With
a new reportrevealing electronic and hybrid vehicles are 40% more likely to be involved in an accident, Guide Dogs is encouraging all MPs to recognise the needs of blind people in transport policy.
Most people would not choose to step out into the road without using their sight and hearing to guide them.
Yet that is the situation many blind and partially sighted people are being forced to deal with due to the growing number of electric and hybrid vehicles, which are almost inaudible below around 20 mph.
The number of these cars is growing and so is the concern around road safety among campaign groups.
The issue is worrying for all vulnerable road users, from children to older people and particularly for those with impaired vision.
This has prompted the charity Guide Dogs to launch its Safe and Sound campaign which seeks to address this new danger.
The charity’s Senior Public Affairs Officer, Jennifer Keen, explains why: “The reason that we started this campaign is because a number of blind and partially sighted people came to us and told us about concerns they had with quiet vehicles on the road, so that is quiet hybrid and electric vehicles, and over the last few years they have really been increasing in number on the road. More and more people have had encounters with these vehicles.”
A new report, released today by the Association, reveals that electric and hybrid vehicles are 40% more likely to be involved in an accident and that incidents involving them increased by 54% from 2012-2013.
The environmental credentials associated with the cars have inspired financial incentives from the Government who would like to encourage their use.
In George Osborne’s last Budget before the general election he announced a £900m subsidy for the industry, but with no commitment to take action on the safety concerns.
This is particularly frustrating for Guide Dogs for the Blind as the solution is a simple one. Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems are artificial sound generators, which mimic the noise of an engine and are “a really simple, really cheap solution,” according to Ms Keen.
Recent research done in the US found that the devices would cost around £21 per car to fit.
“It’s basically just a speaker that you would put on the front of the car and it emits a sounds that sounds a little bit like an engine and that’s enough for people and especially blind people to be able to hear it and to know that there is a car coming.
“What we are campaigning for is for all new electric and hybrid electric cars to be fitted with these artificial sound generators,” she says.
EU legislation, which will go some way to tackling the problem, states that all new cars should be fitted with AVAS.
However, it will be a six year wait until the new measures are implemented and the devices will also have a switch that will allow the driver to turn off the sound, a feature which surprises Ms Keen.
“The problem with that is obviously it’s a safety feature. So, being able to turn it off totally negates the benefits of having it.
“I think the idea is that it should be up to the driver and the driver should be able to decide when they think that they would need the sound and when they wouldn’t. But to me I just don’t understand that thinking because obviously you have speed limits and you don’t say: ‘oh well the speed limit is this but if the road is clear the driver can decide if they want to go faster than that.’
“The whole point of safety measures is that they have to be mandatory.”
One parliamentarian who has had a taste of the challenges faced by commuters with impaired vision is Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, who last year took to the streets of his constituency in a blindfold.
The initiative was organised by Guide Dogs for the Blind and is designed to give participants a brief insight into the experiences of blind and partially sighted people.
“We went on a bus and asked him to tell us when he thought he was at his stop because obviously without the announcements it is extremely difficult to tell when you are at your stop. I think it made a really big impact on him and he made a video in which he was talking his experiences and you can tell that he was really affected by it,” Ms Keen says.
All of the charity’s employees go through the exercise and she remembers hers as an incredibly useful, but also at times “a really scary experience”.
The daily challenges faced by those with restricted vision is something the organisation is keen to highlight, and it suggests that the increase in quiet vehicles not only endangers them but could also have a devastating effect on their confidence.
According to Ms Keen: “For blind people it’s not just about accidents it’s about perceptions and about near misses. So, if somebody loses their sight they will often lose a lot of their confidence to go out by themselves.
“So, if they are out by themselves for perhaps the first time in a number of years since they have lost their sight and they have a near miss with an electric vehicle that might be enough to make them decide that next time they are not going to go out by themselves.
“It’s just very important that you can be confident and know that you are going to be safe.”
That is why Guide Dogs for the Blind is hoping that parliamentarians will begin to see clearly on this issue, and take quick and decisive action.