Getting Flipped Off Is A Badge of Honor

I agree that many people express their lives' frustrations behind the wheel. It's the only outlet for some people. They don't go to the gym or gun range or participate in sports where they can burn off their anger and frustration, so they do it behind the wheel of their car. This is especially true in rush hour traffic. Some one's boss has been a jerk and now that person is very angry, yet powerless to actually effect the root cause of the situation and they are behind a wheel driving home and there is traffic and the "idiot" in front of them won't go faster than traffic allows (this is not exactly their thinking, but that's basically the irrational cause of road rage), so they start taking it out on the "idiot" in their life that's available right now and can't really get away or do much about it, so they feel some (small and false at that) sense of power. This is why they angrily pass the "idiot" and get in front of him and drive with exact same speed as before (because traffic). I have learned the technique truckers use a lot of creating a large gap between cars in slow moving traffic. This prevents full stops and keeps the traffic flowing (for everyone). This really eases the congestion behind you (and you do not really see the benefit of it, but the benefit is huge). It drives the angry people insane! They think that every inch of space needs to be occupied. Hence the gas-brake-gas-brake-... behavior. Really angry GAS, too. It happens all the time in rush our traffic. Gets them home at the same time (or later if they cause a fender bender with their antics), but it must provide some relief (or not). In any case, everyone needs to go and do something that discharges the stress of the day after a day of (stressful) work before getting into the car. It can take as little as 10 minutes and a large part of our lives will improve. Perhaps a rubber room with dummies (that say "Boss") and nerf baseball bats would be great. 10 minutes of beating the crap out of the effigy of your boss, customer, co-worker, spouse (even!) can really improve everyone's lives. I may be wrong on thins, of course, but it's worth a try.

 

Testosterone levels?

Mine ain't what it used to be, and you know what: it's not so bad lol.

 

Yeah! The blessings of maturing

 

My strategy for driving in London, UK is simple; built up areas with a large number of pedestrians jaywalking across the street (btw, what IS jaywalking? I’m assuming what it means here)....I will rigorously stick to the usually 30mph or 20mph speed limit - sometimes less if there’s a distinct possibility of crushing some totally oblivious dullard totting a smartphone and completely focused on his social media app, while striding out into the street like a Lemming.

You wouldn’t believe how many I have saved from ending up under my wheels. Some never even knew they’d almost died a cockroaches death!

On multiple lane highways that are 40mph to 50mph, I’ll have the Waze app running on my phone specifically for observing my true GPS speed, and I’ll travel at that speed.
At 50mph indicated in “The Spaceship”, GPS shows I’m actually travelling at 46mph. So 54mph indicated gets me to a true 50mph GPS.

The good thing about this is, everyone else IS traveling at about 46 to 47mph, so I’m actually going faster than 70% of the traffic. Legally!

I have an onboard Thinkware F800 Pro 2 channel dash cam system installed, running 24/7 parked or driving. It’s also GPS enabled, and records my GPS speed at all times! This will mitigate any spurious accusations of speeding by bent traffic cops in court. The dash cam is also a great incentive for me to be on my best behaviour behind the wheel, as it’s the ultimate digital snitch.

Regardless, I’ll get out of the way of the remaining 30% of traffic who DO break speed limits for whatever reasons;
(MI:6 secret agents on business, unmarked police cars, inbred morons using their cars as dong extensions, crackheads behind the wheel and genuine career criminals - the latter who will pick a road rage incident with you, shoot or stab you dead and never be found afterwards).
I’ll happily move over and let them on their merry way.

Ditto with 60mph and 70mph limits. Unless I’m in a hurry, I’ll do 55mph on a dual carriageway allowing people to overtake. 65mph on a 70mph motorway. Why? Saves fuel, The Spaceship rides quieter and I’m less stressed.

I will not drive 5mph slower on a single carriage road - I do not want to incur the wrath of those behind me - unless road or weather conditions warrant it. All my speeds will be GPS speed anyway, so usually I’m still making good headway and I’m often at or near the correct speed limit.

