Petrol and Disel vehicles tend to make huge Engine sound. That means you can use your ear to determine whether there is a vehicle coming from the distance where you may not see, especially during heavy fog or during crossing road inside a inner road.
Lets be honest here, 99.99% people only follow good practices when crossing road in a major highway. Most people dont even look behind when crossing in small roads away from the highway.
I was walking today and an electric scooter just speeded up and passed me by. If it were a petrol engine I would hear it coming even when I am not directly looking.
Why weren’t you walking on the sidewalk?
Scooters also the electric ones have to drive on the sidewalk or the road if they are above 125cc
Also electric vehicles in the EU have to emit an artificial sound when driving less than 30km/h