New Prius 2010 gets no respect on roads

I was crossing a one lane bridge near the Keys and traveling at five miles per hour over the speed limit. When I came to the end of the bridge where it opened up into two lanes I had a minivan pass me with his horn blaring at me as if I was going 15 below the speed limit or something.

 

I never associated this behavior with Prius envy before - I just though it was aggressive driving.

I have been driving a 2004 Prius for the last five years. I often see people tailgating me, then passing on the right and tailgating the car in front of me. I also see a driver cut me off, then continue to go around the next car, and the next, and the next, jig-jagging all over the road. I never took this as a personal "attack" on me because I drive a Prius. Perhaps I should! Of course, these drivers never use their turn signals.

For years now I have dreamed of having front and rear mounted phasers or Klingon disrupters (from Star Trek) to remove these drivers from the roads. We would all be much safer without them.

 

In the past there have been discussions on dealing with tailgaters....flashlights, spraying water, etc.

For the speeding left FU pass, put a rake under the left headlight that can deploy under command. The yahoo that tries to get inches has his vehicle keyed.

Could probably take evasive action before he realized what hit him.

 

Me too.
I bought the Prius so that I can go 80-90MPH and still get way over 35 mpg. In my previous car it was 22mpg of premium fuel, so I can drive as fast if not faster and save tons of money in gas. If the price goes way past $4 a gallon my lead foot may become lighter, but not now.
Maybe after 6 months or a year of Priusing around I will become more civilized... BTW, around here a big percentage of drivers go 75-80 MPH, unfortunately most of them are not consistent... 80mph on the downhills and 75 on the uphills, while doing 60-70 in the curves that you can take at 100mph without problems... I just like to put my cruise at 85 and keep it there for the whole extra urban commute...
Not many drivers cutting this Prius owner though...

 

Notice I was careful not to bring global warming or CO2 emissions into the discussion. I am basing my opinion on all pollutants and toxins (emissions emitted from fossil fuel combustion) since we know for a fact that those have a negative impact on human health, agriculture, infastructure, economy etc.. I won't argue the rest with you freo, you're a smart guy and may know more than I do about foreign policy.

 

Well spoken Priusguy. You are right. My delivery was poor and I will openly apologize to PC members for that. Michael has a tendancy to get under my skin with his arguements that end with some sort of negative comment like "get over yourself". People generally don't make such comments in a face to face discussion and I do not see a place for them here, especially when I directed no anger or negative attitude at him directly. Sometimes my hot temper gets the best of me and I sincerely apologize to other readers for that.

 

Happens all the time on off-ramps; freeway drivers want to be "first" on blending into an off-ramp. I drive non-prius, and have this happen as a routine here in S. Cal. Don't take it personal. Really, it is part of the Interstate protocol.

 

You're not a left lane driver are you? That has a tendancy to bring out the worst in all of us.

 

That is not an easy question to answer and we have tried to do so here at PC about a year ago I think it was.

There are a lotr of variables to consider. For example, a diesel car is usually more efficient than a similar sized gasoline car but will put out more NOx emissions so it uses less fuel but still may put our higher emissions. You also have to take into account which emissions are you most worried about. I look at things like NOx, SOx, PM more than I do CO2. Some may consider CO2 the worst of the bunch. If two vehicles were very similar and one was close to the same EPA MPG rating and but was was slightly higher but had worse emissions rating I might consider the one with the better emissions rating because overall I would be cleaner. The questions becomes tricky if you compare a 1980s diesel car with a brand new diesel-powered light-Duty truck. The truck will get less MPG but could be cleaner overall due to emissions systems. Now you may find yourself in a bit of a pickle and crunching a lot more numbers to figure out which one is truely the cleanest when you account for vehicle emissions, fuel used, drilling for, transporting, and refining the extra fuel used by the cleaner brand new truck.

Ultimately I am not able to answer your question but maybe someone else here can? It is easily answered when comparing something like a 2009 Excursion and a 2009 Yaris but the examples above require more data and a lot more math.

And to get us back on topic.....

