Ok, this is just ridiculous…we’re going to use millions (if not billions) of dollars for an insanely small minority of the country? Assuming that there are currently 3 million legally blind individuals in the United States (it was 1.3 million as of 1995), this is only 1% of the United States population…not only that, but some of those individuals can wear glasses to bring their vision up to a level where they’d easily be able to see traffic. In addition, a large portion who are legally blind are over the age of 65 (58%)…individuals that are likely to travel with a companion, stay at home the vast majority of the time, or be in nursing homes. Goodness knows how many people this will really benefit…and at a huge expense to those who will not. Let’s also not forget that the tires make noise, as well…I don’t claim to be one that has normal hearing, but I can easily hear road-noise of cars that are travelling at slower speeds…of course, you can use the argument “what if they’re deaf and blind”…which begs the question “what are they doing alone under those circumstances?” not to mention you’red just proving my point of how tiny a minority this is that will ‘benefit’.
Let’s also not forget that drivers themselves have a duty to keep an eye out for anything and anyone on the road…last I checked slowing down and using a horn was quite effective at alerting people to your presence.
Not only that, but if the study finds that cars are required to emit a certain level of noise…it’s quite pathetic that the government is now mandating a certain pollution/nuisance level…so typical.