Is it me, or is the Prius a moron magnet?

Locally, Prius cabs are a mixed bunch, some drive pretty aggresively. Privately owned Prius I'd agree: most are purchased with an aim to conserve gas, and behaviour is a big part of that equation.

With hybrids getting increasingly ubiquitous I think the differences in behaviour will diminish. Soon enough the majority of vehicles will likely be mild hybrid, at the least.

 

agreed. i see aggresive prius drivers as well, but the lifestyle of most americans seems to require quick accelleration, high speed and stomping the brake, as well as weaving in and out of traffic to get ahead of as many people as possible. but thiss has been discussed ad nauseum.

 

I don't worry what the other drivers think - I drive at or below the speed LIMIT! Somehow it seems that in the past I thought this LIMIT meant I could exceed it by 3,5,7 or even 10 mph! I don't know where I got that ridiculous idea. I guess I thought the rules don't apply to me.
Funny thing happened in my old RAV4, in a Florida town named Waldo, ( the worlds worst speed trap) I got caught in the trap doing 68 in a 45! I was stunned. Well what I was doing was driving 68 in a 65 zone. It quickly changed to a 55 and then even quicker to a 45. Well I saw the 45 and immediately hit the breaks to get back into the speed zone. Too late the hook was set and I paid a very high price for my lack of attention to the speed trap.
So now I drive at or below the speed limit? Not 1 mph over, I certainly don't want that to happen again and the Prius really helps me to achieve that desire. So the energy savings isn't even my goal, however what a spin off! I'm getting 55 mpg and over 500 miles to a 10 gal tank. I don't really care what anyone else does, it not even any of my business, the way I'm driving is entirely my business.

 

I do not see the Prius driver as burdened with a stigma as inconsiderate, or snooty. I think most are purchased to conserve gas.

I learned to drive avoiding rapid acceleration, and hard braking in the 70's. I have driven this way for most of my adult life. Only when I was working Law Enforcement Duties did I drive more aggressively and then only when I was responding to emergency calls. Now as a retiree, I again accelerate slowly and coast into each stop sign. My town has no traffic lights.

In this area we have a lot of drivers to who like to drive 10 to 15mph below the speed limit. In a 45mph zone they drive 31 to 32mph. It may be due to the packed snow on the pavement, or concern for fallen trees, or perhaps wild life on the pavement [we often see moose, bear, deer, turkey or beaver on the pavement].

The interstate is posted 75mph, everyone mostly holds it at 80mph.

I commonly drive 6mph over the posted limit.

Most of the time I drive I can go a long ways before I see another vehicle on the road. Maybe half the time I will not catch up with another vehicle until I reach the city.

I am not aware of any stigma for Prius drivers to be inconsiderate or snooty.

 

The prius seems like it brings out more aggression in other drivers even when traveling at a similar pace. I generally drive the speed limit whether I am in our Jeep, BMW Z4 or the Prius. With the Prius and Z4 it seems I end up with people right on the back bumper.

In the Z4 we sit pretty far back in the car so they seem very close!

 

And I bought it because I heard it was a babe magnet.

 

Most people think they are above average drivers. This is not possible by definition. Psychologists call it illusion superiority.
The myth of the above-average driver - Sep. 22, 2011
You've experienced this exact phenomenon. Before you drove a Prius, you thought one way. Once you became a Prius driver, you thought the other way. It's not just you. It's human nature.

I thought Prius drivers were smug, self righteous, tree hungers always blocking my way going slowly in all lanes of traffic, not just the slow lanes, and they think they're doing the world a favor by using less gas. Now that I've become one of them, I still think the same way. If a lane is going slowly, it is a safe bet that if it's not a white Camry/Corolla, third choice is a hippy Prius. And I smugly thumb my nose at SUV's passing me.

 

Oh yea, its real. My favorite is when you turn your blinker on to make a lane change, and the driver that would be behind you speeds up and nearly rear ends the guy ahead of him to make sure a Prius doesn't get in front of them.

 

depending on which part of los angeles you live in (i'm down near view park/baldwin hills...) from what i see (below the 10 freeway) about 98 percent of people really can't drive. it's gas break swerve swerve... my favorite activity is blocking them into lane 3 as they try to pass traffic. this usually results in them getting stuck behind a parked vehicle. i'm even tempted to install cameras on my car to capture illegal passers on the right. (i used to speed till my license was almost revoked... now i drive extremely proper.. including speeding with other traffic if i feel it's worth it... when i feel all traffic can move at that speed... or else i jump right to let the morons speed from light to light as i simply coast up to a light as it's turning green

 

That is cool

I live in a rural area. Around 10 people per square mile [or less], mostly forest.

 

Note for other People From Away: the Interstate is only posted 75mph north/east of Stillwater so most of you who visit Maine will never see it. I haven't seen it myself because I don't go farther than that.

To the OP: I don't doubt that people will act differently around you in a Prius compared to a larger car simply because they'd make an assumption that you wouldn't be an aggressive driver. I'm guessing you aren't from the Bay Area, which there's so many of them people wouldn't make such an assumption.

But, the other way you'd notice is that if driving a Prius has made you less aggressive (the Power Zone scream does that to people) you'll notice more of the stupidly aggressive stuff that other people do. It's the same as how if you drive with a conscious aim to be efficient you'll notice the stupid inefficient stuff other peole do.

(Ah, I"ve just noticed the OP's note that they're from the LA area. So it'll be the stupidly aggressive stuff you're seeing. Around here people are generally pretty polite, traffic volume is pretty low so the usual assumption is that stupidly aggressive driving is accompanied by an out-of-state license plate.)

 

Ooops. I nearly forgot that the Southern / urban half of the state did not have the higher speed limit. Sorry about that

You likely see more traffic too.

 

Ha... just purchased my Prius a few weeks ago and I wasn't sure if it was coincidence... but the past few weeks have drawn more honks from other drivers than I've had in a long time. I don't think my driving patterns have changed, except that the Prius doesn't have as much pick up as my last car, so maybe I would normally accelerate faster from a stop. But man, you would think there was some grudge against Prius drivers out there.

I got honked at just last night for not turning right on a red, when traffic was oncoming from the left. Granted, if I were really aggressive, I could possibly have made the turn into the right hand lane, but I wouldn't have done that maneuver in my old car either.

The other thing I'm noticing is how fast and close people come to a stop at my bumper. I'll be at a stop light or something and I see a car in my rear view coming in way too fast, to the point where I feel I might be rear ended. But that could be that my last car had a trunk, and a driver that was on my nice person might seem farther away than when they are right on my rear windshield with the Prius.

 

Every group has it's "ambassadors" that struggle furiously to perpetuate very unfortunate stereotypes.
However (comma!) stereotypes happen for a reason. There are LOTS of morons on both sides of a Prius windshield!!!

Some days...when somebody tells me "I wouldn't have figured you for a Prius driver!" I take it a a compliment and some days I wonder if I've been insulted.

 

I get the honk from the BIG TRUCKS....They are bullies.