Prius drivers in danger?

Some other drivers definitely take it personally your car choice. The drivers that I always watch out for are lifted trucks. I've had some of these guys try to mess with me.

Don't let them get away with it! Best thing to do is to report them to the police, and let them handle it. In Colorado we have a specific number to report aggressive drivers: Report an Aggressive Driver | Colorado State Patrol - CSP

A visit or two from the police will stop this behavior. One additional protection you can get is a dash cam and, if needed, offer this evidence to the police. Also great in an accident as it will usually make it clear who is at fault.

 

Before I bought my Prius, and even after I had bought it, I really discounted this phenomena....I felt it was blown out of proportion or just a hive mentality embracing of imagined persecution.

But I have to say, I discovered-unfortunately-it was real.
I had situation on the freeway where I came up behind a vehicle, this is a 65 mph zone, 3-4 lane stretch, and I come up behind this vehicle that inexplicably starts to slow down. I mean REALLY slow down. Suddenly we are going 45 mph or less. So not knowing, perhaps thinking this vehicle was experiencing mechanical difficulties , I simply switch lanes and calmly pass.
Seemingly a minute or two later, this same vehicle comes up rapidly behind me, pulls aside me, and I see the driver angrily mouthing comments at me.
I really didn't want to react to give any fuel to whatever this person had imagined I had done. So I just hoped the person would lose interest. They then pulled ahead of me and started to play the same cat and mouse game.
At this point I just pulled off the freeway at a well populated point, to let this guy have the road, and to calm my nerves.
I don't know if this had anything to do with my driving a Prius, but I had never had this type of event happen to me.

Then of course I had the rather common happening of cars passing me aggressively at high speeds, for no apparent reason. I can attest to the fact that I drive the same stretches, at the same speeds in my Honda Fit, and really do NOT seem to have the same thing happen. So I attribute it to people seeing a Prius and then applying personal prejudice or stereotype.

The the most blatant Prius dislike I had happen was being at a two lane stop waiting for a left hand turn signal, when a truck pulled up off to the lane next to mind, and actually ahead of me, and the passenger opens his door and directly spits on my Prius.

So anyway, I had to conclude Prius prejudice or hate or simple dislike does exist, as stupid and unwarranted as it is.

And I'm also NOT mentioning the at least 2 speeding tickets I got, that I really think the officer was enjoying ticketing a Prius. Again, my driving habits have not changed, and as far as speeding tickets go? I can drive the Honda Fit with nearly an invisible anonymity.

 

Grrrr .......!

 

Well like I said, I wasn't there- I didn't see the additional color of sign language.

You too, huh?

Some guy in a pickup got angry at the sight of me driving around the day after we picked up our new prius. I honestly couldn't help but laugh, I had no idea this was a real thing until that happened.

I know that effect too. I can get out there in my turbo Outback and drive like an absolute... yeah, that. And when Officer Smiley at the speed trap looks up from his copy of Physical Subjugation Weekly and sees me blasting past nearly sideways, he's going to shrug, think "eh, soccer dad. Wonder which school. F'n soccer, heh."

 

Post #21 hits the nail on the head, report the infraction.
So, now buy a dash camera for a starter, if you find frequent perps, get another rear facing camera, just email a file to the state police, nice person hats deserve to get kicked off the road.

Putting an NRA or Trump sticker on is a personal decision, and the consequences may be unexpected, other prii may exclude you

 

Going by personal experience, the '96 Taurus attracted the most rage.

 

I do notice that people, by default, try to pass me as they think I'm going to be driving extremely slow. When I actually keep with the flow of traffic, they pop back into the right lane and follow.

When I'm tired or trying to conserve battery, I stick to the speed limit and make sure I'm not hogging the passing lane. When I'm late to work or driving for fun, I'm doing 75-85mph with the rest of them.

With my BMW, I didn't see as many people automatically getting into the left lane when they see me enter a highway.

To the OP: Were you driving less than the speed limit? I didn't see this mentioned, they could've been mad they let you in because you were driving too slowly. But pickup truck drivers in general aren't too bright around my neck of the woods, so I don't doubt it wasn't your fault.

 

Lesson to be learned: if you must kill someone in road rage, use your car, not a gun. The car will bring a much shorter prison term.