I totally abhor those who drive like “Mr Mole Man”.....holding up the traffic in the overtaking lane while gripping the steering wheel tightly and resolutely sticking to their 43mph GPS on a 50mph limit multi-lane highway. And refusing to move over and let the rest of the traffic pass.

And I equally worry about those retarded types who are dawdling along at well below the speed limit, till they see what appears to be a 16 year old Prius (private registration plate from 2003 on a 2008 Prius), overtaking them - and suddenly start racing frantically to stop you from passing, because “A Prius is slow, innit?”.....

If you do make it in front of them before they realise you’re one of them useless eco cars that are inherently slow, they’ll speed up, overtake you, and drop back in front of you before SLOWING DOWN and forcing you to brake to avoid hitting them.

One more thing; in unrestricted flowing traffic I’ll use cruise control at every opportunity. It works so well for me. Well enough to get me 623 miles out of 44 litres of fuel (a tankful) at 64.5mpg indicated from my last refuelling.

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So I try to avoid morons speeding up and slowing down repeatedly in front of me. I tend to travel at a constant speed for most of my journey, while passing a great many vehicles and endeavouring NOT to hold anyone else up at the same time.

My tuppence worth; apologies for rabbiting on.





iPhone 6s +

 

I call that “Going to Warp” in The Spaceship.
You’d be surprised how well the Prius reacts on a motorway in the overtaking lane when you push the pedal to the metal. Less MPGs for the duration, but it’s immensely satisfying to see your tailgating tormentor dwindling rapidly as you break the metaphorical sound barrier and go to WARP speed.
I’ve touched 105mph once, just to show up some idiot in a pretty ordinary Euro box car who was riding my arse unnecessarily (could have passed on the overtaking lane but wouldn’t; he and his mates were laughing their heads off behind me, riding my bumper on the motorway AND gesticulating rudely into the bargain ).

Pulled into the overtaking lane and let her rip. That was the 105mph (indicated not GPS) afterburner run - sustained for 120 seconds, before dropping back to my 65mph GPS, and returning to the slow lane to enjoy my ride.
Suffice to say, they literally disappeared from view behind me on the motorway .
And I scared myself doing it too.
Never again!

They stayed way back after that.
They probably thought I was driving “A Sleeper” vehicle, probably something fitted with a tuned V6 engine or something, masquerading as a slow hybrid.
Of course, they wouldn’t believe just about any healthy Prius HSD could do that. But WE can...!!! We just choose not to.

Burned a bit of fuel playing a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster, but it was worth every drop wiping the stupid laughter off their faces.

These days though, with all the highways bristling with speed cameras, I can’t be bothered to do that anymore. Simply not worth the risk, besides, I feel like I’m disrespecting my Prius.


iPhone 6s +

 

Pffft - I just flipped off a Prius driver yesterday. Because once again, he's 10mph under the limit.

All of you acting like you don't get mad behind the wheel. If the speed limit is 55, then do it. Not 45 because you want to force the 7 cars behind you to improve their mileage. There is indeed a real reason why people don't like getting behind Prius' and if none of you can acknowledge that then shame on you. Your probably part of the problem. How about going with the flow of traffic for a change. Oh and all of you barking about Coal Rollers. In case you never noticed. These kids do it to bicyclists, people with their windows down etc. So... I don't really know what to tell you. Other than it's a kid with his toy. Heck, I destroyed so many mailboxes when I was a kid and tore up so many yards... Why, because as a kid it was fun. Seriously, I had a good time doing it. They'll grow out of it.

But really, can't any of you remember back to when you didn't drive a Prius and got that "well crap" feeling when you seen your got stuck behind a Prius at a stop light? Or am I the only one here not living in a Prius bubble?

In case none of you noticed the title of this thread is what & why?

 

Then....pass? Unless it was a long no passing zone, flipping them off just demonstrates a lack of maturity.

