Nearly ran over a pedestrian today.

Whether this can be blamed on the car being to quiet, the driver (me) or the pedestrian, I'm not sure. Maybe a combination. I was looking for a parking space and was making the u-turn to go down a different aisle and a man just sort of came out of nowhere (from between two other cars) and I was busy looking down the next aisle for a parking spot. I slammed on my breaks as hard as I could and came within inches of hitting the guy. He looked extremely surprised as well.

And by the way.. My artificial noisemaker was not disabled.

And yet, there are a # of folks here who are dead set on always disabling the noisemaker after power up, changing its default to off or finding other means of disabling theirs... :roll:

I'm pretty sure that the chance of pedestrian accidents goes up significantly if the noisemaker's disabled...

My Leaf has changed my driving habits in several ways. One is driving in a parking lot. I usually just park at the fringe and hoof it in. Otherwise I get pretty paranoid and just assume someone will come out from between parked cars. I couple of not so close calls but otherwise it has been fine. The VSP could definitely be louder in my car.

adric22 said:

Whether this can be blamed on the car being to quiet, the driver (me) or the pedestrian, I'm not sure. Maybe a combination. I was looking for a parking space and was making the u-turn to go down a different aisle and a man just sort of came out of nowhere (from between two other cars) and I was busy looking down the next aisle for a parking spot. I slammed on my breaks as hard as I could and came within inches of hitting the guy. He looked extremely surprised as well.
And by the way.. My artificial noisemaker was not disabled.

Click to expand...

It looks like you got a break from using your brakes.

adric22 said:

Whether this can be blamed on the car being to quiet, the driver (me) or the pedestrian, I'm not sure. Maybe a combination. I was looking for a parking space and was making the u-turn to go down a different aisle and a man just sort of came out of nowhere (from between two other cars) and I was busy looking down the next aisle for a parking spot. I slammed on my breaks as hard as I could and came within inches of hitting the guy. He looked extremely surprised as well.

And by the way.. My artificial noisemaker was not disabled.

Click to expand...

Too bad his hearing aid was turned off. Honestly, safety is in those that are involved in the transit areas. Pedestrians can't rely on drivers, and drivers can't rely on pedestrians.

The fault would have been shared had there been a collision. That is what an accident is.

i see "near" parking lot accidents daily. it is normal to not be looking at where you are going. what Aldric did is something i have done several times and were it not for the fact that i was doing 5-7 mph, i would have hit someone by now.

that's the facts. as long as we adhere to the 5 mph speed, we be fine.

DaveinOlyWA said:

i see "near" parking lot accidents daily. it is normal to not be looking at where you are going. what Aldric did is something i have done several times and were it not for the fact that i was doing 5-7 mph, i would have hit someone by now.

Click to expand...

Yeah.. and I was probably going closer to 12 mph.. so I think I'll slow it down in parking lots from now on.

Several times I've gotten behind people walking to or from their car in a parking lot who seemed unaware that I was there. At least I don't think they were strolling down the middle of the lane between parked cars just to aggravate me. I've thought of using my horn, but that seems impolite, so I haven't. Yeah, I wouldn't mind if the VSP was louder.

Now, the backup signal -- that's another matter. I don't know how many times I've watched people scurry out of my way, even though I have my foot on the brake. (Yes, LEAFfan, to give them a break. -- Are we ribbing you too much adric22? Hey, even I make "misteaks" once in a while.)

Ray

I've found myself being more vigilant than I used to be in my ICE cars, assuming that in this age of mass distraction pedestrians and cyclists (even with VSP on) are not going to notice me. Last thing I want to do is damage my pretty LEAF!

cwerdna said:

And yet, there are a # of folks here who are dead set on always disabling the noisemaker after power up, changing its default to off or finding other means of disabling theirs... :roll:

I'm pretty sure that the chance of pedestrian accidents goes up significantly if the noisemaker's disabled...

Click to expand...

