Sooner or later, people will learn that you have to look as well as listen. At least the ones who are left, would learn. People adapt. I look for snakes in the woods, even when I haven't heard one. We have adapted to traffic that goes twice as fast as it did when I was a kid. We have all figured out what all of those red, yellow, and green arrows mean, and we understand the crooked white arrows painted on the pavement.

All day long, at home, at work, or at school, we hear beeps, tones, whistles, bells, horns, and wailing noises, and some how we have learned what they all mean. Like traffic sounds, we tend to tune them out until something in our brain warns us that a noise is important. Can we learn to notice silence? "Hey, I don't hear anything! There must be a hybrid car coming."

And did you know that listening for gunfire is unnecessary? They say that if you hear a shot, it has already missed you.

Excuse me. I think I hear the doorbell. No, it's a garbage truck.
Howard

> This has been a concern of mine since some friends of my parents got their Prius. On our windy country lanes, it would be so easy to hit someone walking to their mailbox across the street if that person can't hear you coming around a blind corner.
>
> I think there's an up side to this: Quiet cars mean the noise reduction in cities like LA would be tremendous. And we here in the country would get our solitude back after the idiots in charge of growth planning put the freeway through. :-(
>
> But obviously, the danger is real. Doesn't seem like there's any reason not to make hybrids sound just like a regular car--albeit one of the newer, quieter ones. Just add a recording that starts up when you turn the key in the ignition.
>
> La"stick a hula dancer on the dash and you're set"Zorra