Wednesday 12 April 2023

Today Is...Day of Silence

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, mentioned something that struck him profoundly and something that i never really considered before, the complete silence of Space.
In our World, there is never complete silence. Even in the dead of night there is the tick of a clock, the distant sound of a car, your partners breathing or even the wind outside, never is there absolute silence but sometimes you don't want silence, as in when tonne of metal is hurtling around our roads at high speeds.
We are starting to see more and more electric cars on our streets but i do foresee a problem which i have already experienced while crossing the street, they are silent.
I got to the crossing just as the lights were turning back to amber and there sat a car, i looked at the driver, the driver looked at me and i thought that as his car was not making any noise, he had broken down or stalled at the lights.
Assuming i would have time to cross as he would have to re-start his engine, i stepped out just as he pulled away, silently.
I jumped back, apologised and waited for the next green man to flash but apart from me trying to cross roads, i can see silent cars being an issue, more so for pedestrians, especially visually impaired ones, and cyclists who rely on hearing approaching cars.
With the Government announcing that petrol and diesel vehicles are to be consigned to history on British roads by 2040 and the price of buying an electric vehicle tumbling, a tonne of metal travelling silently at 30mph around our streets is already causing problems with a report from the Guide Dogs charity found a 54% increase in pedestrian injuries in accidents involving quiet cars.
The EU have ruled that car builders must incorporate artificial sound generators in their cars but i guess when we cross the road we will just have to adhere less to the 'Listen' part of the 'Stop, Look and Listen' mantra we had drummed into us as children.

7 comments:

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...

don't the ev's have horns?

btw, ev prices are only tumbling because governments are providing tax incentives (subsidzing) them. it is not a market based price reduction, but instead an interference by the government - that always has very negative, unforseen, downstream consequences... always

Falling on a bruise said...

They have horns but it's the engine sound, or the lack of it, which is the problem.

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...

i see the problem being the people entering the street without looking both ways - something we are taught in the US around age 2 or 3...

Anonymous said...

It’s when the car is stationary and you don’t know it’s pulling off mostly

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...

and that changes what? or, nothing...

Anonymous said...

So you don’t know if it’s about to pull out if you are walking behind or in front of it. Struggling with that idea much?

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...

are you walking the streets there lucy?

i walk the sidewalks. when i'm about to cross, if i see someone in the auto, i check to see if they are about to go, and i wait until i'm certain, or we make eye contact and they give me the go ahead.

when behind them, in Merica, there are backup lights... that is a big hint they are about to back up...

i'm not struggling at all. you seem to be...