Cars flashing me at night

The Two Eco allegedly gets better mileage. All the others have the same EPA mileage. The Two is the least expensive trim, though.
I wanted a spare tire so I could either get the Two or pay $3000 more for the Three. The Two Eco has no spare tire or rear wiper.

 

It's sure sounding like the issue is your driving behavior. There's really only 2 reasons to get flashed from behind 1) you are driving slow in an inappropriate lane, and it's frustrating those drivers or 2) there's some sort of equipment issue such as your taillights aren't on.

I think we can eliminate #2 because your lights are on. And every car you have described as flashing you has passed you.

If it was an equipment issue, you probably would have noticed getting flashed by cars in the right lane, or off the highway, and by cars that did not pass you. Since none of those have happened, it is likely that you were flashed for driving too slowly in a lane other than the right lane.

 

It's ok, I am a slow Prius driver too, and I bet there are a bunch on this board

Only difference is most keep to the right lane

 

I usually do just over the speed limit but need to use the right lane. Rednecks around here really like to speed.

 

I've been what appears to of been intentionally flashed from behind a couple of times, to a point of nearly getting paranoid. Then I realised that most of the cars doing it had LED headlights which are brighter than the older type of bulbs. A couple of weeks ago on a country lane I noticed the car behind me was flashing even though I was doing the speed limit, it then dawned on me his flashes were coinciding with bumps in the road. In many cases what appears to be a flash is someone hitting a bump and because the lights are so much brighter you think it's a flash.

Mind I've also noticed an increase in aggressive driving from others on the road around me in comparison to when I was driving the Yaris Hybrid, to the point I'm going to get front and rear dash cams fitted in the next couple of months.

 

Anti Prius aggression had been discussed elsewhere and on PC. It's saying more about other drivers mentality than anything else.

 

My Commander's auto high beams sometimes has issues with cars in front of me. I suspect it just doesn't see the car up there, will turn on the high beam then go "oh shit a car" then turn them off, wait a moment then repeat. Usually this happens in very dark areas where I'm leaving a large enough gap that my low beams do not illuminate the car in front of me at all. Seems to happen with SUVs, trucks, cars, etc and I think it's typically due to them having dim tail lights. It never flashes a Dodge with that racetrack LED setup for example, but it will flash vehicles from the 70s and 80s. In the OPs situation I believe it sounds like impatient drivers, but just wanted to point out that another reason you may get flashed from behind is their auto high beam system.

 

I have noticed the exact same thing

 

People have NO patience these days. Many can't BEAR to see a gap in heavy traffic and think they MUST fill it .......even if it accomplishes nothing.

I suspect that is what is going on when you are in the left lanes.
If you REALLY are keeping up with the flow, ignore the a-holes.
If not, move over.

 

I move over to try & avoid those aggressive drivers. Otherwise they will likely pass on the right & then move in front of your path too close.

 

Yes, I've noticed that. Most cars, you can't see their headlights anyway as they line up with the split rear window.

The cars which I've noticed are RangeRovers, BMW X5s or Merc SUVs - with higher headlights and I think they call them XENON headlights. But with the first "flash" the auto-dipping RearView mirror dips solving the problem.

 

Yeah I got flashed last week for coasting to a red light about 200 yards ahead of me with about 30 cars stopped at it. People are apparently incapable of focusing on anything farther ahead than the car in front of them

I always chuckle when someone zooms around me, accelerating to a red light, only to stomp on the brakes

 

Not sure about the auto dim function on my mirror. Not sure it does very much, but there's no way to compare other than operate the switch. I've tried that a few times and it made no difference at all.

 

My son likes the mirror on his 2015 Prius v, but I only have the manual dimming one.

 

Yep.
The one that really bugs me is to be slowing down for a stop, trying to leave some space in front to make starting out smoother, only to have the car behind me zoom into another lane and then pull back in front of me. My reaction to that is NOT laughter.

If the opportunity arises after the light, I go the adjacent lane and make sure that he STAYS in that position that he wanted so bad.

 

Best rule to stick to is... Keep right except to pass, regardless of speed. (Or if you're letting someone merge, giving a stopped vehicle room, or the lane is no longer usable for whatever reason.)

 

From my experience, the manual dimmer is the one I prefer. Guess I'll just have to knock it out of line of it gets too bad

 

There is one section of my commute where I move to the left lane because of vehicles slowing to enter or leave a truck stop gas station.