I nearly got run over by a fucking hybrid car

[Rapidmama]

The bloody bastard things don’t make ANY noise.

Camping this weekend, no cars on site so I wasn’t expecting to see one. Walked out between two lines of tents and the fucking thing was almost on top of me. Stupid woman driving it could barely see over the steering wheel and carried on driving. I jumped back out of the way and banged on the bonnet. She drove for about 10 meters before another camper stopped her and said WTF you nearly ran her over. She was completely non plussed. Any normal car I would have heard coming.

How the hell do blind people cross the road when one of these things could be on top of them ffs?!

@NoddyAndBessie Errrmmm, you walk onto the site carrying your tent and camping gear. Where are caravans mentioned?

I walk along a very busy road in the morning. One morning I crossed over one of the exit roads at the roundabout, I have to listen for cars because the roundabout is covered in bushes so you can't see the cars, allegedly for traffic calming, I never heard the hybrid until it was right there and hit me, it frightened the life out of me because I just didn't hear it.

**nearly hit me!

When they came out at first, there was a story on BBC News of a woman hitting the same blind man twice! She decided to sell the car if I remember correctly.

I drive a leaf with enhanced safety features - bloody thing emergency stops itself if anyone runs out in the road in front of me (c.london)
Saved me and my car a few times with that scenario. It also beeps and alarms if cyclists gets too close.

I love it! But yes, the quietness unnerves me.

More to the point, "wasn't it look left, look righy and look left again", not "cock an ear to see if owt is coming"?

It was Stop,Look,LISTEN

Tufty Club anyone?

I've thought this for ages and think they should play music like ice cream vans (which you never hear now as they are always stationary)

When I first saw the adverts for silent cars, I could just imagine it was an accident waiting to happen. Is it me or every time things seem to improve or get safer, designers work out a way to make things worse?

looking at you vapers. It used to be nice not walking through clouds of smoke

Tufts club. I went to Tuftys birthday party. Look left, look right, look left again.....

We live on a completely rural, very bendy single track road with hedges. You have to rely on hearing as well as sight when walking or cycling the mile to school. It's not so bad in winter as we can see over the hedges, but in summer I'm always worried about being out with my children as you have no idea if a silent car is about to come round the corner towards you.

I think from this year or next year, hybrids have to make noise. The blind charity successfully campaigned for it.

A neighbour nearly ran me over recently, backing out of their drive. I was walking my mum’s dog and we were standing way g to cross the road. The neighbour silently (and obliviously) just serenely reversed out. Would have squished us if my DH hadn’t yelled at me to move.

Silent cars are such a crap idea! How could they have got into production without someone saying, “Hold on — isn’t this a bit dangerous?”

Yes - bikes are quiet. But being hit by a bike is very different to being hit by an electric car.

I can't believe that they don't have to have some kind of noise maker.

I'm getting an electric car in a couple of months and this is something that concerns me. I have read that electric cars will have to emit a noise at low speeds (so helpful in car parks etc), but that it will only be for really low speeds (so no use to warn anyone or animals when driving through a village for example). I was thinking about fitting this device to the car to solve the deer / bird problem, https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KZSYHQG/ref=cmswwrcppapiii_UdnzDbVDGDG8Q but would that be even more annoying for horse riders (in that the horse would hear it but not the rider IYSWIM)?

In Oxford a lot of the buses are hybrid, I think, and there's a road in front of the Westgate Centre that's shared by pedestrians and buses. The problem is, the buses go so slowly there and there's no obvious pavement/road separation the pedestrians can't hear them behind them. Just standing by a shop for a few minutes, you can watch how many tourists are startled when they realise there's a bus behind them. As a hearing impaired person, I'm super-careful because the buses are just so quiet.

I have an electric car, and yes I do love the quiet. I also work in a school and I raise this issue everytime we have road safety people in to teach the green cross code. I even butt in when they are saying about listening to the point that some of the older children now raise their hands in the assembly "but cars like miss another's car don't make any noise so you have to look more"
Saying that my car beeps when it reverses, and I am one of those people who play their music too loud so the bass makes people aware I'm coming lol.

I have a fully electric car (Renault Zoë which I absolutely love). It emits a strange whine up to 17 mph. Nothing when reversing though. I'm always very nervous reversing off our drive (have to drive on and reverse off to charge it), worrying about hitting someone walking past. People definitely use their ears and not eyes on pavements in residential areas. I've also given a few cyclists a shock as its silent over 18mph going forward except the sound of the tyres on the road. I'd welcome a continual artificial noise.

I don't really know what the answer is , I like the thought of silence on the roads particularly from the dick head on my road that revs his engine for 10 minutes at 4.30 am every morning
Perhaps instead of a traditional horn they could have a voice saying beep beep, excuse me , coming though , if that doent move them then OI IDIOT SHIFT , this would be great if you could have it in different voices . Daffy duck , bugs bunny , road runner , ( meep meep lol ) Brian Blessed .
Who eles ?????

I used to drive a hybrid and had to be hyper aware of people throwing themselves under my wheels (possibly slight exaggeration) in car parks etc. It wasn't an issue on actual roads because over about 15mph the engine kicked in.

I appreciate some of them may have had visual impairments so more reliant on sound but most of them were just not looking where they were going. So I did, because if you're in control of a vehicle it's your job to make sure you don't squash anyone with it! Don't blame the hybrid, OP, blame the idiot driver not looking where she was going.

Actually agree a sliding scale of beeping to alert people to my presence would have been helpful, to cover the full range from "just letting you know I'm here" to "what the hell are you doing?!" A standard car beep feels ruder than it needs to be in most situations.

We definitely use our ears more than we think. I have a personal hatred toward electric vehicles for this reason. I am nervous driving one round the city (have done a few times for work) as people do just walk out in front of you. I went to cross an absolutely silent car park and nearly shit myself when the woman in the electric car furiously blasted her horn at me! So yes it was stop, look, listen, but over the years we filter that down and subconsciously know when the other parts are not necessary, for instance where it is totally silent outside you have, for as many years as cars have been a thing, been able to walk safely without looking. Suddenly cars are on stealth mode and we are having to add a conscious step to our walking, that we had long since outgrown.

Wasn’t there a consultation on this recently? I think one of the noises proposed was a bike bell which seemed bizarre to me!

Yes, here it is. Apparently new ones have noise from last month.

www.gov.uk/government/news/new-noise-systems-to-stop-silent-electric-cars-and-improve-safety

We have a couple of roads round here that quite blind to pedestrians, so if crossing you have to listen hard and sort of slightly step out and eek your head forward to check. Hybrid cars and the local penchant for driving aggressively has meant I've nearly been hit a few times. Terrifies me for when DC are old enough to go out on their own. The listen part of stop, look, listen, think does not work in those situations.

People generally need to be more aware of what' around them. Too many are in their own little bubble. It's not just electric cars, it's also bikes and other people. People are always walking into me when I'm just walking around town/shops - they stop, change direction, etc without any thought that someone else may be there. People need to get their heads out of their phones and start to take notice of their surroundings again.

The onus should be on people to look out for cars. Even with my normal car, people daydream and wander out into the roads. It’s not like people aren’t hit by petrol and diesel cars. You need to LOOK and listen.