H.R.5734 - Federal Government

anonymous said

For Chrissake!!!
Modern autos' engines are almost silent. Vehicle sound comes mostly from tires, and hybrids sound the same. DO NOT DO THIS. This issue is an irrelevant artifact of the unfortunate Prius commercial.

Bob Wilson said

Instead of boot strapping "Smart Highways," this bill mandates the least effective approach, human hearing, to a real safety problem that kills 5,000 pedestrians and cyclists per year. The advocates cite anecdotal reports because the traffic data, "ANALYSIS OF BLIND PEDESTRIAN DEATHS AND INJURIES" by Christopher Hogan shows only 5 blind died in 2006 from ordinary non-hybrid vehicles. Worse, the proposed solution only makes hybrids as deadly as today's non-hybrids. No one is safer!

A hybrid owner, this bill threatens to force an expensive modification to my used car to implement something that does not make me or my riders one bit safer or cheaper to operate. In contrast, "Smart Highway" technology, starting with the hybrids could not only improve the safety of the blind around my vehicle by letting the accurately know direction and velocity, something their ears can not tell, but it would let us hybrid owners operate our vehicles in ways that further save fuel, costs and safety.

Adding noise makers to our hybrids is the wrong approach and must be rejected or replaced with something we can support, "Smart Highway" wireless radio network and integrated vehicle controls.