[Q] No respect and bad road manner from other driver?

Since I own a v in a very red state, they may not realize it is a Prius. Stay to the right on multilane roads, stay to the right of your lane on two lane roads. Realize that since your back window IS the back of the car, some of it is just your perception. Their road rage should not effect your behavior.

Best of luck!


While that is not a huge trunk, your back glass was not the back of your car before.

 

Its called "Prius Discrimination". Many Prius drivers go very slow approaching a red light to eliminate braking. They use pulse and glide on two lane roads. Even on a four lane road in the slow lane it interferes with other drivers constant speed method. Or they just go slower than the speed limit for lower wind drag. Therefore even if you drive your Prius like typical non-hybrid cars on the road you are considered "one of them". Similar things happen to other classes in society.

 

I guess you haven't experienced your first "coal roller" yet. Make sure you know exactly where the "inside" button is on your a/c controls if you don't want black diesel soot coming into the cabin of the car.

Hater's gonna hate. Prii are just considered an easy target by the less-than-intellegent crowd. Thar's why I am NEVER in the right lane when I see a jacked-up old pick-up behind me.

 

Well I'm glad this issue happened to be brought up again today.
Because up to last night, I would of said...."No" I think feelings of Prius Persecution are severely over blown by Prius Owners.

BUT....

Late last night and I'm stopped at a light, with a left hand turn lane also stopped waiting for the light to change. A truck pulls up beside me, I watch the passenger role down the window, and spit on my Prius.
Seriously.
Now maybe, just maybe..."redneck" benefit of the doubt- he wasn't purposely spitting directly on my Prius, but it sure looked to me like he was. When he saw that I saw, he gave me a sorta sheepish look and the light changed and we went our separate ways.

That has absolutely NEVER happened with any other vehicle I have ever owned.

So 1 incident of "Prius Hate" in about 3 years of ownership.

I had to go home and and in the pitch dark rinse off the entire side of my vehicle.
I'm pretty sure spitting tobacco saliva isn't good for the clear coat.

 

The other day I saw a raised truck driving down road with a self made plate by exhaust that read "prius repellent " Really?

 

and it's not just prius, there's a lot of hybrid hate. cars are damaged, people are denigrated for 'trying to save the world'. nothing new under the sun, where it like a badge of honer. you're making them feel guilty.

 

Well...I'm giving a "One Time" Red Neck Benefit of The Doubt here, that he was just spitting out his chewing tobacco and just wasn't thinking about his proximity to my vehicle. Not the best manners in any case BUT...

I'm filing it under strange...and hoping it never happens again.

 

Just slap Grateful Dead and NRA stickers on the back to keep them guessing...

 

Tinted windows help a lot.. when they pull up next to you to give you the "what are you doing on MY road" look, they'll just be looking back at their own reflection, wondering if they caught your attention or not.. eventually they'll feel dumb and continue on their way

My first encounter with Prius Hate was on Day 1 of owning my PiP.. mind you, I wasnt versed in the ways of hypermiling yet.. slowing down at a red light, an old lady (in her 70s, I estimate), honked her horn at me, pulled around to the side and gave me the stare

I've heard the NRA sticker idea before.. but that itself could attract a different crowd, esp in gun-unfriendly CA

Best is just to learn to deal with it.. personally, I just think about all the gas (and money) I'm saving as they drive by waving their middle finger.. it helps me cope

 

I never thought humans of the 21st century would be so......resistant to a vehicle which really is technologically way ahead of its time in so many respects. It literally is a sci-fi vehicle from the future, on our roads today. They know nothing about it, but they hate it with totally illogical passion. Some humans are weird!

 

What I've been able to glean from anti-Prius people is their perception that Prius owners think they're better than everyone else. Couple that with being a non-American brand and the typical mannerisms of their drivers. I also think it's just human nature to categorize everything.

Funny enough, I also own a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, which makes me fall into another category of dislike by many people. Even though I don't fit any of the typical stereotypes or have an obnoxiously loud exhaust, I'm automatically treated with disdain.

I think you just have to face facts that too many people are inherently closed-minded and in some cases downright stupid.

 

In my prius I get tailgated, honked at, bright light flashed, people pass without leaving enough room - almost clipping my bumper from behind, alongside (partly in my lane), and almost clipping my bumper when pulling back into my lane in font of me. I have been passed numerous times on the right shoulder. None of this ever happens when I drive my truck. Never. And I drive my truck the same as my prius. Right lane, at least 5 over the limit, no pulse and glide speed changes etc.

 

I haven't experienced any obvious discrimination yet in two years of ownership, but here in Massachusetts every other car seems to be a Prius, so maybe it's a regional thing.

That said, other drivers definitely profile you based on what you're driving and how you're driving it, and I do it to others. An extreme example: Watch a school bus try to pull onto a busy road. Does anybody give it a break and let it in? Very unlikely, because you *know* it's going to be stopping multiple times.

That said, I usually coast up to red lights no matter what I'm driving, and am always puzzled when somebody has to gun it to get around me so they can brake heavily at the red light, usually as I coast right back past them. All they're doing is converting fuel into additional brake wear.

 

maybe if the school bus wasn't a diesel...

 

In big city rush hour traffic, everyone's an enemy, but the rest of the time I categorize drivers by their acts, and then I look at the plates
The worst, most obnoxious are always Canadian and Pennsylvanian (rude, pushy, never allow room to merge, cut in front with an inch to spare, etc)
The op did mention the bird's eye view out the back window, it makes things look much worse then they are, funny prius quirk.

 

let's face it, the motoring public drives 25-50% above the speed limit. anyone driving the limit is considered by the rest to be impeding traffic. and the government isn't helping any by ignoring most of the speeders, and in some cases, aiding and abetting them.