Doesn't sound like it did any good in this situation.

adric22 said:

Whether this can be blamed on the car being to quiet, the driver (me) or the pedestrian, I'm not sure. Maybe a combination. I was looking for a parking space and was making the u-turn to go down a different aisle and a man just sort of came out of nowhere (from between two other cars) and I was busy looking down the next aisle for a parking spot. I slammed on my breaks as hard as I could and came within inches of hitting the guy. He looked extremely surprised as well.

And by the way.. My artificial noisemaker was not disabled.

Click to expand...

I am happy to hear that your car was not damaged. :mrgreen:

I had one too, a jogger popped out from behind a hedge at a stop sign. Hard to say, but the VSP might have averted a catastrophe. Oh sure I wouldn't have been physically injured, but the impact on one's life from such an incident cannot be underestimated. (I have to roll my eyes at remarks like "my F-150 will squash a Prius" from neanderthals who don't have a clue what the repercussions are from an accident with injuries or fatalities)

If the VSP is disabled and there is an accident with a pedestrian don't think for a second a sharp lawyer won't pick up on that and use it to further shift blame to the motorist, against whom the presumption of guilt deck is already stacked.

Disabling the VSP on a 2012 isn't readily done, and I wouldn't consider it, preferring instead to allow for the possibility that Nissan's engineers and lawyers might just be smarter than me about a couple things.

LTLFTcomposite said:

...
If the VSP is disabled and there is an accident with a pedestrian don't think for a second a sharp lawyer won't pick up on that and use it to further shift blame to the motorist, against whom the presumption of guilt deck is already stacked.

Disabling the VSP on a 2012 isn't readily done, and I wouldn't consider it, preferring instead to allow for the possibility that Nissan's engineers and lawyers might just be smarter than me about a couple things.

Click to expand...

I would like to see society readjust over time rather than embed noisemakers in everything just because that is what we are used to. If every car was electric I think the overall ambient noise in places that have a lot of cars would go down significantly and you would be able to hear the small noises a Leaf does make. By adding noisemakers I wonder if we will ever get there...

In response to the OP, I have noticed that parking lots are the most likely place for someone to get hit by a Leaf but I am no longer thinking it is because the Leaf is quiet. Parking lots are noisy (due to the ICEs on the nearby roadways), the source of sounds is hard to pinpoint (a car starts...where is it?), people are usually walking preoccupied with where they are going or texting, and the rows and rows of cars tends to make you ignore them. (How many times have you walked behind a car that was just getting ready to back up and not known it until it almost hits you?) So I think it is just the nature of parking lots but we as Leaf drivers are more sensitive to it thinking, incorrectly perhaps, that no one can hear our car when in fact unless it is a supercharged Dodge RAM barreling along most people wouldn't hear ANY car in this environment!

The purpose for the noisemaker is not in a parking lot where it will likely be drowned out but on a quiet street with no traffic.

to relay an experience from LAST night.

went to Albertsons to grab junk food for movie night at home. i get there and notice a Yukon with blacked out tinted windows idling away.

i run in, grab stuff total time, less than 5 minutes. i come out and start talking with someone who was admiring my LEAF.

then another lady with 2 small kids starts walking down aisle of parking lot. instinctively she herds her kids into the middle of the aisle away from the idling Yukon.

sure enough as she gets behind the Yukon it starts to back out (has been idling AT LEAST 7-8 minutes by now) it moved about 3-5 feet before stopping within a few feet of the lady. (Yukon was moving slowly) i cant help but wonder what would have happened had she not moved her much shorter child from one side to the other...

but once again, another non-issue.

**note** not sure if i wanted to start an environmental rant with this story or not...

SierraQ said:

...The purpose for the noisemaker is not in a parking lot where it will likely be drowned out but on a quiet street with no traffic.

Click to expand...

I have to disagree. I think that with much speed at all, tire noise would outweigh the noisemaker. Parking lots seem, to me, to be the main use.

