A fright of my life tonight with an electric car

[Shaun]

When something has been a universal norm for as long as you can remember (the engine noise of approaching vehicles coming up behind you), slowly changes and a few of those vehicles become much less noisy, it can definitely catch you out.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

They should have to paint them in hi viz colours dammit!

 

[MontyVeda]

Hopefully one day, electric cars will become more popular and the shock/surprise will be less of an issue. There was something in the tabloid press a while back calling for electric cars to be noisier so pedestrians could hear them approaching... what's wrong with the second part of the old stop, look and listen?

 

[Flying Dodo]

I'll confess here. I do have an electric car. The generated noise it makes is a bit annoying as it's a weird warbling sound.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Of course, that fat cook and professional Yorkshireman James Martin positively loves the fact that he can sneak up on cyclists and frighten them.

 

[raleighnut]

Maybe they could come up with a car version of this,


View: https://youtu.be/41XUG09vYEQ

 

[LCpl Boiled Egg]

Of course, that fat cook and professional Yorkshireman James Martin positively loves the fact that he can sneak up on cyclists and frighten them.

He's from Yorkshire? That is a surprise. He never mentions it.. .

 

[Milkfloat]

Me and many other motorcyclist remove the OE exhausts and have louder ones put on our motobikes for exactly not this reason.

You are all heart

 

[ufkacbln]

Hopefully one day, electric cars will become more popular and the shock/surprise will be less of an issue. There was something in the tabloid press a while back calling for electric cars to be noisier so pedestrians could hear them approaching... what's wrong with the second part of the old stop, look and listen?

 

[Drago]

Johnny, do you drive a car? How do you survive in a car with the windows wound up and radio on?

 

[Illaveago]

I am in agreement with the original post in thinking that electric vehicles should be a bit louder as they can quite easily sneak up on you. We have nearly all grown up with traffic noise to some extent and tend to use our hearing even when putting our shopping into our cars at super markets, so the fact that these vehicles are so quiet we are unaware of their presence and can easily walk into them. I can remember the sound of the old electric milk floats, apart from the clanking of the milk bottles they used to produce a whining sound.
I just remembered that some petrol cars used to make an electrical whining noise which was quite audible, it was either something to do with the power steering or the type of gearbox used.
The other point raised about cycling into a headwind was about the howling wind noise. Have they made things to minimise this noise?

 

[mjr]

It's a recognised issued with electric vehicles -- and theres already a great deal of work been done on it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_warning_sounds

Just when it looks like electric vehicles might reduce noise pollution, daffodils are campaigning to keep inflicting maximum injury on people living near busy roads.

 

[mjr]

They should have to paint them in hi viz colours dammit!

I agree with the people who were unhappy with the owner of that canary yellow car who insisted on keeping it on street and uglying up the Cotswolds. All motor vehicles used in the countryside should have to be black or British Racing Green.

 

[Drago]

Thank heavens I chose not to live near a busy road for that reason

 

[iwantanewbike]

or use a mirror? Yes, I know, they're frequently derided by many cyclists (and CC forum members) as "uncool", but they're pretty useful.

As for increasing the noise made by electric cars: I hope not! I think less noise would be nice, and increasing the noise is just avoiding the real issue: people not paying attention to their surroundings. Next, they'd be proposing all bicycles have noise generators attached, to avoid "scaring" mobile phone-using pedestrians. If that ever becomes mandatory, I'll probably just stop cycling for good.

I intentionally pack noisy things in my rack trunk bag so that pedestrians always hear me coming. Works a treat!