Boy on Bike Bonked by Prius

Owen Erickson was riding his bike out in front of his house when he decided to make a quick turn. Kapow! Owen was bounced up onto the hood of a silently running Prius. As you can see by the above picture, except for a few scrapes young Owen is just fine. This incident does underscore the concern some folks have about cars that are running on electric power and not emitting any appreciable noise.

There is a movement underway to require such cars to give pedestrians some sort of audio warning that a car is passing by. What sound qualities and how loud that warning would be is obviously something that will be of great debate. The sound that studded tires make at low speeds would be about the volume I'd like to hear. The noise is lower in pitch so that those with hearing impairment might still hear it, it's repetitive and not obnoxious in nature.

Kudos to Owen's mom for not blaming the neighbor driving the Prius or threatening to file lawsuits.

You can catch the full CNN video by clicking here.