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from the fake-engine-noises-FTW-Vrrrm-Vrrrm! dept.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the rule was needed because battery-powered vehicles are very quiet.
It said the rule would particularly help blind pedestrians, or those with a visual impairment, detect electric cars and hybrids on the road.
The new safety rule could help prevent 2,400 injuries a year, said the NHTSA.
The rule demands that the cars make a noise when travelling either forwards or backwards at speeds of less than 30kmh (19mph). The regulation covers vehicles with four wheels that weigh less than 10,000 pounds (4.5 tonnes).
The safety specification requires car makers to use a two-tone signal similar to that currently emitted by heavy vehicles when they are reversing.
It would be more fun if drivers could customize what that sound is, such as "La Cucaracha" or the whine of a Shadow vessel.
Electric and hybrid cars are to include a noise generation device for travel at low speeds with no internal combustion engine: http://www.nhtsa.gov/About-NHTSA/Press-Releases/nhtsa_quiet_car_final_rule_11142016.
There goes my quiet electric future.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @05:22PM
> This is why we got Trump
Lol. Strobe lights on schools buses?
No, juhmorris, your pet peeves did not get trump elected.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @05:42PM
Wow. Missing the point so hard must surely be on purpose.
But what the hell, I'll bite:
It's not about pet peeves. It's about intrusive, inefficient, time-wasting, energy-sucking bureaucracy.
Don't believe me? Ask a veteran about proving to the VA that some condition was service-related. Gulf War Syndrome, for instance. (Or, hell, just google it for fun times.) Ask a farmer about the agricultural census, that is now a whole booklet full of mandatory questions. Ask a distiller or a brewer about interstate shipping procedures (different and exciting for every state!). Ask an automotive engineer about NHTSA's requirements. Ask a banker about Dodd-Frank, about Sarbanes-Oxley ... the list goes on, and it is huge.
"Your form got rejected because it was printed on letter size paper, not legal size paper. We know this is not in our directions. We don't care."
Trump was the anti-establishment candidate who at least spoke about rationalising federal paperwork and reducing it for the little guy. No poo-flinging accusations about racist, sexist, hate-mongering needed. That is what jmorris was driving at.
Well, maybe I'm wrong. jmorris, let me know if I fucked it up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 16 2016, @06:06PM
> Wow. Missing the point so hard must surely be on purpose.
Ditto.
If you buy the neglected working man narrative, none of that, except possibly the VA, applies.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday November 16 2016, @10:50PM
If you buy the neglected working man narrative, none of that, except possibly the VA, applies.
I can't help but see this bureaucracy as highly relevant. This sort of regulation means less efficient businesses, less gainful employment of those neglected working men, and less economic activity and wealth building as a whole to help everyone.
(Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Thursday November 17 2016, @08:03AM
Many of those would fit in the urban vs rural theory.