Arborbridge wrote:But they have required it - EVs make a noise at 20mph or less and quite honestly, I have been nearly caught out by ICEs in car parks which can be quieter than EVs. No one complains about them.
No they don't! I regularly walk along the single-track country lane that leads to a posh private school, and I've lost count of the times that I've had EVs coming up behind me in
total silence. Not even tyre noise, although some will make a very faint whirring noise. (Can they switch the sound off? It seems like they do.) And they're nearly always doing below 20 mph - as indeed, they ought to, since it's a 10 mph road.
But actually, what worries me more is the number of times I've had to fling myself against the wall because some oncoming driver is heading straight at me and has made no attempt to pull out a bit, so as to give this poor pedestrian a bit of safety room. A potentially terminal experience.
I'd put it down to inattention, but in many cases I suspect that the drivers might be stabbing their fingers at a touchscreen as they come round the bends, instead of looking where they're going? Maybe they're checking up on their WhatsApps, or maybe they're trying to turn down the music? Or text the tennis coach and tell him to warm up the hot tub?
Either way, your focal length at 20 inches is different from your focal length at a normal road distance, and depending on your your specs prescription, you probably can't do both at once.
Given the choice, my money would be on the driver who's looking through the windscreen, not at the lower middle of his/her dashboard. Harrumph. Should we really be surprised that EV drivers collide with more other road users?
BJ