TftC: News at 11! Are Electric Cars Silent Killers???

In Europe, pedestrian safety regulations have mandated tall, flat-faced front fascias, while mandating more underhood space and the development of fancy technologies to limit bodily injury should you get plowed.

Here in the United States, our pedestrian concerns have been limited to electric cars since you apparently can't hear the damn things. Organizations for the blind have been particularly vocal (no pun intended) and the government has jumped on board, proposing the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act (PSEA), which will essentially mandate that electric cars utilize some sort of artificial noise within a certain speed threshold.

In anticipation of the PSEA, Nissan has equipped its Leaf with an artificial noise when at such puttering speeds. It wasn't an easy task, however, as Nissan's researchers and engineers had to find a noise that was loud enough to be affective but not obnoxious to drivers and bystanders alike.

Initially, it experimented with music for some wacky reason, meeting with a German pipe organ expert and a music professor to compose special Leaf songs. Nissan engineer Tsuyoshi Kanuma told the Los Angeles Times "that it sounded like an ice cream truck."

For those of you who lack an imagination, I'm guessing it would've sounded something like this.

The actual acceleration sound is pretty much a louder version of a traditional electric motor noise, which according to tests by Western Michigan University is more audible than the typical gasoline engine.

Though Nissan is the first real company with a ready-to-purchase, full-electric car, there will certainly be more on the way, and with PSEA, they'll need to make artificial noises. The Chevy Volt is no exception and GM has already been at work developing such a system for future Volts (it presently chirps the horn when you flash the lights, which wouldn't comply with the PSEA's requirement of a continuous noise).

According to David Lake, manager of environment safety and possibilities for GM's public policy center, GM has been working with Western Michigan University and the National Federation of the Blind for two years to research and develop sounds before PSEA was even proposed.

"They've looked at a number of different sounds," Lake said. "You could call some of them 'techy' sort of sounds," which he equated to George Jetson's car. That would sound something like this.

"Then we have considered a hybrid of sounds," Lake said, combining the Jetsons car with more of a faux engine noise. "But we have yet to zero in on a particular sound."

This got me to thinking, however. Just as cars with internal combustion engines have signature noises (both from the engine and exhaust), couldn't electric cars take on similar aural qualities? Lake agreed, noting that such differentiation between models could have a future for electric cars.

Hell, if you're making fake engine noises, why not make a Chevy Volt Big Block Edition?

Or you could personalize your vehicle sounds, and blare whatever you damn well please. I think I'd go for a Rose Bowl vibe. It would certainly get people out of your way.

Kidding aside, what about the impetuous for these quiet car regulations: the blind?

"I have not had any personal problems (with hybrids), and I'm out there traveling around moreso than anybody," said Brian Bushway, a blind man who teaches echolocation skills (think dolphins and bats) to other blind people. "If you're looking and paying attention to quiet cars, it's just another thing you're looking for."

Now, Bushway is certainly better off than most blind folks, but he still sees such pedestrian safety issues as something that indeed transcends the blind.

"The concern is that blind people are going to be taken out by cars, but this is better for sighted people too because sighted people aren't paying attention to the world around them (as trained blind people are)," he said. "I've heard stories of elderly sighted people being run over by their mate. I haven't heard any stories of blind people being run over by silent cars, but I bet more sighted people are being hit by cars than blind people simply because of the population difference."

Indeed, between 2002 and 2006, an average of five blind pedestrians were killed by cars per year -- there were 4,881 total pedestrian fatalities in 2005. None were reported to have been killed by a Prius, by far the best-selling hybrid vehicle. Another study showed that the Prius was involved in pedestrian accidents only 0.3 percent more than traditional gasoline-powered cars. Stop the presses.

So really, of the 4,092 total pedestrian fatalities in 2009, how many could've been prevented by the person listening to their mother and looking both ways before they cross the street? Or what if they removed the damn earbuds and listened to the world around them rather than Lady Gaga? Also, those 4,092 deaths occurred with regular cars presumably moving a lot faster than whatever slow, noise-activating speed threshold of the future Volt in Jetsons mode.

As such, I'm standing by my stance that this pedestrian safety thing is being blown out of proportion. Pedestrian fatalities are actually at their lowest in 35 years, but they've been holding rather steady for a decade, and is that 800-person drop from '05 to '09 really the result of the relatively small percentage of new Euro-friendly flat-faced cars being introduced to the road? I seriously doubt it. Nevertheless, it certainly seems like idiot-proofing the world will continue, though if a Chevy Volt can sound like it's picking Elroy up from school, perhaps I'm on board after all.

Follow my abbreviated automotive musings on the Twitter @JRiswick

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