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Listening for cars in fog is great until a Prius comes along, and coastal areas of California is their natural habitat. But, yeah, if I had extra senses laying

Listening for cars in fog is great until a Prius comes along, and coastal areas of California is their natural habitat. But, yeah, if I had extra senses laying around, I'd use them for all sorts of things.

__MatrixMan__ 3y ago
I once placed a snot rocket on a Prius windshield from my bicycle. It snuck up on me. So I did the responsible thing and bailed into a neighborhood so I wouldn't have to look them in the eye. Quiet vehicles should emit a peace cry, and I should look before I rocket.
- alpaca128 3y ago
  As a cyclist who once got that stuff in his face: yes, please look first. Expecting others to make a noise just in case they might get a bioweapon dumped on them is not nice.
  - nemo44x 3y ago
    Wait - are snot rockets a common thing for cyclists?!
    - vibrio 3y ago
      …and they can get that much distance on their rockets?
      - __MatrixMan__ 3y ago
        Not usually. This Prius was practically in my armpit.
  - __MatrixMan__ 3y ago
    Absolutely, I was in the wrong. But if you're entering somebody's bubble, an "on your left" is also courteous.
- ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
  I think the idea of EV making additional noise is flawed. The important thing is that people should be looking when using roads and not just relying on hearing. Deaf people are allowed to drive and they can certainly cycle safely as well as long as they just look around a bit more to keep aware of what's around them. Having fake noise just encourages pedestrians to keep looking at their phones and not use their eyes when crossing roads or cycle lanes and they can injure themselves or others by doing that. Also, there's far too much noise in busy areas as it is, so it seems unhelpful to deliberately add extra noise to the environment.
  - rightbyte 3y ago
    The main danger in my experience is that it is harder to hear if the EV is operational when standing still.
    - ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
      If an EV is standing still, then I'd rate the danger level to be zero.
est31 3y ago
That's why in the EU they have introduced requirements for electric cars to make artificial sounds. Sometimes one of them drives past and it sounds like a spaceship from a sci fi movie lol.
- aqfamnzc 3y ago
  The EVs/hybrids I've encountered in the US seem to have artificial sound as well when no ICE is running, including the Prius.
  - eulers_secret 3y ago
    Yes, since 2010: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_warning_sounds https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_warning_sou... They turn off over ~18MPH, though. After that, tire noise is much louder. As loud as an ICE car. So, realistically, you’d hear a Prius if it’s going normal road speeds. Side note: I wish the sound was more pleasant. When multiple cars are moving in a lot I call it the “choir of the damned”. They’re also louder than ICE cars and that’s kinda lame, we moved backwards WRT noise.
    - zbrozek 3y ago
      Both the regulation and folks' implementation of it is too conservative.
    - emn13 3y ago
      I live in the EU, and EVs are much quieter than ICE cars at low speeds in my day-to-day experience. The volume levels need to be raised significantly from my perspective; they're dangerously low here. There are quite a lot of kids on the roads here, and the difference in audibility between ICE and EV cars is concerning. Are you saying the typical EVs you hear are _louder_ than ICE cars where you live? As to the pleasantness of the noise - yeah, that seems to be a manufacturer's choice, or perhaps even driver choice? And let's hope just like annoying ring-tones of years past that the current selection dies out soon...
zamfi 3y ago
Vehicle noise is dominated by road noise beyond about 25 mph -- that's why the mandatory sound on new EVs or Priuses typically cuts out around 20-25mph. Presumably this intersection is at high enough speed on the cross traffic that it's the road noise tzs is listening for, not engine noise.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

__MatrixMan__ 3y ago

I once placed a snot rocket on a Prius windshield from my bicycle. It snuck up on me. So I did the responsible thing and bailed into a neighborhood so I wouldn't have to look them in the eye. Quiet vehicles should emit a peace cry, and I should look before I rocket.

alpaca128 3y ago
As a cyclist who once got that stuff in his face: yes, please look first. Expecting others to make a noise just in case they might get a bioweapon dumped on them is not nice.
- nemo44x 3y ago
  Wait - are snot rockets a common thing for cyclists?!
  - vibrio 3y ago
    …and they can get that much distance on their rockets?
    - __MatrixMan__ 3y ago
      Not usually. This Prius was practically in my armpit.
- __MatrixMan__ 3y ago
  Absolutely, I was in the wrong. But if you're entering somebody's bubble, an "on your left" is also courteous.
ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
I think the idea of EV making additional noise is flawed. The important thing is that people should be looking when using roads and not just relying on hearing. Deaf people are allowed to drive and they can certainly cycle safely as well as long as they just look around a bit more to keep aware of what's around them. Having fake noise just encourages pedestrians to keep looking at their phones and not use their eyes when crossing roads or cycle lanes and they can injure themselves or others by doing that. Also, there's far too much noise in busy areas as it is, so it seems unhelpful to deliberately add extra noise to the environment.
- rightbyte 3y ago
  The main danger in my experience is that it is harder to hear if the EV is operational when standing still.
  - ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
    If an EV is standing still, then I'd rate the danger level to be zero.

est31 3y ago

That's why in the EU they have introduced requirements for electric cars to make artificial sounds. Sometimes one of them drives past and it sounds like a spaceship from a sci fi movie lol.

aqfamnzc 3y ago
The EVs/hybrids I've encountered in the US seem to have artificial sound as well when no ICE is running, including the Prius.
- eulers_secret 3y ago
  Yes, since 2010: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_warning_sounds https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_warning_sou... They turn off over ~18MPH, though. After that, tire noise is much louder. As loud as an ICE car. So, realistically, you’d hear a Prius if it’s going normal road speeds. Side note: I wish the sound was more pleasant. When multiple cars are moving in a lot I call it the “choir of the damned”. They’re also louder than ICE cars and that’s kinda lame, we moved backwards WRT noise.
  - zbrozek 3y ago
    Both the regulation and folks' implementation of it is too conservative.
  - emn13 3y ago
    I live in the EU, and EVs are much quieter than ICE cars at low speeds in my day-to-day experience. The volume levels need to be raised significantly from my perspective; they're dangerously low here. There are quite a lot of kids on the roads here, and the difference in audibility between ICE and EV cars is concerning. Are you saying the typical EVs you hear are _louder_ than ICE cars where you live? As to the pleasantness of the noise - yeah, that seems to be a manufacturer's choice, or perhaps even driver choice? And let's hope just like annoying ring-tones of years past that the current selection dies out soon...

zamfi 3y ago

Vehicle noise is dominated by road noise beyond about 25 mph -- that's why the mandatory sound on new EVs or Priuses typically cuts out around 20-25mph. Presumably this intersection is at high enough speed on the cross traffic that it's the road noise tzs is listening for, not engine noise.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]