Blind Pedestrians at Risk from Hybrid Cars?

This story first appeared on NPR way back in February, when they compared the noise levels of a Prius with a standard car --- and you could actually hear the difference.

It's reached the mainstream media now, and although NPR ran a test with one person, the U.S. National Federation of the Blind's Committee on Automotive and Pedestrian Safety ran a larger, though admittedly just as unscientific one.

The tests involved people standing in parking lots or on sidewalks who were asked to signal when they heard several different hybrid models drive by.

"People were making comments like, 'When are they going to start the test?' And it would turn out that the vehicle had already done two or three laps around the parking lot," Deborah Kent Stein, chairwoman of the Committee said.

Honestly, I remember when I parked my Prius in my driveway and my sighted neighbor had his back to the street and he was very surprised when I opened my car door and made some noise --- so I can see where they are coming from. However, one of the advertising points of these hybrids is reduced noise pollution, so hybrid owners might be a tough sell for artificially increasing a hybrid's noise.

What do you readers think? Should manufacturers add some sort of noise-making device to a hybrid?