![]() The European Blind Union (EBU) has worked on silent cars since 2009. 3) What have BPS organisations done so far? The British Newspaper “The Guardian” references a study that 93% of all BPS persons have had problems with electric vehicles. Research by the British NGO “Guide Dogs” highlights that “hybrid vehicles had to be 65 per cent closer to a pedestrian before they could be audibly detected”. A study commissioned by the UK Department for Transport shows that electric and hybrid vehicles “were far more difficult to detect” than conventional vehicles at the lowest steady speed. In fact, sounds play a core role in the main slogan of road safety education, for example in the UK: “Stop, Look, Listen, Think” [Department for Transportation 2018 2) Are there numbers to back up these claims?Īccording to a study by the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NTHSA), electric vehicles are 37% and 56% more likely to be involved in accidents with pedestrians and cyclists respectively. These groups all rely on acoustic information to supplement their visual input on traffic situations. This includes among others children, cyclists, elderly persons and pedestrians that are momentarily distracted, for instance by using their smartphone. Silent cars are a problem for all other vulnerable road users too. Without this input, BPS persons face enormous traffic safety issues that limit their ability to independently move around on a daily basis. This is especially problematic for blind and partially sighted (BPS) pedestrians, who require acoustic input to be aware of crossing vehicles and parallel traffic to safely cross a street. 1) What is the problem with electric vehicles?Īt low speeds, electric vehicles are almost silent, which makes them hard to detect for pedestrians. ![]()
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