It's one of those "feel good" bills.
If it sounds right...and it's positioned in the right way... it gets forwarded.
You gotta remember our legislators are just regular people. Most of the time they have support crews that assist in helping them w/ there votes.[  ]
My money is on that this bill will get shut down.
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Today in History:
Pacific Commercial Advertiser announced that the Volcano House was open for business, 1866
Out of respect of the PW member that sent this to me via email, I will leave their name out.
However, I learned something if its true that I think should be shared with all and I thank this person for enlightening me on something I didn't really think about....However, the more I think about it...the more it makes some sense.
....The manufactures! The auto industry itself is secretly pushing for such legislation. They want the government to tell them what they must do. If government tells them to do A or B and later it turns out to be ineffective, the finger gets pointed to government, not the manufactures. They don#146;t want to decide what#146;s best, they want to be told. Manufactures had sat and talked to the various groups, (blind, cyclist, walkers) and although they didn#146;t admit anything wrong with the cars, they were willing to keep an open mind if government said there was an issue. Hence the backroom push to get something mandated by government.
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Today in History:
Pacific Commercial Advertiser announced that the Volcano House was open for business, 1866
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quote:
Originally posted by Bob Orts
...But I'm curious; who keeps this measurable verified link?...
Insurance companies, the NTSB, risk managers, the auto industry, these are all people with vested interests in this kind of a question. I'd bet you're right, Bob, no information is currently gathered on the propulsion system of cars involved in auto accidents. Perhaps before we start passing new legislation based on a "feeling", somebody ought to gather some facts. I'm going to call my insurance agent right now, to see what he's got to say, and I'm going to do some Googling on the NTSB to see if they have any information about this subject.
Back to the truck back-up beepers mentioned above, why do our personal autos not have the beepers, but trucks do? Because in passenger vehicles, the visibility isn't as horrible as it is in a truck. There are blind spots to the rear of all passenger vehicles, to be sure, but a) Joe Motorist wouldn't stand for a back-up beeper installed on his vehicle, and b)the backing accident rates might not justify it compared to trucks' backing accident rates.
Lastly, what might motivate someone to put noise-makers on hybrids? I don't want to sound paranoid, but if most of the auto industry (and oil industry) wants to drag it's feet in getting away from the status quo infernal combustion engine, wouldn't they want to throw every obstacle possible in front of newer, cleaner technologies, including dreaming up hazards where none may even exist?
Okay, I am paranoid. I'm going to go out and play in the sunshine now.[8D]
Aloha! ;-)
Aloha! ;-)
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Follow-up: my insurance agent didn't know, didn't really care. The NTSB has an easy-to-find "request for information product" submittal form, which I completed and submitted. If I get an answer, I'll let you know. My guess is the answer will be, "no, we don't track that information", but you never know.
Aloha! ;-)
Aloha! ;-)
Maybe they should ban pedestrians from wearing ipods[^] while they are at it.
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Today in History:
Mauna Loa erupts, 1867
quote:
Originally posted by mgeary
...Lastly, what might motivate someone to put noise-makers on hybrids?
The first report I have been able to find on this comes from this Wall Street Journal article.
If anyone can find anything earlier, I'd be interested in reading it.
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Today in History:
Mauna Loa erupts, 1867
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From the author of the WSJ article that you cited, Damon, I got this reply:
Thanks for your email. In my course of reporting, I had heard of incidents, but nothing documented. There were close calls, though. But you might want to check with the National Federation of the Blind. Keep me updated on what happens to those bills.
From the NTSB, I got this reply:
We do not have these statistics. You might try the Dept. of Transportation, www.dot.gov
Susan Stevenson
Information Specialist
NTSB
Records Management Division
Washington, DC 20594
202-314-6551
I'm not on a crusade or anything, I've already bought my 2008 Prius without the noisemaker, so I'm safe for a decade or two. I am just kind of curious where this is going to go in the Hawaii state legislature, and maybe some of you are, too. Think I'll just check in with www.dot.gov and the National Federation for the Blind, just to see what they've got to say.
Aloha! ;-)
Aloha! ;-)
quote:
Originally posted by mgeary
I'm not on a crusade or anything, I've already bought my 2008 Prius without the noisemaker, but I am kind of curious, and maybe some of you are, too. Think I'll just check in with www.dot.gov and the National Federation for the Blind, just to see what they've got to say.
Thanks for the update mgeary and for further researching into this.
I might just have to testify against this depending on how busy I am.
That would really suck if they made you recall your vehicle that you already purchased so that they could install a noisemaker.
I think that your car would probably be "Grandfathered" and that if the law passes.... it will only be on future models.
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Has anyone tried contacting the agency that is incharge of these things:
United States Department of Transportation
National Highway Transportation Safety Administration
NHTSA Headquarters
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
West Building
Washington, DC 20590
Toll-Free: 1-888-327-4236
NHTSA Western Regional Office
201 Mission St.,
Suite 2230
San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone (415) 744-3089
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Yup, left 'em an e-mail today. Also e-mailed the National Federation for the Blind.
The NHTSA has lots of detailed information on their website (actually the NCSA website, see below) about all kinds of traffic accidents, but there was no information about blind pedestrians or hybrid automobiles. For instance, I found out that 35% of all pedestrians killed by automobiles were legally drunk (the pedestrians were drunk, not the automobile drivers). This raises the question in my mind how many blind pedestrians are too drunk to hear? (Just a joke, my friends)
Here's a link to the NCSA, the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, the government agency which keeps the data for the NHTSA. Some interesting stuff here, if you're into government statistics. Of course, I should have known it requires a government agency (NCSA) to keep data for another government agency (NHTSA). A search of their website said that their search engine was down, hence the e-mail.
I'll let you know what they have to say.
Aloha! ;-)
Aloha! ;-)
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