Just talked to a Prius owner who was on her way to court and about to lose her license for speeding numerous times. (Tickets were not gotten while driving a Prius) She was in her new Prius and told me that she LOVES the car and it has totally changed the way she drives a car. She is now working for great mpg and is not speeding at all. I told her she should use the "Prius defense" -- "Judge, I now have a Prius and don't speed anymore 'cause I want the best mpg I can get --- please give me one more chance!" It got me to wondering if anyone stilll gets speeding tickets now they drive a Prius?
I'll answer "No", but my wife got one passing a semi that was behind a cop and he nailed her as she went by.
My only ticket for speed was in 1983 when I decided to pass a semi on I-90 and ramped up to 68MPH doing it, in a (I think) 55MPH zone. Never did convice anyone that my Driver's Ed class included "slow back down to the speed limit after passing", which I had done. Today, that zone is 65MPH. Given that I rarely go more than 5MPH over the limit since then, I'm doing OK...
No, never in the Prius. In the Prius, I feel like I'm hauling at 75, and thus, don't really like to keep it up there for any significant amount of time. edit: knock on wood! h34r:
I got stopped over the Labor Day weekend for driving slower than the freeway traffic because they thought I was drunk (it was late at night and I was trying to get the best mileage). He saw I wasn't drunk and let me go. So it's none.......yet. The last speeding ticket was on Christmas Eve back in 1982. I was going 10mph over between El Centro and San Diego (desert driving). Frankly I was surprised as my car at the time was a 1967 Mercedes 200D diesel, which you would use a calendar to time it from 0-60. :lol:
No tickets in the Prius yet. Two tickets for going with the flow of traffic (70-75mph) in my previous car. Honestly, does everybody drive at 65mph on the way to Vegas?
B) Not yet, but I'm sure it's coming sooner or later. I drive about 100 miles a day and open it up if I can, especially going home.
Holy crap... with stats like this forming (30:1 as of this post), someone should lobby insurance regulators for an overall lowering of Prius insurance rates from Actuarial tables... Of course, if the reverse were true, some scumbag politician would make it his cause to get insurance companies to charge higher rates for such vehicle... h34r:
I got a ticket for "wasting gas" in my Prius while driving into Lake Havasu City. This is kind of a lesser offense than speeding, for circumstances when the cop wants to do more than a warning but less than a speeding ticket. It was an area where the speed limit had recently been lowered. The irony of getting busted for "wasting gas" while getting 45mpg is beautiful.
Would you be so kind as to scan it... obscuring any personally identifiable information... I must have a copy of this. It's too funny!
Today is my first full day with the Prius... at 80 miles on the odo, I got a #$%ing speeding ticket. This is the slowest car I've ever owned and I get a ticket on the first day... figures!
Perhaps a Prius engenders less risk of outright speeding in the classic steady-state sense, but there's always the situation of screaming down out of the last bits of mountain downhill in "warp neutral" and trying to maintain that through the rest of the valley is likely to get you nailed in the 25 mph zone in the little town in the middle. . _H*
I have to confess that on a long down hill at a speed limit of 35 mph I may get up to 40 mph on a long glide. I am a bad person. Mostly I am under the speed limit unless someone is riding my bumper and I occasionally go two to three mph over the limit. I hate it when I pulse and guide and someone is on my bumper.
None in my Prius, but I probably got 10 or more (including warnings) previously. The last ticket I got was absolutely the most ridiculous and I'm sure the copy was probably the school bully. My wife's mother passed away on a Tuesday. That following Monday, we got a call that her Dad was taken to the hospital around 9am. I was heading into work and turned around to go get my wife. We headed straight down to the Cape and when we got to the hospital, found out he was having a "procedure". He was actually having some stints put in. We were told after that it went well and he should be going home tomorrow, but he'd need to have more done at a later date. So, we headed to his place and spent the night. We then went back in the morning and stopped at the Mall to get some reading material. My wife called to see if how soon he'd be ready and was told that he was in for a "procedure"! We had asked to be notified if anything else was going to happen. So upset by this, we headed to the car and headed for the hospital. We went through a rotary on our way there and just before I came around to where we'd exit, I spotted an ambulance and eased up to let them merge in. I then turned off the same exist as the ambulance. About 1000 feet after turning off the rotary, a copy steps out in front of us and points and indicates we need to pull over. (Note: Any time I have EVER been pulled over by a copy, I've been 100% aware of why). I (and my wife and her sister (who was with us)) was completely baffled as to why we were being stopped. The cop comes up to my window and I don't recall if I asked what we did or if he started talking first, but he stated "You were speeding and following to close to the ambulance". I said, "Actually officer, we are on our way to the hospital." His response "The ambulance has got to get their first, license and registration please" - I gave it to him and he walked away. He came back with a TICKET! For speeding (10mph over limit) AND for following to close to the ambulance. We left and I went to court over it and won (it only took 2 minutes for them to throw it out). The things that REALLY bother me: 1. He never asked WHY we were going to the hospital. For all he knew, my wifes sisters foot had been cut off and she was in the back bleeding to death (although I probably wouldn't have stopped if that was the case. 2. He gave us a ticket. Wth are warnings for if not a situation like this? This is just an example of a guy that should NEVER have become a cop. It's to protect and serve and I didn't feel he did any of that. Thanks.. just wanted to share - I'm still (a year later) ticked off thinking about this incident :angry:
