The new menace on the roads

Morning walks have changed.  It’s now dark at just after 5:30 when I head out.  The morning sounds are different than they were just a few short weeks ago – fewer birds are singing and the sounds from the bushes are more ominous (rummaging squirrels?  lurking coyotes?  frightened rabbits?).  Everything is just that much less friendly because of the darkness, and this is what I will face from now until late next spring. 

The darkness makes morning sounds seem louder – it’s like sound carries further and becomes amplified.  That first morning chirp could be coming from anywhere.  Train wheels on the tracks are louder.  If the wind is coming from the right direction, cars noises from the highway are louder, too. 

What’s not louder, though, is the new menace on the roads – electric or hybrid cars and bikes.  They silently come out of nowhere and glide past without a sound.  I am so used to hearing vehicles approach that I barely look when I cross the road during my early morning walks.  Until yesterday, that is, when I almost stepped out in front of an electric bike.  That thing made no sound at all as it approached and it was a last-second, out-of-habit glance that saved me from putting a foot out onto the road. 

I know I should have been more attentive and more careful about looking before I crossed the road, but honestly, you should be able to hear these things.  Hybrid vehicles are the same – they can approach without you knowing it.  As wonderful an invention as they are, they are making the streets less safe for pedestrians who assume they will hear a car or bike approaching.  They are a menace, I tell you! 

 

So now on my morning walk, I have to watch for skunks, coyotes and electric or hybrid vehicles.  What’s next, I wonder.