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from the only-make-it-sound-like-a-spaceyship-if-it-flies-like-one dept.
Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd
Transport for London has been warned that proposals put forward for a safety feature to make electric buses more audible risk confusing vulnerable road users.
TfL has commissioned Aecom to come up with a recognisable noise that will help alert pedestrians and cyclists to the presence of vehicles that can be dangerously quiet.
The first electric London buses are due to be fitted with the sound in the autumn and it is hoped other parts of the country will follow.
But the possible options, including a bubbling noise and intermittent bleeps, have been greeted with scepticism by experts and campaigners.
John Welsman, from the policy team at Guide Dogs UK, who attended a TfL presentation last month, described the sounds as “all very spaceshippy” and said he would prefer electric buses to be fitted with a canned recording of the old Routemaster bus.
Welsman added: “They did play us a sound like someone blowing bubbles through a pipe. That just wouldn’t work. And there was an intermittent bleeping sound like an email alert that would increase or decrease in rapidity depending on the the speed of the vehicle. It was very irritating.”
“As a blind person I could spot the old Routemaster a mile off, because it was so distinctive, but that’s not what they are suggesting.”
He said most of the other six samplers sounded like futuristic vehicles from sci-fi films.
[...] From 1 July, under an EU regulation, all new models for electric vehicles seeking approval will have to emit a noise, known as an acoustic vehicle alerting system (Avas). Existing electric vehicles will need to be retrofitted with the sound from July 2021.
[...] TfL said its bus sound would comply with the regulation but maintained it did not have to mimic an engine noise. A spokesman said: “The regulation references a continuous sound that will increase as the vehicle accelerates, but there is no mention in the regulation that the noise needs to simulate that of an internal combustion engine.”
Spaceship buses seems like a good idea to me.
(Score: 4, Funny) by MostCynical on Saturday July 06 2019, @08:29PM (1 child)
London's average traffic speed is only 7.8mph (12.6km/h) [standard.co.uk]
The answer is obvious: slow the buses down a bit more and employ a man with a flag [wikipedia.org]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 06 2019, @08:33PM
It's London so... Sid Vicious singing God save the queen.