Anti-Prius Motorists

Thanks for the replies. I used to be one of the people that drove agressively. I've since realized that there is usually no need to hurry and I am much more peaceful for that. I occasionally feel that familiar agressive urge when someone cuts me off but I realize that it's their issue and not mine. I am not passive agressive and move over when I can. My favorite thing is to watch people blast to a red light only to have me catch up going through the green. Lather, rinse, repeat!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusH8R @ Mar 2 2007, 06:30 PM) [snapback]399280[/snapback]</div>

Thought someone should pick up this point, but it seems to have gone unremarked.

From Wikipedia: "For purposes of insurance and policing, the driver of the car that rear-ends the other car is almost always considered to be at fault due to not being within stopping distance or lack of attention."

Assuming you have time to get in the lane, if someone hits you from behind for any reason, it's their fault according to insurance. Not promoting lane-hogging, just pointing out for would-be tailgaters.

Tyrin

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Chris Robson @ Mar 16 2007, 07:41 PM) [snapback]407151[/snapback]</div>

Slow doesn't imply safe, in my opinion. Differences in speed, which can occur at any speed, are unsafe. Two cars going 85mph in the same lane a safe distance apart are much safer than one going 60mph being closed upon by one doing 85mph IMHO.

I believe that you should avoid impeding the flow of traffic as long as you can do so safely. If I'm doing 85mph in the HOV land, and someone wants to do 90, I'd try to get out of their way if I could, just as I would hope someone doing 80mph in front of me would get out of my way. I've always believed that differences in speed are a much larger contributor to accidents than just speed by itself, so I try to avoid creating situations where there is a large closing speed between cars.

This morning, most of traffic in the HOV lane wanted to go about 72mph (speed limit is 65mph). One slower driver (a Prius driver, 60mph) got out of my way before I got to him. Another slower driver (brand new Chrysler Sebring, 61mph) held up a mile-long line of cars for about ten minutes before we could all pass him on the right. That driver got a lot of horns, flashing headlights, and obscene gestures, but probably didn't learn anything from the experience.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusenvy @ Mar 17 2007, 06:15 AM) [snapback]407348[/snapback]</div>

THe HOV lane is neither a passing lane nor a "fast" lane. A car going the legal speed limit doesn't have to break the law to make the people behind him/her happy. Especially, if the other lanes are jammed, it isn't safe or prudent to jump over a lane to pass or to let others pass.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(opus17 @ Mar 17 2007, 09:04 AM) [snapback]407386[/snapback]</div>

I won't argue about this one because it's clear we have different ideas about how people should drive and I don't think we're going to change each other's mind about it.

This was not the case in the situation I described above. 61mph is below the speed limit, and I'm sure my speedometer reads a few mph high at 60mph as most cars do. The driver of the Sebring could easily have moved over as he was going at about the same speed as traffic in the #2 lane. There wasn't room to safely make a pass on the right, but it would have been safe for that driver to move over. Just another example of a clueless motorist creating an unsafe situation when they easily could have moved over and let everyone by without having to slow down at all.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusenvy @ Mar 17 2007, 07:02 PM) [snapback]407624[/snapback]</div>

But, at that point, the #2 lane IS the passing lane for all the non-HOV traffic. If the car is going 60MPH, it is going to be a lot more disruptive to be going that speed in the passing lane than in the HOV lane (since HOV drivers are free to use any lane, but the non-HOV drivers must use the #2 lane as their passing lane).

 

May be it's not the Prius they hate, but the people who drive them?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Porridge @ Mar 21 2007, 07:04 PM) [snapback]409797[/snapback]</div>

Nope, Its change they hate.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(donee @ Mar 21 2007, 06:06 PM) [snapback]409857[/snapback]</div>

I guess I had my first prius hate incident today.
I was exiting the highway at the normal speed, no coasting or anything. BMW cut me of from the right {!}, and went ahead of me. Then it abruptly stopped in front of me at the light. The light WAS GREEN! I honked. The light turned red. While it was a red light, it was a right turn, no traffic coming from the left. Not a single car. The BMW still there. I honked again. Only when the light turned green again did it went away.

 

A Hummer shot me the bird last week.

He must have just left the gas station.

I had to smile.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Dimak @ Jul 8 2007, 10:10 PM) [snapback]475356[/snapback]</div>

Wow. Someone willing to sacrifice their time just to make a silly statement like that?

Some people.

 

Has anyone been pulled over or ticketed for tail-gaiting? Granted, I know it happens a lot, but I'm generally curious if YOU personally have ever received a citation for tail-gaiting.

Thanks!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Somechic @ Jul 9 2007, 08:09 AM) [snapback]475508[/snapback]</div>

Once, 30 years ago, in a Volvo. Yes, I deserved it.

When I'm being rage-driven at, I usually assume the person (who sees ahead maybe 1/2-1/4 mile) saw me in a spot they wanted to either race behind into or race ahead of, guessed wrong what I'd do and found me "in their way", and is taking the time to teach me better road manners by sideswiping/tailgating/cutting-off etc.

