Is300H Pedestrian Comedy Moments.....

[Steve44]

Who else has had any comedy moments noticed when driving your IS300H and the reactions people have as you glide past on EV?

I frequently have people fall off kerbs and walk into cars/bins/bikes etc in motorway services, supermarket car parks, even on the local streets, as I silently glide along at low speed while they stare at the car with puzzled expressions, gesticulate and point at it to their friends or family??

Most recent was at Knutsford services this week, when a biker walking away from his bike as I slid past on the way out, fell off the kerb as he "rubber necked" and pointed to his mate at my car! I've had another driver walk into a parked car as he walked past me as I silently reversed out of a parking space, again with a look of sheer befuddlement at my noiseless progress.

I've almost knocked down a few as well as they have stepped out in front of me, or dithered as I came up behind them in car parks, oblivious to my progress.

[Rabbers]

In my town there lives a gentleman who suffers from a form of sclerosis and drives around in an electrically-

powered wheelchair which, to judge by its silence and acceleration, has got to be a top-of-the-range model.

His main source of amusement, for which most people readily forgive him, is to startle pedestrians - especially

elderly ones whom he knows to be hard of hearing - by stealthily driving up behind them. Local drivers give

him a wide berth because if you overtake him (or he overtakes you) and get a scratch there is no way you will

get any financial compensation. One day, I was sitting at a light when he pulls up besides me and asks me to

lower my window. "F*** me", he says, "That's a quiet car. I wish I could afford one!"

Could the 300h engineers ask for a better testimonial?

[para999]

bit surprised manufacturers of electric cars have not been made to fit some sort of pedestrian warning devices and I don't mean the car horn lol.could be a bit of a problem for anybody that is hard of hearing or even blind. suppose it will take somebody to be seriously hurt or worse before something is put in place.

[lexicon]

It's already in the pipeline http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_warning_sounds

I've had a couple of near-misses with people walking into my path - makes 'em jump when they realise.

What might be more useful is a proximity warning app to wake up all those muppets who wander all over the place while obliviously fixated on their twitter-feed or whatever it is that's so interesting on their smartphones.

[para999]

it seems after reading that report following tests and statistics from various testing authorities there is no increase in vehicle v pedestrian accidents with an electric vehicle v a combustion engine vehicle so they aren't that bothered about fitting anything as a matter of urgency in this country. its as I said someone has to be badly hurt of worse for a test case before anything is done immediately. its also interesting to note certain manufacturers are not included e.g BMW, VW.

[LexIS200Sport]

I reckon that for the low speeds in which the Lexus hybrids travel silently, you'd be slow enough to come to a halt should anyone come in your path unknowingly. Any quicker, you'd get tyre noise, and quicker still, the engine fires up.

That said, it freaked my dad out the first few times he rode in my car when the engine would just shut off while waiting at roundabouts or junctions. :P

[mr2lad]

I get that in my LS600hl..... People don't expect such a big car to be silent,

[Rabbers]

I note that this thread has shifted from the "comedy moments" theme into more serious territory consisting of the

enablement of pedestrians with sensory impairments to recognize the approach of vehicles with low decibel counts

at slow speeds. If we except the additional cost and concomitant increase in noise pollution, I cannot imagine that

most of us would object to the obligatory installation of some kind of speed-related acoustic warning system in new

cars, especially if it is accompanied by a switch-off option. That any such system would also help to reduce the

possibility of running down drunks, druggies, smartphone addicts, headphone users and sundry other idiots would

be a parallel benefit.

Personally, I am fully aware that I drive a very quiet car (this being one of the several reasons which LED me to buy

a 300h in the first place), and I like to think that this makes me take extra care in situations where I judge the danger

to and from pedestrians to be higher than normal. In fact, after a few months I noticed that in town driving I acquired

the habit of keeping more towards the middle of the road and therefore slightly further away from the pavement than

I formerly did in any non-hybrid car. On the other hand, it would be dishonest of me not to confess to occasionally

taking a perverse delight in startling pedestrians whose only blame is to be crossing my path, and although I realize

that this temptation of mine to create "comedy moments" of the type described by Steve in his post is pretty stupid,

it is also very hard to resist.

[Steve44]

for the avoidance of doubt, I'm not saying or encouraging people should use a hybrid car to create a "comedy moment" however funny it may look or feel! That is all.

However, I do tend to drive more like Renato does to avoid potential collisions with pedestrians than i did before. I don't understand how making a car produce some noise will help those hard of hearing or wearing headphones from sensing and avoiding them, if they can't hear, they can't hear. I am definitely not advocating a warning buzzer or hooter!

[Rabbers]

On re-reading my post I see that the mention of headphone users in the list of pedestrians to whom an acoustic warning

might offer some protection might well appear strange. However, it derives from my reading of a Scandinavian magazine article earlier this year about a company, Danish I think, that has developed a warning signal capable of "penetrating" head- phone signals and was working on applying the same technique to hearing-aids.