[Jason M. Hendler]

Is there some way to incorporate a transponder within a car, so that a blind person can wear a device that sends out a constant beacon to which a device in the vehicle responds, alerting a blind person to the vehicle's proximity (slow pulses for far away, quick pulses for close up)?

I would really like it if the cars remained silent, while the blind are kept safe. Ultimately, drivers and pedestrians will adapt to the new situation, depending on their eyes and not their ears for their safety.

 

[Tagamet]

Neat idea

When driving my (treehugger) daughter's Prius, it was eerily quiet and the driver had to be MUCH more alert to pedestrians, because they couldn't hear you coming. If sighted people are problematic, the visually challenged would be even moreso.

 

[Jason M. Hendler]

When driving my (treehugger) daughter's Prius, it was eerily quiet and the driver had to be MUCH more alert to pedestrians, because they couldn't hear you coming. If sighted people are problematic, the visually challenged would be even moreso.

I agree, I was almost mowed down by a Prius in a grocery store parking lot. I really think both drivers and pedestrians will have to learn better habits when in proximity with each other. I was walking back from breakfast this morning, when a mini-van driver, looking towards oncoming traffic, almost hit me. She emerged from a blind corner, due to hedges, and her minivan is already quiet. If I was on a bike, I wouldn't have stopped in time.

I really think it is going to be a re-education process for everyone, but I believe if the blind were able to buy a transponder, that would cause rolling vehicles around them to start beeping low tones, which beep faster based on proximity, then that should be sufficient.