Soundless EVs put vulnerable road users at risk

Electric vehicles (EVs) which operate without making any sound pose a threat to the safety of vulnerable road users (VRUs), says UK company SteerSafe. The firm adds that the European Union’s plan to make original equipment manufacturers add low-speed alerting sounders to all EVs in 2019 is too late as current models and buses are already in service.
May 4, 2018 Read time: 1 min

Electric vehicles (EVs) which operate without making any sound pose a threat to the safety of vulnerable road users (VRUs), says UK company SteerSafe. The firm adds that the European Union’s plan to make original equipment manufacturers add low-speed alerting sounders to all EVs in 2019 is too late as current models and buses are already in service.

SteerSafe refers to a report by Guide Dogs for the Blind in 2015 which claimed that VRUs are 40% more likely to be run over by a quiet vehicle than one with a combustion engine.

The company says quiet vehicle sounders, such as those made by sister company Brigade Electronics, can be employed to ensure the safety of VRUs. Brigade uses patented bbs-tek technology to provide multi-freqency sound that is only heard in the hazard zone – thus alerting VRUs to potential danger.

Related Content

  • ETSC says road safety is ‘vicious circle’
    June 12, 2019
    Urban road safety is a key problem in Europe, an issue that needs to be addressed as a priority. That is the finding of a new report by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). The ETSC’s report reveals that road deaths on urban roads decreased at around half the rate of those on rural roads over the period 2010-2017. The report also shows that vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, account for 70% of those killed and seriously injured on urban roads. Dovilė Adminait
    Read More
  • Development of cooperative driving applications for work zones
    July 17, 2012
    The German AKTIV project is researching several cooperative driving applications for use in work zones. PTV's Michael Ortgiese details progress. The steep increases in traffic volumes predicted back in the early 1990s have unfortunately been proven to be more than accurate. In Germany, the AKTIV project continues to look into cooperative technologies' potential to reduce the impact of those increased traffic volumes and keep traffic moving despite limitations in infrastructure capacity.
    Read More
  • Intersection management, cooperative infrastructures - what next?
    February 1, 2012
    What do recent vehicle recalls mean for future cooperative infrastructures? Anthony Smith takes a look. As ITS industry stakeholders converge on Amsterdam for the 2010 Cooperative Mobility Showcase, an unprecedentedly wide range of technologies will be on display demonstrating what might be achievable in the future from innovations based on Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communications.
    Read More
  • Helsinki’s residents trial MaaS as alternative to private cars
    August 21, 2018
    Would you give up your own car? Helsinki implemented MaaS late last year and Colin Sowman discovers that the initial reaction has been positive What would it take for you to give up your own car? That is the question posed by Sampo Hietanen, the so-called ‘father’ of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and CEO of MaaS Global. And he is about to discover if MaaS really will convince the people of Helsinki to do the unthinkable. MaaS Global introduced a fledgling version of its Whim app in the city in late 2016
    Read More

Highlighted Content