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Green electric-powered cars are much more dangerous to pedestrians than traditional vehicles with petrol engines, a charity report said yesterday.

It found that walkers are 40 per cent more likely to be run over by a quiet hybrid or electric car than by one with a petrol or diesel engine.

And as the number of green vehicles grows because of Government tax breaks for eco-friendly cars, the number of injuries they cause has been rising fast, it said. 

Cars with electric or hybrid engines, which are much quieter than regular petrol cars, are driving a huge rise in accidents among pedestrians who do not hear them coming

The report from the Guide Dogs charity found a 54 per cent increase in pedestrian injuries in accidents involving quiet cars between 2012 and 2013.

The charity – which says that guide dog owners and their animals are particularly at risk from vehicles that they cannot hear coming – called for laws to make noise generating systems compulsory on all hybrids.

Guide Dogs manager James White said: 'Quiet vehicles put pedestrians at risk outside schools, in residential areas and in our towns and cities. 

'The Government is spending hundreds of millions of pounds to increase the numbers of quiet cars on the roads, and while we support the development of environmentally friendly vehicles, more needs to be done to protect pedestrian safety.'

The call for legislation was backed with a survey carried out by YouGov which found more than three quarters thought hybrids make the roads less safe for blind or partially-sighted pedestrians.

Similar proportions thought quiet green cars are a threat to older people and to children.

Electric cars and hybrids running under electric power move silently and are likely to surprise people on foot who expect to hear the approach of a vehicle. 

The visually impaired are among the worst affected by the switch to electric as guide dogs also struggle to identify the threat, with campaigners calling for noise generators to be made compulsory

Car builders and independent companies have been working on a range of artificial sound generators that would lessen the risk of accidents.

Most involve speakers fixed to the car, which work in the direction the car is moving to reduce nuisance to people who are not in the way. 

Sounds promoted vary from a reproduction of the whine of an old electric motor through computerised squawks to a rumble reminiscent of a diesel or petrol combustion engine.

EU rules say such generators must be fitted to quiet cars by 2021, but Guide Dogs said that before then there will be thousands more potentially dangerous green cars on the road. 

It said that car makers should 'do the right thing and fit sound generating systems to quiet vehicles before it becomes compulsory.'

Legislation in Britain should also insist that noise-making equipment is not only fitted to a car but always switched on, Guide Dogs said.

The charity's campaign was supported by Paralympic sprinter Libby Clegg. Miss Clegg, who has only peripheral vision, said: 'I rely on being able to hear cars to judge when it is safe to cross the road.

'It is terrifying to cross when you are unable to hear quiet hybrid and electric vehicles. Ensuring all quiet vehicles have sound generating systems installed and switched on would ensure that millions of people, like me, who are living with sight loss, would be protected from the growing safety hazard.'