Crossing the street in an age of electric vehicles has added risk.
The new transport technology is clean, powerful and quiet – so quiet pedestrians may not hear it at low speeds.
And that is what concerns Blind Citizens Australia president Fiona Woods, who says the near-silent vehicles will put all pedestrians at risk but leave some groups particularly vulnerable.
“I want people to know it’s a matter of life or death to people who are blind or vision-impaired,” Woods said. The solution to this road safety risk, Woods and researchers assert, is technology installed in electric and hybrid vehicles that makes sounds at low speed when their engines do not. …