I feel pretty lucky that automobile owners in the early 20th century weren't required to stop every quarter mile and shovel a load of horse manure onto the stre

I feel pretty lucky that automobile owners in the early 20th century weren't required to stop every quarter mile and shovel a load of horse manure onto the street. Honestly, that's how I feel about requiring a car to be more noisy. The only reason people rely on cars being noisy is that they always have been noisy. It's not like engine noise is the only thing separating life and death. Consider parking lots, which are exactly the kind of close-quarters, limited visibility place where engine noise would be vital, if it were really vital. When a parking lot is too busy to pinpoint the engine noise of a nearby car -- when there are cars all around, shopping carts jangling over rough pavement, people talking, PA systems blaring announcements, noise reflecting off all the metal surfaces -- does that make it a deadly environment? No. People are careful, and accidents are rare. Relying on sound is not a necessity; it's just a habit that has become a mistake. The danger is based entirely on people needing to adjust their assumptions about cars, which has basically already happened for people in the United States, where hybrids are now commonplace. The longer we can hold off this insanity the more obvious it will be that it is insanity. Who in 2015 will assume that cars are noisy, if we don't commit the folly of making them noisy? In 2020? Or we could choose to make cars noisy now and be stuck with the noise pollution forever.