Quiet cars are twice as likely as vehicles with internal- combustion engines to be involved in pedestrian accidents, according to an NHTSA 2011 study.
Find out what the government proposes for electric vehicles.
Quiet cars are twice as likely as vehicles with internal- combustion engines to be involved in pedestrian accidents when backing up, slowing or stopping, starting in traffic or entering or leaving a parking space or driveway, NHTSA said in a 2011 study.
Electric cars, which have soundless engines, would need to make noises to let pedestrians know they’re near, under a U.S. proposed rule released yesterday.
Sounds would need to be detectable when vehicles are traveling slower than 18 miles per hour (29 kilometers) so electric and hybrid-electric cars can be heard by bicyclists and pedestrians, particularly the visually impaired, under the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rule.
The so-called quiet-car rule, which would have to be made final before it takes effect, would save 35 lives over each model year of hybrid vehicles and prevent 2,800 injuries, the agency said in an emailed statement.