No Respect On The Freeway

"I drive 65 in the left passing lane. I'm doing the speed limit so why is everyone angry at me?"

dunce ^ ..... .....One time I had an 18-wheeler blare his horn at me from behind & then pass me + swing his trailer to almost hit my car (I had to brake). I got his number and called his boss, but the guy's business was located in Mexico, and he said his driver did nothing wrong. I too need a dashcam:
Infowars Dashcam

 

I can second this for Austin, TX as well. I drove a Civic for 8 years on the same exact roads at the same exact speeds that I now drive my Gen3 Prius. Admittedly, I tend to drive a bit under the limit but I stay in the right lane and it's not like I'm driving 20 under or anything.

In the Civic if somebody came up behind me they would typically just hang out and wait for their exit or start playing with their phone. Some would follow for miles before getting bored and passing. Occasionally I would get the universal "you're #1" hand gesture, but I didn't let it go to my head.

In the Prius I can see that the driver who comes up behind is visibly upset. They often tailgate closely, flashing their headlights and/or pound on their steering wheel (even when there is no middle lane traffic preventing them from passing) or they pass aggressively with the obligatory swerve back into the right lane and stabbing of brakes.

It seems that the assumption is that since I drive a Prius that I think I'm smarter and more ecologically evolved than them...that I am, in a sense, judging them harshly for having different transportation priorities.

They're right

 

It's like the Prius is catnip to some people...
In the PIP- I had a woman in an SUV come tight up behind me (I was doing 65 in the middle lane of a 3-lane 55mph roadway) and she laid on the horn for probably 10 seconds then finally passed me on the left when she saw I wasn't going to move over. As soon as she was clear of the PIP- she immediately cut back into the middle lane maybe 15 ft in front of me. Thing is, now she was following the truck I was following by about 30 feet with no way to get out on either side. I eventually moved to the right lane and passed them both.
So it was alright to be stuck behind a pickup truck (she wasn't blasting the horn at him) doing 65 in the middle lane- but if it's a Prius... give em' the horn...
Some ppl are just Alpha Hotels......

 

Rude people deserve rudeness in return. You should have blown your rear-facing horn at her.

 

I didn't mention it above... but I got flipped off in addition to her blasting the horn. It was a Monday morning too, nice way to start the workweek...

 

I used to reply with the 1 finger salute as well, but I've found that a complete lack of acknowledgement can be more entertaining.

A few weeks ago a woman entering the highway merged (more like wedged) in behind me instead of using the open 1/4 mile of available lane to find a better opening. She quickly found herself trapped because the middle lane wasn't going any faster and it was my fault. She honked and flashed and flipped me off (with both hands) and I watched, but with my sunglasses on she couldn't be sure I'd seen her. It just made her more mad. She finally got into the middle lane and pulled along side and rolled the passenger window down and was screaming and occasionally swerving towards me. I changed the radio over to Bluetooth and spooled up Happy by Pharrell and sang along while continuing to glance over occasionally through my periphery. Her lane ended up slowing down and she moved back over behind me and continued for at least another mile before exiting. For the next 1/2 mile as the access lane ran parallel to the highway (now separated by a 10yrd wide grass median) she continued to shout and wave frantically through her open window. It was so hard to not crack up laughing and blow my cover.

 

Think positive stoby9... She is crazy about you...

 

Whoops! I meant that too!


I'm in mpg heaven

 

Rolmbo!!!!!!!

I'm in mpg heaven

 

Next time you pass them and they're flipping out, smile back and give 'em a great big thumbs up, like you're cheering them on.

Whenever I retake the lead on irate Prius-haters who tried to intentionally drive poorly against just me, I like to rock out as if I'm listening to the world's greatest music, usually because I am, and seem like I'm totally unaware of their existence, or ire. It's not as if they're getting anywhere any faster, and not because of my presence or choice of vehicle..

 

Driving the speed limit or slower in the right lane - well, other drivers can just get over it. But doing so in the left lane, even if going a bit faster than the speed limit while the general traffic wants to go faster, is just plain stupid. Many states have "Slower traffic keep right" laws and signs posted. Just do it. Have said all that, there are morons out there who automatically assume that following a Prius at any speed means they are going too slow. There is stupid on both sides of this argument and most times you can't fix that.

 

Concur.

People don't hate Priuses.
It's the drivers.
Prius drivers don't hate SUVs.
It's their drivers.
Now....there are idiots in both camps that are the exceptions that make the rule, and it doesn't make much sense to get wrapped round an axle worrying about them.
You just can't fix assholery, and most of the people that I've noticed trying to do so generally become that which they despise.

 

Late to the party, but...

I live in Maine, and we don't really have elaborate freeways in the Bangor area, but I usually don't get passed. I put the cruise on 70 and just steer. There are people faster than me, they pass. People who are slower than me, I pass them. I just don't think anybody cares enough.

Most of my driving is on Route 1A, Route 3, Route 1, and a bit on I-95/395. I drive to Bar Harbor every day. The tourists generally don't know where they are going, and you can tell the people who drive the road every day because of how they drive. There are 3 places where you can pass uphill on the way to Bar Harbor, and 4 on the way from, and I generally just resume the cruise control when there is enough of a gap and blow by the people who aren't doing the speed limit.

They did just recently raise all the speed limits by 5mph, so it may change, but I really doubt it. It seems to be more about the driver and style than the car.

 

Driving in Maine is like driving in Canada..... a much more mellow mindset than the actual USA.

 

Canada? Mellow? Maybe compared to SoCal, but certainly not compared to my region of the USA.

Around here, CA plates seem to be correlated with the worst driving behavior, and other evidence suggests that is spearheaded by the SoCal fraction. Next worst, BC plates, apparently hightailing it to/from CA. My experience inside Canada with AB plates is also not so good, but the sample visiting here is too small to mean much.

 

There just jealous cause we have a fuel efficient vehicle while they race to the gas station.

 

Brake Check them HARD...

 

That looks just like the one I ordered on Amazon...highly rated for performance and features, but mine came from China (still the model that's highly rated). Lasted not even a month before it started glitching. Yeah, I left it in the car all day...in Autumn. I sent it back and had to use Amazon's guarantee to get my money back because it STILL had not arrived (or cleared Chinese customs) by the final day of Amazon's consumer protection policy.

Unless the product has a good warranty and local service if it fails, I'd not buy another one. Return shipping to China was not cheap.

 

I saw a Prius pulled over by the state police for speeding...in a 70 mph zone. (lol)

I ride motorcycles, so I'm much more "proactive" than the average driver. I set my speed as I want and try to anticipate people coming up behind me or coming up on those going slower. If I don't want to gas up to pass, I'll turn off the CC and wait for an opening to resume my set speed and pass.

If things are overall insane, I may just bump up my setting to keep with the flow rather than be a nuisance to others.

Then again, when I have short hops on the interstate, I'll set it for 55 or 60 (even though it's 70) and just let people pass. So long as it's not heavy congestion, I stay in the right lane and make the call on how to handle someone going slower in front of me.

I'm not going to gun it up to 70 just to go 5 miles down the highway to the next exit.

 

This morning a guy was doing 65 in a 70 zone. In the left lane. Backed-up traffic for a mile. Once I got up behind him, I did a friendly beep-beep and another beep-beep. (Then I laid on the horn to get him to exit the passing lane & stop blocking traffic.)

A better method is to say, "Item not received from china," and get a refund on the broken camera they sent you. That way you, the customer, lose no money in the process.