 

So does deliberately inciting it.

 

Yeah was stuck there. No passing.

 

I see ages 50s and older give the finger salute, would their maturity be in question also?

 

At the risk of being added to your quotes of shame, lol:

Don't conflate maturity, with maturity?

 

@dubit, is this about you?

 

It's so much safer and easier to just go with the flow on the road.

 

He was the best wasn’t he!

I’m generally pretty docile behind the wheel. Never had but 1 parking ticket my whole life. But slow drivers are a real pain. Just wish they’d drive with the flow like everyone else.

There are so many no passing zones around here it’s an issue. Police/Sheriff to their credit though do give warnings if they see an issue.

 

That's what I do and I haven't gotten the Jersey bird for it.

 

And that’s all it takes!

 

What's "the flow" when you're the only car on the road, you go to warp speed?

 

A lot of Prius owners do not hold up traffic (with improving their MPG in mind). Not in London UK anyway. If anything, Prii in London don’t just keep up with the traffic, they’re usually going faster than that, as a large number of them are minicabs!
The slow crawling Prius is a common myth.
I won’t deny there are uneducated driver owners out there in a Prius believing that the slower they go, the higher their MPG will be. This idea is of course nonsense....and even I have been held up on occasion and had to tear past that odd “Prius Snail Driver” in anger - but....that’s like once in 6 months I ever encounter that kind of situation.

I personally tend to jackrabbit away from the lights in my 2008 Prius - been doing that for 6 years now. I’ll get up to the posted speed limit, kick in cruise control and hold that speed (GPS). I’ll get out of the way of cars going faster than me if it’s possible. I won’t do that in an average speed cam zone though, but either way, here in the UK I’m normally going faster than most other vehicles as I religiously travel at GPS speed and most others hover at a mile below the limit as indicated on their speedometer.
In a 40mph zone, they could realistically be doing 35mph (GPS)!

I see other models of vehicles including very expensive ones holding up the traffic more often than any Prius would here in the UK.
It’s very upsetting seeing a huge Mercedes hogging the overtaking lane and doing 44mph in a 50mph zone, with a long line of frustrated vehicles stuck behind it - I’ve dubbed these drivers “Oppressors”...!!!

I do reserve the right to cruise at up to 8mph below the limit on a 3 lane motorway IF it’s not teeming with traffic on all lanes, I’m on the so called slow lane allowing two lanes for anyone to overtake me easily.
On a busy motorway, the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few or the one - ergo, I WILL keep up with the traffic and NOT be a pain in the posterior to any other highway user.

Single lane roads are not for crawling to save fuel - that’s a fallacy anyway. The reality is, you can keep up with the traffic or stick to the speed limit while STILL hypermiling!
There are different ways to hypermile and you don’t necessarily have to hold everyone else up to do it.
The experienced hyper miler can do this while keeping up with the traffic easily, and nobody would even know hypermiling was in progress.

It’s funny actually, because I first learned that the Prius was allegedly slow when I bought one and started reading up about it.
I was puzzled as Prii definitely aren’t slow.

It’s a shame a few uninformed owners are letting the brand image down, but over here in the UK, they’re few and far between!


iPhone 6s +

 

... but far more fatalities.

Figures for India are sparse. But with barely one-third the total passenger-miles of vehicle traffic as the U.S., India has well over 3 times as many traffic deaths.

With far fewer vehicles per-capita, The World Health Organization shows India having a higher per-capita traffic death rate than does the U.S.

Having experienced traffic in India a few years ago, I agree that no one expects anyone to obey traffic laws. A news item during that trip indicated that close inspection of a single 40-second video clip of a major highway revealed over 1000 moving violations.

But is it 'common sense'? Not with that fatality rate.

 

I qualified my statement by saying it's not something I've verified myself, and that's only what I've heard. But in any case, the point wasn't about actual traffic fatalities, it was about the type of righteous anger that leads to road rage when someone else isn't following the rules.