Prius And Pedestrians

[DrCez]

I had a "moment" the other evening which could be put down in part to the quietness of the Prius.

It was dark and raining hard and there was a lot of glare from a queue of oncoming traffic so visibility was not great even though the roads were lit. A handful of pedestrians were walking along the pavement to my left having just got off a bus; I'd made a note of them and saw that they all appeared to be following the pavement round into a side road on the left. I was turning into the same side road, the car was running on electric power, and as I turned one of the pedestrians appeared in my headlights, right in front of the bonnet. Luckily I stopped in time but it felt like I was inches from running into her. I think she sped up to walk around the other people and had suddenly stepped into the road to cross without looking (she was probably rushing to get home and as I recall she didn't have a coat) and my line of sight in that direction was obscured by the windscreen/A-pillar and the rain.

It could have been worse had she not been wearing a tight white skirt. Let's just say that a lady's bottom in a tight skirt is prone to catch a gentleman's eye ;), and of course being white it reflected brightly in my headlights.

I cycle occasionally and I know that some pedestrians are prone to step off the pavement without looking because they don't hear anything coming - I'm probably guilty of doing it myself sometimes. I would like to think that as a driver I'm aware of that danger but I was obviously caught out the other night. In car parks I've never felt manoeuvring the Prius is any more or less risky than any other car, but I wonder if that lady would have stepped out into the path of a car with a more audible engine sound.

Should the Prius be given a warning beep? I hope not. I've been to places which are car free or where only electric vehicles are allowed and I love the sense of calm you get without the noise and background rumble of internal combustion engines.

What do you think about cars that can be virtually silent? Have you ever had a similar experience?

[cootuk]

Even when I had a great big white Volvo estate with DRLs people would still step out.

What really gets my goat is people that cross the road about 50ft from a zebra crossing, then stand in the middle trying to judge a gap to dash through.

She may have been rushing, may not have looked, may have had music earpieces in etc etc

Though as a driver you have to give way to people already crossing a side road you are turning in to, so I'm sure the ambulance chasers would have been more than eager to blame the car driver and their 'silent' car.

I can understand that some partially sighted people would want noise as they rely on that to see if a car is about to move off, so we might see a law in a few years once a few people have been hit.

Now what sort of noise would you like? - maybe a whole new area for tuning

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I had a "moment" the other evening which could be put down in part to the quietness of the Prius.

It was dark and raining hard and there was a lot of glare from a queue of oncoming traffic so visibility was not great even though the roads were lit. A handful of pedestrians were walking along the pavement to my left having just got off a bus; I'd made a note of them and saw that they all appeared to be following the pavement round into a side road on the left. I was turning into the same side road, the car was running on electric power, and as I turned one of the pedestrians appeared in my headlights, right in front of the bonnet. Luckily I stopped in time but it felt like I was inches from running into her. I think she sped up to walk around the other people and had suddenly stepped into the road to cross without looking (she was probably rushing to get home and as I recall she didn't have a coat) and my line of sight in that direction was obscured by the windscreen/A-pillar and the rain.

It could have been worse had she not been wearing a tight white skirt. Let's just say that a lady's bottom in a tight skirt is prone to catch a gentleman's eye ;), and of course being white it reflected brightly in my headlights.

I cycle occasionally and I know that some pedestrians are prone to step off the pavement without looking because they don't hear anything coming - I'm probably guilty of doing it myself sometimes. I would like to think that as a driver I'm aware of that danger but I was obviously caught out the other night. In car parks I've never felt manoeuvring the Prius is any more or less risky than any other car, but I wonder if that lady would have stepped out into the path of a car with a more audible engine sound.

Should the Prius be given a warning beep? I hope not. I've been to places which are car free or where only electric vehicles are allowed and I love the sense of calm you get without the noise and background rumble of internal combustion engines.

What do you think about cars that can be virtually silent? Have you ever had a similar experience?

Nah it's just a coincidence. Even before I got the Prius I found that when it's raining pedestrians jump out in front of me all the time. They'd really rather risk their life than get slightly wetter. The heavier the rain the crazier they get. Also you should include ipod wearers and mobile phone talkers/texters as they're just as bad. I suppose then there's the mad mother who pushes her pushchair out from between parked cars before actually sticking her head out and looking to see if the road's clear.