I stay in the far right lanes when I decide to trvael at the speed limit. If I venture into the left lanes then I go with the flow. It's pretty simple really.

 

Thanks for the inputs.. Sorry, everyone. I kind of feel like I high jacked the post from the original topic.

:focus:

In my neck of the woods (SF East Bay, California) there are so many Hybrids on the road that I'm not sure outside of commute hours that I see a lot of Hybrid-specific hatred. I will say that if you are lucky enough to have HOV stickers there does seem to be a lot of tailgaiting and rude driving directed towards you. I have seen the same behavior towards motorcyclists in the carpool lane as well.

 

Come to Arkansas, where the general rule on interstates appears to be Keep Left Except to Pass.

 

Slow left lane drivers is a big annoyance for me. Driving in the left lane isn't acceptable just because a person is going the speed limit (no matter what kind of car you have). It is for passing and going faster than the flow of traffic. If the speed limit is 70, I can understand a person who is going only 75 using the left lane to pass. After passing, move out of the left lane. The only people in the left lane for any significant period of time should be those who are exceeding the flow of traffic such that they are continuously passing - and even they should be getting over during clear stretches. Here in SoCal, if you are going 75-80, then you are often just keeping up with the flow of traffic.

...and put down the dang cell phone. That's got to be one of the top causes for people going slowly in the passing lane.

 

I currently have an SUV and hardly ever notice people tailgating me, but when I drive my wife's Corolla, there is definitely a difference in the way cars drive behind and around you. I am an aggressive driver and always stay in the left lane, but people do treat you different depending on the vehicle you drive IMO.

I don't believe that only the Prius gets no respect, but most small passenger cars. It seems that the people driving big trucks and suv's are usually men and are of a certain personality type. Because of that some people will treat bigger vehicles differently on the road.

 

I too have an SUV ... a 4-Runner and a Prius. In the Bay Area everyone loves to tail gate & cut in front of you. You driving with the traffic flow and there is a huge space behind you and a tiny space in front of you. They always pick the tiny space in front. It really doesn't matter which car I am driving. In the 4-Runner I am high enough I don't seem to mind, especially at night since their headlights are low. But in the Prius (or any low car), you are looking at their front grill/headlights which is a real pain!!

 

The Obama administration is not opposed to nuclear power. And if you want talk about bankrupting the country, you might want to take a hard look at the previous eight years.

 

I can't stand when someone pulls into the small space in front of you and there is no one in the back of you for 100 yards. I don't mean to offend anyone, but for those you who are into MMA, here's a funny quote from former light-heavyweight champ Forrest Griffin,
"If you do things to people while driving that you wouldn’t do while standing in a line, you’re a f*cking douche bag. Airport lines don’t count because pretty much everyone does foul shit at the airport. But if you do things driving that you wouldn’t regularly do in a line, such as cut someone off or give him the bird, I hate you. When I’m rolling around with my big, goofy, gangly nice person, hip- hopping because one leg is shorter than the other, which makes me look like a seventies pimp with a severe case of polio, people don’t tend to f*ck with me. But in a car, man, everyone acts so tough. Could it be because I drive a beat- up Scion?

Even tough guy's get messed with on the road... I thought it was funny that people mess with the former champ probably cause they don't expect someone like him to be driving a little Scion XB.

 

I notice it more in my Prius, but people also cut me off while I'm driving my truck at work. We are told to cruise at 65 when on the highway and not responding to calls. Then again, I've also had people refuse to pull right, and even had someone pull into the shoulder on Friday which successfully blocked me from responding to the accident on the right shoulder farther up ahead (keep in mind I had my lights on). Some people are just stupid.

 

People are super stupid. I've seen a cop car tailgate the hell out of a car in the left lane of a 4-5 lane freeway, for a solid 10 minutes and the dufus driver still wouldn't get out of his way! I don't think people are out to cut off a Prius, I just think new Prius drivers are more sensitive to it.

 

No, I generally drive in the center lane. I usually set my cruise control for 5-9 MPH over the speed limit.