Interesting observation since owning a Prius

This comes up every few weeks.
A big part of it is getting used to the car ending at the split rear window.
There is no 2 or 3 feet of trunk space behind the glass, or even more space with a truck bed or something... so that can sort of play tricks on your eyes in comparison to what you're used to.

Not the only factor, but certainly one people overlook.

 

maybe if you put a picture of your truck, they'll have more respect for you. other than that, it's just something you have to get used to.
when they start weaving back and forth behind you, you can be pretty sure you're not imagining it.

 

Is your truck cab higher? If so, fewer others can see through it to the road ahead, and some will compensate by leaving more space.

Some years ago, when common cars where shorter than today, I saw a study showing that SUVs and pickup trucks caused lower flow rates through city streets. The cause was traced to greater typical following distances behind them than behind the cars, likely related to short vehicles behind not being able to look through the windows of taller vehicles to the road ahead.

Compared to when I learned to drive decades ago, my ability to look ahead through several vehicles has been greatly diminished. Not just by today's greater disparity in vehicle heights, but also by the sharp increase in cars with blacked out rear windows.

Essentially everyone can see through my Prius, so the tailgating risk to them is much less than tailgating a jacked up truck with extra dark tint. Doesn't help my safety though.

 

Get one of those " My other vehicle is a ..." license plate frames. And a +1 to the split window visual effect. Not sure how that works but seeing the vehicle following you in two different pieces of glass with the center bar usually across the headlight area makes it seem like they are much closer than they actually are. I get the occasional tailgator though, early in the morning before sunrise. They have to follow someone to stay awake or something. There are others that try to "push" you faster so you turn into their speeding ticket shield. I tick the cruise control down a couple notches and get them all to pass. It helps to never be in much of a hurry to get anywhere.

 

Around here (MA) 4- 5 mph over the limit is normal, your doing fine...
Some do follow to close, no matter the vehicle.
What I hate is the one that follows too close, and every time I peek at him/her , they are looking at something below the horizon of the dash.

 

I have been driving a Prius for a long time and never noticed anyone driving differently around me. Fact is, a lot of people just drive like a**holes.

 

I get the same feeling. I came from a Civic before my Prius and I didn't drive any differently but was tailgated and honked at much more often. When I rented an Expedition in Manhattan, all gave way to me no issue and I had no idea where I was going making erratic lane changes. Switch to my brother's Suzuki hatchback and taxicabs pushed me off the road. It was scary.

Just look at yourself. I tend to give large vehicles a wide berth. I don't tailgate usually but I'm more inclined to "encourage" the little guys to get out of my way.

 

Tailgating gone wrong

 

Like SwamppThingg said earlier, the Prius is shaped like a door stop.
That means that there's not a 6-foot truck bed and 2 more feet of tailgate, bumper, and tow hitch behind the rear glass of your Prius.
Sometimes?
They just seem closer.

(Some) People also buy Priuses to limit their fuel use for one reason or other, and sometimes these new owners want to see how efficiently their car can be driven. These people can obstruct the normal flow of traffic if they're playing with PNG and trying to join the 800-mile-per-tank club.
Also....for others there is an Automotive Napoleonic thing going on, or what I call the "Scrappy-Do" complex.
This is why hatchbacks that are dimensionally the same size as small cars with trunks are called "midsized" and why the owners of these cars kick up such a fuss when somebody calls them...."small."


Take your pick.
There were tailgaters long before Priuses were introduced in America, and there will be tailgaters long after Priuses are gone.

Good Luck!

 

I have seen a difference in people tailgating me while driving my Prius. I came from a Civic (everyone wanted to race) to a Prius everyone wants to tailgate. We also own a Sequoia, tailgating is way less. I even had a guy in a diesel pick up revving his engine at me because I was waiting to turn right at a stop light until the pedestrian crossed the street in the crosswalk, I have never had that happen in any other car I have drove. I am by no means a slow driver and I drive quite a bit. Defiantly a different attitude with toward a Prius driver. I have even noticed a difference in my hometown and in L.A., L.A. is more "tolerant" of my Prius than at home.

 

While their might be some truth occasionally to this observation, as a whole I think it's just the visual dynamics of the rear hatch.
Whether it's real or not, I try to avoid the whole Prius Persecution Complex.

That being said? I do think I notice people not tailgating me, but more often SCREAMING pass me, like I've been driving slow, when I'm going at or above the speed limit with the flow of traffic. So I do think some people simply see a Prius and make the assumption they MUST pass you because you will be going slow. Not True.

I do not remember this happening as much with any other vehicle I have owned in the past.

 

If I follow a truck or van then I keep longer distance because I need better visibility to react. No one is tailgating me on HWY, I go fast or let other go. I'm not a policeman to make a judgment, whoever wants go faster, I give them a way. In other words, I follow "slower traffic keep right", if no traffic jam of coarse.

 

Both drives should be fined. Next time he'll make "bake job" he won't be lucky. Additionally, even no one hurt, do you really want to spend time with insurance claims?

 

It has to be the alpha, "my _____ is bigger than yours" type males normally that I assume are jealous for unknown reasons that feel the need to tailgate / cut you off like they are drafting / racing during a nascar race...

Just type in "Prius haters" on YouTube and watch all the asshats hating on the car and all the "coal rollers"... Some people are just idiots.

I have to agree though that I too have been, I feel targeted multiple times while driving my past liftback Prius'. I was almost ran off the road and rear ended by a huge semi once and I firmly believe it was unprovoked and intentional... Sad.

There has to be something to the percieved issue with all the threads about it, and all the folks including me who never noticed or felt threatened driving other cars / trucks / suv's..... Maybe so, maybe not...who knows.

 

i rarely have that problem, but i tend to drive faster than an average prius driver. I do limit +10mph (hwy and city) and accelerate briskly. keep in mind that the speedo is too optimistic in prius and when you do +5mph indicated, you really only do speed limit or so.

 

For the front driver, I'd say he should be fined only if he made a precipitous and significant speed change from that brake check. I can't determine such from the video. Brake lights can be flashed with little or no speed change. And following drivers are obligated to maintain sufficient following distance to safely negotiate unexpected maneuvers by the driver ahead reacting to sudden unexpected but real hazards farther ahead. If they cannot safely handle a flashed brake light without actual braking, then they cannot safely handle other real hazards either.

BP (Before Prius), I had a couple semi-trucks try to shove me off the road with their rear trailer tires, in a way that would have left them with only scuffed rubber, not metal scars. Both were 'provoked' by my refusal to let out-of-state trucks bully me into violating my own locality's traffic norm of tolerating speed limit traffic in the right-most lane. The later incident was called into 911. Nothing came of it, except that two weeks later I saw an emphasis patrol at that very location in the very rare act of pulling over numerous commercial trucks.

 

Yesterday on my way back from lunch, driving 35mph on a 30mph-limit 2-way 2-lanes residential street with a lane-size divider in the middle for people to stop and turn left. A Honda CRV with a female driver came up and tailgated me for about 5 seconds, then used the divider and passed me on my left. Caught me by surprise for an instance, then I smiled and looked at her disappeared ahead.

Couple weeks ago my sister from Texas sent me a picture of rear-full gen 3 Prius with all kinds of "I am a gun owner" stickers and banners. Her captioning for the picture was "this is what Texans do to a Prius".

I do believe the Prius-hate is out there for various reasons (jealousy, stupidity, uninformed, etc.) and that many people are considering some Prius drivers are "pushovers". Very unfortunate.

Driving a Prius teaches me more patient. My mind are more at ease. I am calm and smile a lot more.

It's a different driving pleasure