Over the past few years, U.S. automakers have struggled with the declining car sales that have accompanied the economic recession. Sales of hybrids, however, have remained strong. Edmunds.com recently reported that hybrid sales experienced their third-best year in 2009 since national records were first taken in 1999. From 2008 to 2009, there was only a 6.8 percent decline in the purchase of hybrids, compared to a 21.4 percent drop for non-hybrid cars. Edmunds cited the introduction of new models, federal tax credits and year-end incentives, and low fuel consumption as factors that contributed to the steady sale of these cars. With so many incentives, hybrids have become the vehicle of choice for many consumers; however, blind pedestrians have expressed concerns about how quiet hybrids are when traveling at low speeds, as their battery-powered engines are difficult to hear.
In response to concerns among the blind community about the safety risks posed by hybrid cars, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, investigated the incidence of pedestrian and bicyclist accidents involving hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) compared to similar accidents involving internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. The source of the accident information for the study derived from police accident reports (PARS), which are stored on State Data Systems. Selecting vehicles based on specific criteria, NHTSA focused on a total of 8,387 HEVs and 559,703 ICE vehicles. The agency examined 77 pedestrian accidents and 48 bicycle accidents involving HEVs and 3,578 pedestrian accidents and 1,862 bicycle accidents involving ICE vehicles.
Most accidents involving either type of vehicle occurred during the day, in clear weather, and on roads located in low-speed zones, according to NHTSA; however, the agency found that the incidence rate was higher for HEVs than for ICE vehicles. In certain situations, the HEV was twice more likely to be involved in a pedestrian accident than the ICE vehicle: when the vehicle was slowing or stopping, moving in reverse, or entering or exiting a parking space. "Pedestrian accidents also occurred at a higher rate for HEVs in situations in which the vehicle was turning", explains Jim Ballidis, a California personal injury lawyer.
Last April, NHTSA conducted a study called "Quieter Cars and the Safety of Blind Pedestrians: Phase I," in which the agency studied the reaction of blind subjects to the sounds made by HEVs compared to ICE vehicles traveling at various speeds and executing different maneuvers. Overall, the sound levels of HEVs proved to be lower than ICE vehicles. Some subjects were unable to hear the HEVs at all: two could not hear a Toyota Prius approaching at 6 mph, five could not detect one or more of the HEVs backing out, and eight could not detect slowing vehicles.
Consumers can expect hybrid and electric vehicles to be much louder in the future. In January 2011, President Obama signed the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010, which will require NHTSA to establish performance requirements for automakers to ensure that blind pedestrians can hear these vehicles. Representatives of the American Council of the Blind and the National Federation of the Blind responded with approval.
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