So, you bought a hybrid vehicle. Congratulations. You’re doing yourself a favor by paying less for gasoline, although you paid more for the car itself. You’re also doing the environment a favor by polluting less. Aside from those facts, you’ve got a car with lots of cool gadgets and visually pleasing instrumentation that show you how to modify your driving habits to use less fuel. You can also belong to a million hybrid-driving clubs that compete for highest miles per gallon trophies. Life is good. You’re quite proud of yourself. What could be better?
Well, there’s one segment of population that’s not benefiting from your choice of car purchase. The blind! → source
The one feature that hybrid drivers absolutely love and tout as a badge of honor is the quietness of their vehicles at very low speeds when powered only electrically. This feature is proving dangerous to those who cannot see. As it turns out, the blind rely on the sound of engines to locate moving vehicles and to avoid getting hit. Gee, who would have thunk it?
As you read this, a new system is being tested in Japan that recreates the clip-clop of a horse, speeding up or slowing down to match the speed of the car. Wow. What a cruel joke technology plays on us!
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