Blind People Upset With Hybrids
10-03-07, 02:05 PM
#18
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10-03-07, 02:06 PM
#19
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Those blind people should also learn to do what this kid does
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c49dS76KhGc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1QaCeosUmw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c49dS76KhGc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1QaCeosUmw
Last edited by PhantomZX; 10-03-07 at 02:09 PM.
10-03-07, 02:11 PM
#20
10-03-07, 02:17 PM
#21
Hmm, I've already surprised a couple of people. Some woman crossed in front of me (although a bit of a distance away) and didn't hear me coming. Then she decided to look for traffic midway and found that I was already pretty damn close. She freaked out and jumped onto the curb.
Another time, I was parallel parking along the street. It's like 12am so the street's quiet but there were parked cars cause it was a restaurant. This woman was talking to her friends as she stepped down to the road behind her car. I proceeded to park since I know there's plenty of space between me and the car if she decides not to look and I know I won't hit her. Anyway, as I was 45° in and I was turning the steering wheel the other way, she finally said goodbye to her friends and turned around to walk around to the driver's car. She screamed when she saw the front of my car coming in lol. Her friends sorta laughed (cause they knew I was parking as they were facing the road). She smiled after that. It was just.. sort of a "oh, I didn't hear you coming" kind of scream.
Oh and of course the various times where I've followed people walking in the middle of a parking lot. Most of the time they don't know I'm there so no screams or jumps there
It's kinda fun ... in a sadistic way. No worries, I do keep a good enough distance just in case something stupid happens.
10-03-07, 02:37 PM
#23
I can see their point. I live by the University where there is a lot of foot traffic. Even in my 99 LS400 I find myself slowly following pedestrians in the middle of the side roads for quite a while before they realize there is a car behind them. Here in Hawaii, we generally don't honk our horns as that is for emergency cases only. If you honk your horn it is kind of considered rude and you can end up in a bad situation (Road Rage) so people avoid doing so. Honking your horn here is almost like fighting words. Anyway, I can imagine if the LS is quiet enough for many pedestrians to not here it while moving slowly, the hybrids would be worse. I've never come close to hitting any pedestrian before, so my opinion would be that drivers of hybrids and regular cars alike just need to pay more attention to pedestrians. Always expect them to jump out in front of you. Always assume they don't see you. I mean, you can't blame the blind for not noticing a quiet hybrid is coming their way. What else would you expect them to do?
10-03-07, 02:54 PM
#24
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buy a new seeing eye dog.
no actually, I can see this easily. happens with my aging LS400 all the time in parking lots. It seems a little unfair though; since hybrids put out a different sound than other cars, its not that they can't hear it; its that they don't know what they're listening for. They expect one thing, hear another and so it doesn't even register. Automakers need to keep such things in consideration, yes...but it seems like a good form of self-preservation for a blind person to simply look into different ways to become aware of a hybrid on the road.
no actually, I can see this easily. happens with my aging LS400 all the time in parking lots. It seems a little unfair though; since hybrids put out a different sound than other cars, its not that they can't hear it; its that they don't know what they're listening for. They expect one thing, hear another and so it doesn't even register. Automakers need to keep such things in consideration, yes...but it seems like a good form of self-preservation for a blind person to simply look into different ways to become aware of a hybrid on the road.
10-03-07, 04:42 PM
#29
Fine.. if you want to "rev" you can hold the brake and accelerator pedal at the same time. It's a neat way to recharge the battery but it only revs to a few thousand rpm (2,000 by my ears... the Prius has no tach and I don't have a scangauge)
10-03-07, 05:20 PM
#30
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