time.

Motorists and cyclists do not embark at their journey with a human scorecard to complete on their morning commute or their. However, pedestrians, in London certainly, step out with a terrifying, disregard for their own safety.

How is it that in this country for example there's no offence of jay walking and no system of fines for ignoring the red man.

You can hardly imposed a code of conduct for one set of users, while letting another do as they will.

[johnb]

It is surprising how much we rely on our ears, at least in side roads. A couple of years ago I had a spell when my hearing was very badly affected by an infection of some kind. I was startled by just how disorientating it was and I quickly realised just how much aural queues contributed when crossing the side roads around where I live and how those aural queues are usually automatically processed by the brain to build up a spacial 'map' of what is around one. I had to deliberately stop and carefully look both ways instead of taking the usual casual glance.

Having said that, it seems perverse to deliberately introduce noise into electric cars. (Perhaps the owner will be able to choose the sounds that the cars will make: heavy metal, Ride of the Valkyries, ice cream van jingle, lion roaring, F1 racing car, etc.)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The real danger is the constant one that pedestrians pose to themselves. More and more, they spill on to the road, insisting on crossing away from the lights that have been installed for their safety, without checking for any oncoming traffic and while texting or chatting at the same time.

Being a pedestrian is the most dangerous thing in the world. You have to deal with:

Other pedestrians, who walk with mobile phones, shouting as they go (or texting),
Irresponsible cyclists who never get the £500 fine the law states,
Parked cars on the footpath, which should be towed away and impounded. The drivers are too lazy to park safely and walk to their metal monsters,
Cars and vans actually driving along the pavement - Royal Mail being the worst culprit round here,
Mobility scooters, which are basically electric cars on the pavement (or the road - it does not seem to matter.

[Flosshilde]

We live in a car saturated era. The idea that a quiet car is a danger is a ridculous notion. They make our streets horribly noisy, night and day, and they really should be minimised for noise.

The real danger is the constant one that pedestrians pose to themselves. More and more, they spill on to the road, insisting on crossing away from the lights that have been installed for their safety, without checking for any oncoming traffic and while texting or chatting at the same time.

It's not ridiculous that quiet cars are dangerous - as John says we rely on our ears as much as our eyes, & I can echo his experience while (temporarily) deaf. Lots of people have limited or no sight, & do rely on sound.

I believe that pedestrians should have priority over cars - that's the only way to have civilised urban areas. City centres that are designed with pedestrians & not cars in mind are much more pleasurable to use. Ones where pedestrians are coralled into areas by railings etc are in-human - it's basically saying that they have no right to be there & that cars are king.

Motorists and cyclists do not embark at their journey with a human scorecard to complete on their morning commute or their.

Difficult to believe sometimes!

You can hardly imposed a code of conduct for one set of users, while letting another do as they will.

That situation doesn't exist - the Highway Code includes rules for pedestrians. But in any case cars are much more powerful than pedestrians, & should have more stringent rules (if a pedestrian steps out into the path of a car - or indeed a bicycle - they are much more likely to come of worst). I believe that in the case of shipping there is a general rule that 'steam gives way to sail' - in other words, the more powerful gives way to the less powerful.

[Panjandrum]

Lots of people have limited or no sight, & do rely on sound.

In fact, most blind or visually impaired people will always cross at pedestrian crossings because they appreciate that one cannot rely on sound alone when judging traffic flow: to take one example, cyclists can often not be heard but can be moving at significant speed.

However, I agree that many pedestrians appear to use their aural faculties in preference to their ocular ones. This does not though mean that the rest of us should be forced to agree to artificial sonically enhanced vehicles to protect those who will not use the sense which gives them the best method of detecting oncoming traffic.

[hackneyvi]

We live in a car saturated era. The idea that a quiet car is a danger is a ridculous notion. They make our streets horribly noisy, night and day, and they really should be minimised for noise.

The real danger is the constant one that pedestrians pose to themselves ...

In London, the general standard of all people has deteriorated horribly. I do not travel on any bus which doesn't jump red light. In Tower Hamlets, every pavement is used by cyclists and every point of every road is used for crossings.

The culture (simply an agreed way of doing things, habit) has become so dilute that it isn't engendered in the wider population

Being a pedestrian is the most dangerous thing in the world. You have to deal with:

Other pedestrians, who walk with mobile phones, shouting as they go (or texting),
Irresponsible cyclists who never get the £500 fine the law states,
Parked cars on the footpath, which should be towed away and impounded. The drivers are too lazy to park safely and walk to their metal monsters,
Cars and vans actually driving along the pavement - Royal Mail being the worst culprit round here,
Mobility scooters, which are basically electric cars on the pavement (or the road - it does not seem to matter.

In London, all species of vehicle are used by people and people are pedestrians, too. In London, I think the pedestrian is the most vulnerable abused group because it's maltreated on every surface - by all forms of moving traffic - pedestrian, bike, car, cab, bus and lorry - on both the pavement and the road. However, pedestrians also abuse other pedestrian and road users.

Behaviour here is negligent because there is no culture of consideration or so little or no acceptance of comment or reproach.

The dominant culture is that of the individual's right to public primacy. Each one is publically right all the time. It's foul here.

[Flosshilde]

In fact, a lot of the noise generated by motor vehicles (sorry about the rather antiquated/Grewish terminology!) isn't created by the engine, but by the tyres on the road surface. There have been tests with different surfaces & some are much quieter than others (cobbles or sets are among the noisiest surfaces, but do have the advantage of slowing vehicles down).

[David Underdown]

As a cyclist, pedestrian and driver, it's certainly true that rather a lot of people do rely solely on their ears when stepping into the road. It's also true that there are menaces in all three categories, as well as completely sensible people. I could have a good rant about dog walkers on shared use paths, but I won't. From what I've seen previously, any noise deliberately produced by electric card will be at a much lower level than that produced by internal combustion engines, and be generated in such a way that it will be very directional, audible in front of the car, but far less so once the car has passed, whereas an engine radiates its noise essentially all around