Pedestrian Safety: Hear it now?

The blind are leading the way for all of us on pedestrian safety in the emerging era of quieter hybrid, electric and alternative cars. Everyone will be safer if carmakers or regulators listen to concerns of the National Federation of the Blind about pedestrians' continuing need to be able to hear approaching vehicles.

This attention to the safety value of a reasonable amount of noise is not at all a knock on the value of hybrids. As federation spokesman Chris Danielsen puts it, "We certainly all want a better and a cleaner environment. But blind people want to be around to enjoy that as much as anybody else."

We're among the biggest supporters of hybrids, all-electric vehicles and other alternatives, including mass transit, walking and biking. Solving climate and energy challenges require making the various forms of mobility as safe as possible. Seattle and other cities already have plenty of problems with pedestrian and bicycle safety. Media reports have spoken of many hybrid drivers who have experienced near misses with pedestrians and cyclists. We are at risk of having to toss a third of the school-days advice to stop, look and listen.

While extra use of the horn can help, we don't think that's the kind of systemic approach needed with widespread adaptation of quieter technologies. For America's estimated 1.3 million legally blind individuals, moreover, the goal isn't to have everyone watch out for them. It's to maintain the widespread independence they already have achieved through using their own hearing and canes to move around their communities.

Federal regulators reportedly don't believe they can act until they see statistical documentation of problems. Congress certainly could order inexpensive sound devices in the general range of modern, quieter internal combustion engines.

Danielsen said the organization would be happy if automakers decide to address the issue without regulation or legislation, hoping automakers will decide to resolve the problem themselves. But the federation has been raising its concerns since at least 2003. Barring a change of direction by manufacturers, Congress and the administration should act.