Quieter Cars and the Safety of Blind Pedestrians: Phase 1.

Details

• Creators:
  Garay-Vega, Lisandra ; Hastings, Aaron ; Pollard, John K. ; Zuschlag, Michael ; Stearns, Mary (Mary D.)
• Corporate Creators:
  John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Blind persons
  • Countermeasures
  • Acoustic properties
  • Hybrid vehicles
  • Plug-in hybrid vehicles
  • Sound level
  • Auditory perception
  • Electric vehicles
  • Traffic safety
  • Human factors
  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  DOT HS 811 304 ; DOT-VNTSC-NHTSA-11-03
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Abstract:
  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recognizes that quieter cars such as hybrid-electric vehicles in low-speed operation using their ; electric motors, may introduce a safety issue for pedestrians who are blind. This study documents the overall sound levels and general spectral ; content for a selection of hybrid-electric and internal combustion vehicles in different operating conditions, evaluates vehicle detectability for two ; ambient sound levels, and considers countermeasure concepts that are categorized as vehicle-based, infrastructure-based, and systems requiring ; vehicle-pedestrian communications. Overall sound levels for the hybrid-electric vehicles tested are lower at low speeds than for the internal ; combustion engine vehicles tested. There were significant differences in human subjects' response time depending on whether electric or internalcombustion ; propulsion was used at both the lower and higher levels of ambient sound. Candidate countermeasures are discussed in terms of types of ; information provided (direction, vehicle speed, and rate of speed change, etc); useful range of detection of vehicles by pedestrians, warning time, ; user acceptability, and barriers to implementation. This study provides baseline data on the acoustic characteristics and auditory detectability of ; vehicles; however, the results cannot be generalized to more complex environments, as for example when multiple target vehicles are present.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  HS59A1/HS76
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/9474/dot_9474_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.65 MB]
• Collection(s):
  Volpe Center
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3b3478b8edebc4436c2bc66179713b6c10a7a6b1347190d26f9888a73c81c32cd24c4bb802a0ab0bb21766c8576afb7c0c92bfbbeab6a7316bd317d8cdfbba1d