PETITION CLOSED

  • The time period for signing this petition has ended.
  1. Signatures
    127 out of 200
    Petitioning
    1. The President of the United States
  2. Created By
    Roger Swearingen
    Redmond, WA
About this Petition Petition Letter

SB 841: Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010 has already passed through the Senate and the House without so much as a debate. This law will require automakers to include noisemakers in cars driven by electric motors. While on the surface this may seem like a simple and straightforward law, the issue is that there is no supporting evidence that says it is needed. It does assure us that as the vehicles become more common on the street, backgound noise will be negatively impacted by cars that will be required by law to have noisemakers installed.

This law should not be passed for two reasons: 1. There is no scientific or even anecdotal evidence that such a law is required. 2. Congress should not be arbritrarily passing laws just because they seem like a good idea. Even worse, this bill wasn't even debated.

This law adds a cost burden to car manufacturers and therefore to car consumers by adding equipment that has no supporting data that it is needed, nor is there supporting data that it will provide any positive benefit at all.

I request that this law be vetoed until further research and study can actually prove that any such noise device will have any positive value, because as it stands the only thing this law can guarantee is that the streets will become even noisier as more of these cars are available on the road.

 

Recent Signatures

Please Veto S. 841: Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010

Greetings, Mr. President.

I am writing to you regarding the S. 841 which was recently passed in the Senate and the House. The bill called "Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010" has been passed without any supporting evidence that it is actually needed. It is based on "fears" and was promoted by the National Federation of the Blind. I'm not saying that this necessarily is a bad thing, but the issue that we are in the process of passing a law that really has no sound scientific basis. Sure Electric vehicles and Hybrids (in EV mode) are quiet, but there is no supporting evidence that this quietness has resulted in any accidents or injuries to pedestrians, be they sighted or blind. I really don't want to see Congress enact a law based on nothing more than sheer hypothesis.

I know you are a great advocate of clean energy and renewable resources, and a supporter of electric vehicles as an obvious tool to get America off foreign oil. I am hoping that you can help stand out as a voice of reason and challenge this law which at a minimum means just more noise in an already increasingly noisy world. This law should be based on fact, not conjecture.

Thank you for your attention.

[Your name]

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