Vehicle Motion Alarms: Necessity, Noise Pollution, or Both?

Holzman, David C.

doi:10.1289/ehp.119-a30

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 4 publications

(7 reference statements)

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“…In a substantial proportion of reversing accidents, the pedestrian failed to see the reversing vehicle before the collision (result based on a subsample of 25 cases for which the police report contained information on this point). This may suggest the need to expand the use of reversing alarms, but the effectiveness of this device, commonly used in industrial contexts and work areas, appears to be moderate [26,27].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collisions Between Pedestrians and Reversing Vehicles in Public Settings in France

Brenac¹,

Fournier²

2018

TOTJ

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Background:Collisions between pedestrians and reversing vehicles in public settings have received little attention in France. Yet, according to the national statistics on traffic accidents, reversing vehicles are involved in 6.5% of the 11,700 pedestrian accidents recorded each year (over the 2008-2015 period). Moreover, this proportion is probably underestimated in these statistics.Objective:This work aims to provide a brief assessment of this problem in the French case, in quantitative and qualitative terms.Methods:A random sample of 882 police reports on pedestrian accidents occurring in public settings in France was studied to identify the reversing collisions among them. Then, the reversing accidents found (61 cases) were thoroughly analysed to improve our knowledge of the mechanisms involved.Results:Reversing collisions account for about 7% of pedestrian accidents in public settings. Pedestrians aged 60 or over (73% of the pedestrian victims) and commercial and goods vehicles are over-represented in these collisions. Pedestrians often fail to see the reversing vehicle, fail to anticipate its manoeuvre, or are not able to get out its path. Drivers generally fail to see the pedestrian before the collision. The reasons for the reversing manoeuvres are identified and suggest that these manoeuvres could partly be avoided.Conclusion:In France, reversing accidents represent a non-negligible proportion of pedestrian accidents in public settings. It appears that, in addition to the influence of limited rearward visibility in vehicles, certain road layouts play a role in these accidents by encouraging or forcing drivers to make reversing manoeuvres (at least for large vehicles).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collisions Between Pedestrians and Reversing Vehicles in Public Settings in France

Brenac¹,

Fournier²

2018

TOTJ

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“…Unfortunately, our brain cannot deal with the repetitive and persistent sound of back-up beepers, but favors natural sounds that dissipate (Wolchover, 2012). Now an authority has urged researchers to develop a new set of motion alarms to alert pedestrians to the quietness of EVs when traveling at low speed (Holzman, 2011). The reverse alarm is meant to produce sound characteristics or separate sounds indicating that the vehicle is reversing that are added to the drive sound.…”

Section: Back-up Alarm Soundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Annoyance and Suitability of a Back-Up Warning Sound for Electric Vehicles

Salleh

Zain²,

Hamzah³

2013

Int J Automot Mech Eng

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This paper describes the evaluation of the annoyance and suitability of a back-up warning sound for electric vehicles (EV). Three back-up signals used for the evaluation were categorized into three types: broadband, tonal and multi-tone. The reversing sound for a Nissan Leaf (EV-first mass production) will also be included as a benchmark for the other three sound signals. The sample sound was generated based on the human hearing threshold in several individual related areas; age-related, normal and working noise exposure frequency range. Each sound was evaluated in turn by the respondents in a nearby neighborhood, college, town area and rural area in terms of level of annoyance and its suitability as an EV back-up sound to alert pedestrians as they run quietly on the road, which can cause a hazard. Every tested sound perception result is based on the place where the respondents live. An appropriate sound for a quiet vehicle can help pedestrians to detect it and at the same time maintain acceptable environmental sound levels.

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“…The proposed rules address concerns that such alerts would increase community noise pollution 6 with specifications designed to minimize noise impact while providing ample warning. Under the proposed rules, vehicles must be audible under a wide range of usual street and urban noises when the vehicle is moving slower than 18 mph.…”

Section: Sound Alerts For Quiet Vehiclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Beat

Dooley

2013

Environ Health Perspect

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Vehicle Motion Alarms: Necessity, Noise Pollution, or Both?

Cited by 9 publications

References 4 publications

Collisions Between Pedestrians and Reversing Vehicles in Public Settings in France

Collisions Between Pedestrians and Reversing Vehicles in Public Settings in France

Evaluation of Annoyance and Suitability of a Back-Up Warning Sound for Electric Vehicles

The Beat

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