Prius drivers in danger?

I agree that the best scenario is everybody traveling at the same speed.

 

Yes, I am assuming the same conditions, only the speed varying. While I can't fault your general logic, it doesn't match up very well with my observations in the real world.

Where the roads are lightly traveled, interchanges are few and far between, etc., etc., and the speed limit is 65, traffic generally flows at 65-70 mph, with the occasional driver going faster or slower but generally not being a problem because it is so easy to pass on a lightly traveled multi-lane road.

Then, when you reach a city and the speed limit drops to 55 or 50, now everybody wants to go 85 and drive like the final lap of a NASCAR race, because passing is very difficult so is only possible through a lot of tailgating and lane changing and basically doing everything you recommend against. And of course, there's lots of entrances and exits and usually a lot of "fell off truck" debris and construction and what not. I've found that trying to keep up with such traffic is futile. It's far less stressful to be one of the slower cars on the road in such a situation.

 

Usually, but not always. An example of the slower driver probably being the more dangerous was my aging dad, just before he finally gave up driving. We had been badgering him to curtail driving even before he experienced repeated DUI-suspicion stops while completely sober. T-boning a tractor-trailer (at very low speed on main street in a small town) was more convincing to him.

Not everyplace agrees. That is why some places (such as here) have multiple speed limits on the same road, such as one for cars and a slower one for commercial trucks and combination vehicles.

 

Yes, it’s the same here 65 and 55 for any type of trailered vehicle.

 

In my experience, such roads have multiple lanes, or occassional passing lanes to accommodate such differing PSLs. I used the term flow, because everyone won't be traveling at the exact same speed. Keeping the speed delta between the different vehicles on the road low could be more important for safety than the actual PSL.

 

Or, like SR26 across Eastern Washington (the main road from the Puget Sound metropolis to Washington State University), the road is long and straight enough that most of it is a safe passing zone when oncoming traffic is not heavy. It is not multi-lane, but few or no truck/passing lanes are needed.

Last week, a car latched on behind me, beyond tailgating distance, quite happy to never pass but simply use me as a pace car. That caused a bit of backup behind, as wanna-be speeders catching up needed to pass multiple well-spaced cars at once. But opportunities were very abundant, so I didn't take action. One pickup got pissy and while passing, made several signals insisting that I take a turnout. Sorry, speedball, I have dashcam evidence showing that there were plenty of safe and easy passing opportunities, unobstructed by oncoming traffic.

Eventually, I passed a truck that was obeying the truck limit. Said car transferred to the truck as its new pace vehicle.

 

I am normally 10-15 over the speed limit, if I do purchase the Prius Prime, that would not change. In my neck of the woods never seen anyone be driving the speed limit.

Dan

 

Strangely looking glass world we live in.

not making judgment; just noting, the “limit” was supposed to be upper limit, daytime in good weather. But yeah I know. Im just a right lane denizen.

 

Good job bringing back a 3 year old thread.