Quiet Hybrid Cars - the unintended consequence

[bijou]

Husb2Sparkly  (1000+ posts)       Tue Mar-25-08 08:01 AM
Original message
Quiet Hybrid Cars - the unintended consequence
 Advertisements [?]Md. House OKs measure to study quiet cars

The Associated Press
4:01 PM EDT, March 24, 2008

The House of Delegates has approved a bill to study whether quiet hybrid vehicles should be louder so that they don't pose a threat to blind pedestrians.

The idea came to the General Assembly because of complaints that blind people can't hear the vehicles when they try to cross the street.

Minimum noise levels are not addressed under current law.

A similar proposal is pending in the Senate. The bills would set up a task force to investigate whether Maryland officials should require noisier cars.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-hybrid0324,0...
 

DangerDave921 (1000+ posts)      Tue Mar-25-08 08:23 AM
Response to Reply #3
6. Yup
 Unintended consequences are a bitch. I've read that lighter cars, desgined for better gas mileage, result in more road deaths because the cars don't have as much mass to withstand a collision. So we get better mileage but a higher risk of death. Thanks!

And there's the constant debate that raising the minimum wage causes young people to lose jobs because employers hire fewer people.

Unintended Consequences is really a subject all its own.

madokie  (1000+ posts)      Tue Mar-25-08 08:25 AM
Response to Reply #3
7. maybe its time to put the little flippers on the spokes like we used to do on our bicycles

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3056987

The DUmmies bicker gently over unintended consequences.

[DixieBelle]

I KNEW it!!! I was arguing this point with libtards back when the Prius was hitting the market. I had firsthand experience because I nearly got creamed by one while crossing a street!

Also, I know that some firefighter buddies of mine were debating the finer points of rescuing an individual from a hybrid car because of the potential battery leaks. I haven't revisited that issue since so I don't know if it even one today. But at the time, their feelings were that it could delay rescue since the chemicals leaking from a hybrid battery would pose a Hazmat situation. Again, I'm recalling a years old hypothetical conversation.

Nice to see the DUmmies attempt to discuss unintended consequences.

[Bondai]

I KNEW it!!! I was arguing this point with libtards back when the Prius was hitting the market. I had firsthand experience because I nearly got creamed by one while crossing a street!

Also, I know that some firefighter buddies of mine were debating the finer points of rescuing an individual from a hybrid car because of the potential battery leaks. I haven't revisited that issue since so I don't know if it even one today. But at the time, their feelings were that it could delay rescue since the chemicals leaking from a hybrid battery would pose a Hazmat situation. Again, I'm recalling a years old hypothetical conversation.

Nice to see the DUmmies attempt to discuss unintended consequences.

Not to mention the damage caused to the enviornment just by the manufacturing of the batteries and the disposal of said batteries.Eventually technologhy will catch up but I am betting on hydrogen powered cars, not electric.

[Lauri]

i saw this weekend on some news show that the new cars with tougher impact standards also made it difficult for firefighters to cut people out of them should an accident occur.

i think the bottom line is, there is no perfectly safe ANYthing out there. to drive, ride on, fly in .. etc.. we will never win with these people. now the car manufacturers should do what? make the cars heavier? use less metal?

what??

[Chris_]

If the government gets involved, the same groups wil be complaining about noise pollution next.   

[jukin]

Unintended Consequences is really a subject all its own.

NO, it is a subject owned by liberals.

[franksolich]

Well, I dunno what to do about this.

You know, one time I used bone-conductors for "hearing"--they helped but at an enormous cost, so I gave them up--and found these noise-things for blind people drove me nuts.

It got to where I wouldn't even use elevators in the tallest buildings of Lincoln (20 stories, or thereabouts), because that damned blipblipblip thing, when "heard" through a mechanical device, does really horrid things to the inside of one's head.

I'm sure it has something to do with a sound that is channeled, and restructured, through a mechanical device, as compared with natural hearing.

And these "talking" red-yellow-green traffic lights, same thing.

Microwave ovens, same thing.

Even though I don't use anything mechanical any more to "hear," to this day I steer clear of microwave ovens, the memory being so irksome.

But because the blind special interests are much larger and wealthier than the deaf special interests, I don't imagine this will change.

Seriously, while such things may be of great assistance to some, they DO cause problems for others.

[Lauri]

i drive an SUV and my neighbors have a hybrid and the motor does indeed turn off at stops. the more important thing to me was that the car had zero pick up. a family of four with any kid over the age of six will have a difficult time with leg room in that car..

the gas mileage might be great, but if my family doesnt fit in the car cause they are normal sized humans.. and my dog doesnt fit and i cant buy a piece of furniture or a big plant and haul it home, it does me no good. heck, my normal 5 or 6 bags of groceries wouldnt even fit in the trunk of that dinky car..

but the slowness of the thing was a problem for me.. it could barely get out of its own way and forget about taking a trip in something that small. it would be painful.

[Chris_]

i drive an SUV and my neighbors have a hybrid and the motor does indeed turn off at stops. the more important thing to me was that the car had zero pick up. a family of four with any kid over the age of six will have a difficult time with leg room in that car..

the gas mileage might be great, but if my family doesnt fit in the car cause they are normal sized humans.. and my dog doesnt fit and i cant buy a piece of furniture or a big plant and haul it home, it does me no good. heck, my normal 5 or 6 bags of groceries wouldnt even fit in the trunk of that dinky car..

but the slowness of the thing was a problem for me.. it could barely get out of its own way and forget about taking a trip in something that small. it would be painful.

I know what you mean with the zero pick up.

I've driven a hybrid recently.  It belongs to a friend who wanted me to "give hybrids a chance."   Not my idea of fun.  Trying to get a Prius up a hill is embarrassing.   

Give me my very gas-efficient Mazda 6 over a Prius any day. 

[DixieBelle]

My mom bought a hybrid. It's an SUV and we call it "Mom's Golf Cart". It has a "power save mode" for the A/C. If you idle for X amount of time, it cuts off the air conditioning. Really sucks in the deep South in July. Grrrrrr...

It can be overrided easily by selecting a certain setting. But it must be done every time you start the thing.

[Chris_]

My mom bought a hybrid. It's an SUV and we call it "Mom's Golf Cart". It has a "power save mode" for the A/C. If you idle for X amount of time, it cuts off the air conditioning. Really sucks in the deep South in July. Grrrrrr...

It can be overrided easily by selecting a certain setting. But it must be done every time you start the thing.

ICK!  What kind of SUV? 

[DixieBelle]

Ford Escape.