Bill aims at threat silent hybrid cars pose to blind pedestrians

WASHINGTON - The sound of the stopped car's combustible engine purrs at the four-lane intersection in Baltimore. This is Devon Jones's cue that all is clear.

As Jones describes it, that's when her white, metal-tipped cane raps across the cement of the intersection as she walks to school at the Blind Industries and Services of Maryland.

With failed vision since birth, Jones, 25, a student, relies on her other senses to steer her through traffic.