UCR research shows dangers of hybrid cars to visually-impaired pedestrians

5/8/2008

By STEVE MOORE
News Outlet: The Press-Enterprise
09:00 PM PDT on Sunday, May 4, 2008

Phil Weliky's night blindness caught up with him during stateside military maneuvers where he was being taught to elude the Viet Cong.

At 57, Weliky has lost all peripheral vision and has only 1 or 2 percent of his sight left -- something he likens to "looking through a couple of straws."

Standing on a curb or walking through a parking lot, Weliky, accompanied by his guide dog, is on high alert just like decades ago.

But this time it's for silent-running hybrid vehicles.

"You're scared that if you step into the street, you could get plastered by something you never heard," Weliky said.

Hybrids save gasoline and run whisper-quiet at low speeds.

Research at UCR is spotlighting new discoveries about the dangers hybrids pose for pedestrians. It is also helping develop a relatively inexpensive device that could keep pedestrians safe.

Make Some Noise

Federal legislators, car manufacturers and entrepreneurs say they're concerned about the situation and looking for a solution.

The newly introduced Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008, H.R. 5734, requires a study about protecting all pedestrians from hybrid, electric and other silent-engine technologies and could impose new safety standards on automakers.

Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong says the auto company is already looking at the issue.

"We take this seriously," he said, "We're trying to balance the needs of pedestrians with environmental issues to solve the problem."

'A Matter of Time'

No blind pedestrians were killed during the last five years by hybrid vehicles, according to statistics by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

About six blind pedestrians die annually in the United States, said spokesman Ray Tyson.

Advocates for America's 1.3 million blind people want quick action before someone is injured or killed.

Some say blind pedestrians will inevitably die.

"It's a matter of time," says Christopher S. Danielsen, a public relations specialist for the National Federation of the Blind. "Not a matter of if it's going to happen."

Researcher's Concerns

An Inland-area researcher says hybrids operating at very slow speeds pose a danger to the blind, runners, cyclists, small children and others.

"I think it's a serious problem," says Lawrence Rosenblum a perceptual psychologist at UCR. "But the solution is so straight-forward and so unobtrusive, there's absolutely no reason that this problem shouldn't be solved."

A device could emit the subtle sound of a quiet combustion engine mixed with the whoosh of a waterfall, alerting the blind that a hybrid vehicle is nearby, he says.

Recent testing at UCR showed how pedestrians perceived the quiet hybrids.

With background noise from cars idling nearby, subjects couldn't determine the location of a slow-moving Toyota Prius hybrid until it was within one second or 7 feet of their location, Rosenblum said. For nonhybrids, it was 28 feet from subjects' location.

Research is funded by the National Federation of the Blind.

Rosenblum, an adviser to the Society of Automotive Engineers, serves on committees making recommendations to the auto industry.

His research is helping a company called Enhanced Vehicle Acoustics find a safe solution for hybrids, the blind and other pedestrians.

Rosenblum has no financial stake in the company created by graduate students at Stanford University.

The professor and the company recently conducted tests at UCR on a prototype device for the Toyota Prius.

Co-founder Everett Meyer says a noise-emitting system with four speakers placed near the wheel wells will retail for about $300 and could be installed in as little as 15 minutes.

It could hit test markets, including California, by the end of summer, Meyer said.

Noise would only be emitted when a hybrid vehicle is traveling 15-20 miles an hour or less and would shut off automatically at higher speeds, he said.

The National Federation of the Blind provided grant money, but has no financial interest in the device, Meyer said.

"Cars should sound like cars," says Danielsen of the federation.

Teaching Service Animals

An Inland group working with the blind and guide dogs is part of a growing national effort aimed at making the sightless -- and eventually other pedestrians -- safer around hybrids.

Guide Dogs of the Desert, headquartered in Whitewater, near Palm Springs, exposes the canines to a hybrid vehicle.

"It's important that dogs have an understanding these vehicles are just as dangerous as other vehicles -- even though they are quiet," said Bob Wendler, director of canine operations for Guide Dogs of the Desert.

A pair of yellow Labrador retrievers named Trooper and Candie recently came nose-to-nose with a Prius that Toyota donated for training.

The dogs' encounter, under a variety of circumstances, occurred on the streets of Banning.

They were taught "intelligent disobedience" -- refusing a command if the owner doesn't sense approaching danger, such as a hybrid vehicle.

Apprentice instructor Mindy Romero played the part of a blind person with the harnessed dogs. Wendler took the wheel of the hybrid.

The guide dogs covered a few side streets in a tree-shaded neighborhood and then went downtown.

During individual training, the hybrid zoomed at them in the crosswalk, swung into their path during turns and darted out from an alley.

Both dogs got high marks during traffic checks.

"Not only did they show intelligent disobedience, but bounced right back and didn't shut down or lose confidence," Romero said. "They wanted to keep working."