Lawndale Tribune AND lAwNDAle News The Weekly Newspaper of Lawndale Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - December 8, 2016 Lawndale Residents Enjoy Annual Visit from Santa Santa’s Sleigh made numerous nightly stops in Lawndale to the delight of local youngsters and the rest of the community. Photo provided by the Lawndale Community Services Department. Undetectable New Cars Told to Make Some Noise By Rob McCarthy Edmunds.com noted in a January 2015 article We can’t hear you! titled “The Danger of Too-Quiet Car.” That’s the message the federal government The website, used by car buyers looking has sent to car companies that make electric and for pricing and reviews about car models, hybrid vehicles. Alternative fuel vehicles are admonished the automakers and the driving so quiet when the motor’s running that 2,400 public that “you can have too much of a good pedestrians a year are struck in crosswalks, thing. Take silence.” streets and parking lots, according to estimates. Three studies were done and each one The National Highway Traffic Safety confirmed the dangers to pedestrians of silent Administration just added a sound requirement cars driving at low speeds. A 2009 study for new hybrid and electric light-duty vehicles. found that at low speeds, hybrids and electrics The safety standard, put in place to protect were twice as likely as non-hybrids to be pedestrians who are blind or have low vision, involved in a pedestrian crash. A 2011 federal will help prevent as many as 2,400 pedestrian study reported that pedestrian crashes were injuries per year once all hybrids on U.S. 35 percent higher with hybrids and electrics roads are properly equipped. versus combustion-engine cars. Protecting pedestrians is near the top of the A third study by the Highway Loss agency’s to-do list now that vehicular deaths Data Institute concluded hybrids are up to are on the rise, ending a 50-year decline in 20 percent more likely to be involved in the nation. Drivers are more distracted than injuring pedestrians than other cars. Not ever, and cell phones and mobile devices are all automakers waited for the government getting most of the blame. Pedestrians play a to come to the foregone conclusion that an role in traffic safety, and it just makes sense approaching vehicle should make a familiar they should be looking out for danger instead sound. Nissan installed a vehicle sound of at their phones. warning for pedestrians on its electric Leaf, “This is a common-sense tool to help starting last year. pedestrians — especially folks who are The plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt also blind or have low vision — make their way has an alert noise, which the driver can safely,” said NHTSA Administrator Dr. Mark activate, Edmunds.com reported. The Rosekind. “With pedestrian fatalities on the government wants the sounds coming from rise, it is vitally important we take every action electrics and hybrids to be recognizable--not to protect the most vulnerable road users.” a jumble of noises like phone ringtones. Under the new rule, all hybrid and electric Carmakers have until September 1, 2019 passenger vehicles will be required to make to equip all new hybrid and electric vehicles audible noise when they’re moving at speeds with sounds that meet the new federal safety below 20 mph, either forward or in reverse. standard. Half of new hybrid and electric The government says tire and wind noise would vehicles must be in compliance one year drown out the engine’s sound at higher speeds. before the final deadline. Carmakers may choose to install external Advocates for the blind say the noise speakers in the front grill. When an electric requirement on cars is needed because or hybrid is in motion, a recording of a car Americans who can’t see are living active engine would begin to play. The lack of lifestyles nonetheless. More than 20 million sound made by electric cars especially has Americans, close to 10 percent, say they have been discussed since the early 2000s, which trouble seeing or are blind. “This regulation will ensure that blind Americans can continue to travel safely and independently as we work, learn, shop and engage in all facets of community life,” said Mark A. Riccobono, president of the National Federation of the Blind. What about current owners of these tooquiet cars who want to give bicyclists and pedestrians warning that a car is approaching? The National Highway Traffic Safety agency isn’t recommending that electrics and hybrids on the road now install any noise devices. The experts at Edmunds.com said not to expect to find aftermarket sound-making devices anytime soon. Alternative fuel cars represent a small fraction of U.S. vehicles in use today, though that number was expected to reach four percent this year. California is leading the charge, so to speak. Governor Jerry Brown’s administration has set a goal of 1.5 million electric cars in the state by 2025 as part of a pledge to reduce emissions and slow the effects of global climate change. Assemblywoman Autumn Burke, D-Inglewood, is pushing the auto industry to make that happen. There are more than 200,000 electric vehicles being driven in California, according to a group calling itself the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Unless we take action, the state won’t come close to meeting this goal,” Burke said. “That’s why we need to reform the rules to require that 15 percent of all cars sold in California have zero emissions by 2025.” Burke introduced last summer what she calls the “15 by 25” plan. It would direct the California Air Resources Board to require at least 15 percent of all new passenger cars sold in California be zero emissions by 2025. Burke’s bill is currently inactive, having been heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee and in the Senate Rules Committee. No action has been taken on the South Bay lawmaker’s bill since August 17. • Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................2 Classifieds............................3 Community Briefs...............2 Finance..................................4 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Legals................................ 6-7 Looking Up...........................5 Pets........................................8 Police Reports.....................3 Sports....................................5 Seniors..................................4 Weekend Forecast Friday Cloudy 63˚/57 Saturday Mostly Sunny 64˚/56˚ Sunday Mostly Sunny 65˚/54˚
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