And yes, I think the Prius is targeted: we target the Prius as a purchase to "make a statement about our values" and the F350 driver targets us to, well, "make a statement about our values!" :lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(zqfmbg @ Jul 9 2007, 02:09 AM) [snapback]475379[/snapback]</div>

Not directly related to my own Prius, but I was in fact in the Prius when I saw this:

Young guy in a very shiny new red Mustang, we're all on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, 2 lanes in both directions, median-divided, 55mph posted... he's in the left lane, holding at about 50, parallel to someone in the right lane doing 50... (2 cars ahead of me.) ie, nobody can move around him as significant weekend traffic starts piling up behind. This parkway (putting aside for the moment, the whole "breaking the law/speed limit" issue) almost always flows at 65mph during non-rush-hour times; there are very few exit/entrance ramps, so even if you wanted to get away from this dimwit and take side streets, you had miles to go before you could try that. He sometimes guns it and speeds up, when the empty pavement that has accumulated ahead of him is large enough for a little joyride acceleration; otherwise he matches the speed of the car on his right, should they speed up at all---thus making sure nobody ever passes him.

And to top it off, he has his left foot casually resting out the driver's side window, up ON his side-view mirror---because he's just THAT damned uber cool. (Or perhaps that is the universal sign that, in fact, he did personally own the road we were using?)

You talk about risking trouble... a tricked-out Escalade finally comes up behind him (another young driver) and rides just inches off his bumper for about 3 miles. Interestingly, Mustang's foot is quickly retracted into the vehicle at that point... (Perhaps sensing the Escalade could try to drive over the Mustang? I was secretly willing that to happen! Am I a bad person for that? Or, for secretly wishing they'd actually graze bumpers and would have, in my perfect fantasy world, tumbled out of the left lane into the wide grassy median, to fight out just exactly who had the larger genitals? Though sadly, chances are all too likely that would have ended in gunfire... I'm somewhat surprised a driver didn't actually try brandishing a gun at him.) What is it with stupid young males (no, not all young males) and their need to prove things via their cars?

 

I have never experienced a single incident of anti-Prius sentiment by another motorist. Then again, I drive my Prius just I would any other vehicle and don't try to maximize my mileage while on the highway. There is a time an a place for everything, but hypermiling while on a crowded highway is not a good idea.

 

I noticed years ago, when I stopped driving my F150 truck and started driving a little Subaru wagon, that I was suddenly being tailgated. After some thought, I realized that drivers were more comfortable driving close to a smaller vehicle, because it didn't block their vision as much. Particularly, taller vehicles like Trucks and SUVs who could see over my car tended to be the ones driving close. I noticed this because, driving a lower vehicle, I suddenly found my line of sight greatly reduced - making me uncomfortable and increasing my following distance.

I wonder how much of the "I'm being tailgated by SUVs because I'm a Prius" perception is caused when a new Prius driver changes from a larger vehicle?

Now, I'm certainly not saying that it's alright to follow close, just noticing a pattern.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusH8R @ Mar 1 2007, 09:41 PM) [snapback]398883[/snapback]</div>

Have you every tried to get somewhere on time using Los Angeles public transit?

My guess is no.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusH8R @ Mar 2 2007, 04:51 PM) [snapback]399327[/snapback]</div>

In all fairness to people who want to drive around the speed limit this is something you should keep in mind:

When you break the law by going over the speed limit at all (much less wayyyyy over the speed limit) YOU are responsible for driving defensively enough to avoid any sort of collision. There are times when I have to or decide to burn rubber but I recognize, as you should, that if anything goes wrong it's SO the speeders bad. We, as speeders, believe that we can get there faster while keeping everyone safe. Don't be wrong. A lot of drivers on the road don't have the chops to look out for people going 20-40 MPH faster than they are (and the min speed is 20 MPH below the limit so if you're 20 over expect a 40MPH diff) so the speeder MUST be personally responsible for not getting in accidents. EXPECT people to cut you off, change lanes without signaling, and generally not make your life easy.

The law says that the speeder is the one being unsafe, so the onus is on the speeder to not mess up.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mondie @ Feb 27 2007, 07:08 PM) [snapback]397496[/snapback]</div>

Tailgating is the way to drive around here, Poughkeepsie, New York, so I have observed more now than before. As everyone else, I hope, one drives a new car just that little bit more carefully, and it being a Prius, one has to adjust ones driving techniques now as well. I have had my new 2007 Prius since April and I have learned how to drive it for it to be very fuel efficient.
Even though its a good practice for all, I do take my foot off the pedal if I am approaching a red light and let the car just glide to it, that is where I have noticed that the driver behind me rather speed up to the light, thus the tailgating. Most of the time, you still wind up waiting for the light to change, and then you accelerate slowly. The driver in the back, if it wasn't for me, would have been 100 yards ahead of me, only to wait at another red light. What's the big hurry?
My daughter has been in two rear-ending accidents in the last 6 months...and why is that? That is because she was tailgating, not leaving enough space between herself and the car in front of her. I am surprised that its only been two in the 3 years she has been driving.
And as far as being "cut-off", it happens here more often than not.
Where do these people learn how to drive?

 

im in texas and i hate all the big neck-mobiles with the trophy hunter decals. i dont know if they tailgate me because i drive slow or if its my "nuthin dumber than a hummer" bumper sticker.