I had an incident that convinced ME to leave the VSP on. I was waiting to back out of a parking space. The guy to my right was backing out, so there I was, foot on the brake, waiting until he was done. Unknown to me, a pedestrian walked up and stood right next to my driver's side tail light, also waiting for that driver to finish. We both started to move at the same time. Luckily I moved very slowly and spotted him step into view in my back window. If I hadn't turned off the VSP, he would almost certainly have realized my car was running from the back up beep. Yes, it was my responsibility to look before I moved. My only defense is that I was looking and managed to spot him before I hit him.

davewill said:

SierraQ said:

...The purpose for the noisemaker is not in a parking lot where it will likely be drowned out but on a quiet street with no traffic.

Click to expand...

I have to disagree. I think that with much speed at all, tire noise would outweigh the noisemaker. Parking lots seem, to me, to be the main use.

I had an incident that convinced ME to leave the VSP on. I was waiting to back out of a parking space. The guy to my right was backing out, so there I was, foot on the brake, waiting until he was done. Unknown to me, a pedestrian walked up and stood right next to my driver's side tail light, also waiting for that driver to finish. We both started to move at the same time. Luckily I moved very slowly and spotted him step into view in my back window. If I hadn't turned off the VSP, he would almost certainly have realized my car was running from the back up beep. Yes, it was my responsibility to look before I moved. My only defense is that I was looking and managed to spot him before I hit him.

Click to expand...

If you have an SL, that's what the cam is for. If you have an SV, now you know how valuable the rear cam is.

yep, have cam on both my cars and its like anything else i am already moving by the time i even look at the cam which is probably why we have near misses.

FYI; my SO backed into a Corvette that was parked on side of street in front of our home. camera didnt help then but it only car, no people involved

davewill said:

SierraQ said:

...The purpose for the noisemaker is not in a parking lot where it will likely be drowned out but on a quiet street with no traffic.

Click to expand...

I have to disagree. I think that with much speed at all, tire noise would outweigh the noisemaker. Parking lots seem, to me, to be the main use.

I had an incident that convinced ME to leave the VSP on. I was waiting to back out of a parking space. The guy to my right was backing out, so there I was, foot on the brake, waiting until he was done. Unknown to me, a pedestrian walked up and stood right next to my driver's side tail light, also waiting for that driver to finish. We both started to move at the same time. Luckily I moved very slowly and spotted him step into view in my back window. If I hadn't turned off the VSP, he would almost certainly have realized my car was running from the back up beep. Yes, it was my responsibility to look before I moved. My only defense is that I was looking and managed to spot him before I hit him.

Click to expand...

The noisemaker only works for really slow speeds so, yes, you are right. I should have said it is meant for quiet areas where the sound of an ICE would be quite noticeable. My point is that busy parking lots are not always quiet and in those situations it just doesn't matter. In the situation you just mentioned people would not necessarily know the ICE right next to them was getting ready to move, must less a Leaf. The reverse beep is probably more effective because that sound stands out more than the forward sound.

I pay extra attention when in a parking lot with my LEAF. Sometimes I have the VSP off and sometimes I leave it on. I've been in a parking lot in a situation where I'm not trying to find a spot but rather I'm trying to leave the lot and someone is walking in the middle of the isle. If the VSP is off I'll turn it on to get their attention but honestly it's hit or miss if the person associates the sound of the VSP with an automobile behind them. Or furthermore if the pedestrian has a mobile phone to their ear or headphones on to even hear the VSP.

In the last 3-5 years I have noticed more and more bad drivers and aloof pedestrians that I tend to drive more alert in general. I don't want to rely on pedestrians to recognize that my car is on (either ICE or LEAF) and watch out for me - I'd rather be proactive and watch out for them. Being a cyclist I'm attune to monitoring cars when I go by to know if someone is inside and about to fling open their door. That helps me when walking through a parking lot to identify movement in a car to know if it is going to back up because honestly, reverse light bulbs are one of the last things drivers notice are out.

VSP on/off does not really matter. the only exception to that thought is having the backup beeper on.

in the story i relayed above, it was obvious to me when the lady first noticed the Yukon running and she was literally less than 10 feet from it. but it was not sound that was the issue, (the Yukon was relatively quiet but you could easily hear it from several feet away) it was her inability to simply recognize what was going on around here. her "bubble" for herself was very small. it was her concern for her children's safety that caused her to notice much of anything at all and that is how most people are.