 

Haven’t gotten much hate with the Prime, but I do deal with it a lot in my other 2 cars. I have a gas smart and an electric smart and for some reason everyone equates the car’s size with it being slow. My gas smart I am rarely doing less than 80mph on the highway, the electric I usually stick in the right lane behind a semi. In the city both are usually first off the line and first at speed limit. Still have idiots that “must” pass, to the point I’ve already had to replace both windshields thanks to someone feeling the need to pass me and cut me off so close and violently that they go in the median and kick up rocks.

The Prime I haven’t seen any of this behavior with yet.


iPad ?

 

Agreed, you'll never know. I feel like I see this one a lot: Driver A makes an accommodation in traffic for Driver B. Driver C sees Driver A's signal, but is blissfully unaware of Driver B and takes advantage of the moment, complicating the situation. And then the murders began.

 

Since figuring out how to hide behind highway camouflage, delivery and semi-trailer trucks, vehicles towing, and RVs, I haven't had a problem. Using dynamic cruise control, it is easy and the road rage types ignore the Prius to pass the big vehicle. Regardless one good thing from this thread.

I've put the regular police number in the phone and will use 911 just for true emergencies: accidents and fires.

Bob Wilson

 

My son and I got coal rolled in Moab, Utah while parked along a pretty remote road ( Kane Springs Road ). The idiot stopped about 100 yards ahead of us and obviously wanted a reaction. I just waved hello and they went their way. Unfortunately, the problem I have now is that sometimes I think all 'big diesel pickup truck drivers' are a-holes!. I know I shouldn't think that way but bad apples can spoil the bunch.

 

I am so surprised to hear people say/assume "Prius drivers" cause some people to drive aggressively against you in this land of individual freedom. How other drivers respond to your driving is 100% their choice. So long as the road you are driving has passing lane and you are driving above the minimum required speed under many situations, I see no reason to place any blame on yourself.

Like Bill said, driving behind bigrig is a safe strategy. Equally effective strategy, if you want to drive slower, is to go way too slow like 60mph on 65mph speed limit. People around where I commute seem to simply pass by me at that speed.

The real problem may be that there are a lot of people who appear to have insufficient frontal lobe control driving cars. Perhaps they cannot help themselves with FAE/FAS.



Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Perhaps it stems from jealousy. Those big trucks are spending about $85 a week to fill up their rigs… And when they see a fuel-efficient Prius knowing we go the same point A to point B at 1/5th the cost, a subconscious resentment builds… And then you have road rage.

 

Just for the record: one upon a time, that was supposed to be the upper limit, in optimal conditions. Yeah right...

And we're supposed to come to FULL stops, when coming up to a stop sign, or turning right on a red light?

The latter was to:

1. Avoid running over pedestrians.
2. Not give the through traffic drivers heart attacks.

What I notice, a lot: from a standing start I'll accelerate reasonably, up to the speed limit, settle in there, and the guy(or gal) following will hang in there for a mo, then realize "wait a sec, this guy's obeying the speed limit", change lanes left, zip by, changes lanes back to the right in front of me (sometimes cutting it way too close), then sail on up to the next (red) light, 10~15 over the limit. When I roll up to them as often as not the light's just about to go green.

I don't gloat, don't much care, I just stick to the rules, keep a good space, keep the testosterone in check (not hard these days), and get where I'm going.

 

How about this experience from yesterday:
Some guy was borderline tailgating me for 40 miles on the interstate. He refused to pass or signal, yet his license plate was real easy to make out, for 40 miles. Then he exited right before the toll plaza.

 

Yikes...yep, I have had experiences like that on the interstate too.

Usually, I let 'packs' of aggressive drivers pass me and then find a buffer zone in between the 'packs'. This strategy seems to work very well for me and has been well honed on a few long road trips.

However, in a situation like yours there isn't much you can do except pull over.

 

After suggestions from hypermiling site CleanMPG.com, I started occasionally trying a 'reverse pass': move one lane left, let the tailgater zoom by, then change back to the right lane. It usually works.

 

And if it's one lane only in each direction, just pull over for a mo, when you've got an opportunity.

 

Yeah, I think driving the Prius does make other people drive like idiots. For example, the Land Rover that was driving slowly on a stretch of country highway, and so I passed them in a passing zone. A short while later was a light with two lanes across the intersection. When the light turned green they floored it to get back in front of me, then continued driving their usual slow speed.

As a bonus, the last idiot I encountered had a cross decal in the rear window. Apparently he goes to church so it's okay to be an donkey out in the real world.

I can't pin either of these specific examples on me driving the Prius, but taken as a whole they do seem to happen more frequently.