I'm sure the pedestrian will blame the Prius for their stupidity because lets face it who are they going to blame? You or themselves? The Prius is their excuse but believe me they did it to me when I had a rattly old diesel engined London taxi. If they couldn't hear that coming then they need a hearing test. Bizarrely I used to find the London Taxi was invisible by all the near misses I had with it with pedestrians. I mean, it's two tons and has a bright yellow light at the front!

Getting back to the subject, I do a lot of work with blind students and I've spoken at length to them about Prius noise issues. They love the Prius because it's quiet to ride in and they say they can hear it fine when on electric only because of the tyre noise. So if blind people are fine with it, perhaps pedestrians who actually do have sight should use that sense!

Anyone else got their two pence worth to add?

[wooski]

LOL - I think that ratty engine in your London taxi was a Toyota unit!

At normal speeds tyre noise would certainly give a Prius away on a quiet road, less so on a noisy one. It's at very low speeds that it's more of a problem.

Certainly at traffic lights in the Prius you really notice the engines of other vehicles - London Taxi's being particularly loud.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

LOL - I think that ratty engine in your London taxi was a Toyota unit!

It was a Nissan one if I recall.

[Chris Dance]

When we are drivers we curse pedestrians for all the stupid things they do that Grumpie Cabbie has outlined.

When we are pedestrians we can be prone to do daft things. My wife at a crossing the other day was watching for the lights to change for the traffic, she did not wait for the walking green man for pedestrians to come on. She stepped onto the road and a car jumping the lights almost knocked her down. Both were at fault the driver and my wife. The Mrs has been very much told off and I hope in future she will wait for the GREEN MAN to light up.

I do not think the Prius needs anything to warn pedestrians. Some of the youths in our town seem to be so high on drugs or something they are oblivious to any traffic. I have had youths run out in front of my car to force me to do an emergency stop. The other gang members stood on the side of the road laughing. I suppose if I had hit one of them I would have been the one the wrong. You can do nothing in this situation as they may attack you and your passengers.

If I could have reported the incident I expect one of the very young girl community police would have chatted them up and asked them not to be bad boys!!

[Sagitar]

Some of the youths in our town seem to be so high on drugs or something they are oblivious to any traffic. I have had youths run out in front of my car to force me to do an emergency stop. The other gang members stood on the side of the road laughing. I suppose if I had hit one of them I would have been the one the wrong. You can do nothing in this situation as they may attack you and your passengers.

If I could have reported the incident I expect one of the very young girl community police would have chatted them up and asked them not to be bad boys!!

I have had a similar experience in our little town with youngsters on bicycles who deliberately ride onto the wrong side of the road in the face of oncoming traffic, depending upon the approaching driver to brake to avoid hitting them. I think it's a modern version of "chicken".

I believe there is a windscreen camera that can be used to record a continuous video loop to provide a record of driving incidents. I am thinking seriously of getting one.

[Fujisan]

Sure I read some proposal, last year, from some government think-tank (ie gravy train ) to make the more powerful vehicle ALWAYS liable for an accident regardless of the situation.

So Pedestrian v's Bike would be the cyclist's fault.

Bike v's Car would be the car drivers fault. Etc..

At the time it seemed to me that this is how the system works right now anyway :(

All the things you guys have described, people walking off pavements (whether ipod'd or not), kids cycling down roads on the wrong side (even inner city dual carrageways! ) are regular occurances and I don't think the Prius being quiet or whether it was fitted with a 10,000 watt speaker system playing AC/DC at full volume would make the slightest bit of difference.

You just have to keep your wits about you.

Be safe out there guys!

[DrCez]

Getting back to the subject, I do a lot of work with blind students and I've spoken at length to them about Prius noise issues. They love the Prius because it's quiet to ride in and they say they can hear it fine when on electric only because of the tyre noise. So if blind people are fine with it, perhaps pedestrians who actually do have sight should use that sense!

Thanks Grumpy Cabbie, that's reassuring to know. Maybe I was just experiencing a bit of "Prius paranoia" :) (I remember the thread(s) about other drivers' attitudes to Prius drivers...)

Now what sort of noise would you like? - maybe a whole new area for tuning

LOL cootuk I read your post and imagined folk downloading the equivalent of a mobile ringtone for their cars