Friday, October 23, 2009

Unintended Consequence of the Day

As revealed in the October 14th New York Times:
Plug-in hybrid and electric cars, it turns out, not only reduce air pollution, they cut noise pollution as well with their whisper-quiet motors. But that has created a different problem. They aren’t noisy enough.

So safety experts, worried that hybrids pose a threat if pedestrians, children and others can’t hear them approaching, want automakers to supply some digitally enhanced vroom. Indeed, just as cellphones have ring tones, "car tones" may not be far behind -- an option for owners of electric vehicles to choose the sound their cars emit.
Didn't I read this in Kornbluth's The Marching Morons?

(via Instapundit)

2 comments:

OBloodyHell said...

Well, they got the "moron" part down pat. I already made the case in these pages that hybrids are financially unjustifiable. "Feel good" about the environment all you want, but don't get smug thinking you've saved a single penny of income, even if gas shoots abruptly to $7 a gallon (OK, if it does THAT, *and* stays taht hight,, *and* you keep it for around 5-6 years, it *MIGHT* start saving you money... depending on your mileage, and how good hybrids are at maintaining their efficiency, a factoid which still hasn't been established)

Anonymous said...

Let's mandate the Jetson car sound!

And here is the wav app:

http://www.wavplanet.com/wavs.php?cat=2&subcat=263