Green Cars Are Too Quiet

For anyone who has ridden in a hybrid, there’s something a little weird about the first time you sit idling at a stop light. The sound of silence when the engine turns itself off in lieu of the electric motors can be disconcerting. There is a hidden danger to the handicapped, however – specifically the blind. Without the sound of an engine, the blind apparently step out into traffic believing the coast to be clear, whereupon they endure a green mauling. The problem has occurred enough that California, America’s leading state of car oppression, is introducing a bill mandating cars create a minimum level of noise so the visually impaired will know they are present.