Has driving a Prius made you a better driver?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA\";p=\"97644)</div>

There's also a rumour going around that GM will be including a laid off auto worker with each car, or maybe only the SUVs. That person could check your sobriety.

 

skruse and michael, you have hit it exactly on the head.

i had a trip that i could have taken two different roads. before my Prius, i would have sworn (and all my friends and family still do) that one way was much faster. had a faster speed limit, and was shorter, but twice the traffic .

the other way, had only a few lights all on straightaways so it was relatively easy to judge them, speed limit was 35 mph verses mostly 50 mph going the other way, (these two routes eventually merge for the last 3 miles) and come to find out... was less than ½ mile longer. (11.8 v 11.4). well come to find out, after 5 trial runs going both ways. at night the first route was about 2 minutes faster but only because i work till 7 PM but frequently dont get out till sometimes 9 PM. in the morning, 2 out of 5 times, the 2nd route was faster despite being a longer and slower route.

so besides being a great way to relieve stress, my Prius has enlightened me to several things i had previously taken for granted.

 

I've had my Prius for about 6 weeks, and it has apparently aged me by about 40 years.

I now follow cars about 5 car lengths back so I can adjust the speed more subtly.

I accelerate and decelerate much more slowly.

I no longer keep a constant speed; it varies +/- 5 mph as I go up and down hills.

If the speed limit is 45 mph, I only go 41 mph or less instead of 50 mph because at 41 mph or less, I can maintain speed with just the electric motor. (If the cars start stacking up behind me, I do speed up a bit, but only as much as I have to).

The only thing that distinguishes me from an 80 year old driver is that I can make left turns without having to drop down to 5 mph. (Well, I can also see over the dash board as well).

Speaking of 80 year old drivers… I had been planning to buy my Prius eventually, but it turned into a spur of the moment decision due to a run in with an 80 year old driver. I had a 12 year old Ford Explorer (190,000 miles) that had served me well, but was finally beginning to require frequent repairs. I was going to hang on to it for another 6 months or so, but… I was sitting at a red light and had been there for at least 40 seconds or so, when WHAM! I get rear ended. I got out to take a look and it was an 80 year old or so lady driving a small Chevy economy car that had hit me. My explorer had taken a little bit of damage: the bumper was bent down about 20 degrees overall and about 30 degrees or so on the left side, and the tongue (plate, whatever) that the bumper trailer hitch was mounted on was bent down 45 degrees or more. It was noticeable, but with a casual look, you wouldn’t have noticed it right away.

Now her car was in bad shape. Her front bumper was dented in at least 6 inches, and the hood was crunched back at least two feet. I can’t imagine it had a functional radiator anymore, although she did manage to drive it away. I told her that I wasn’t too concerned about the damage, because it was a 12 year old car that I was going to replace soon anyway. I offered to exchange insurance information, but she said that since it was obviously her fault and if I didn’t care about the damage, then she didn’t want to go through the insurance company. I said fine, we got in our cars and drove off. I can’t imagine she got very far, but she said she lived just around the corner.

Anyhow, the next day, Saturday, I was doing yard work and looked over at my car. After looking at it for a while with a little frown, I gathered up my wife and daughter and we drove to the local Toyota dealer to look at the Prius again. Lo and behold, they just happened to have a silver #6 in stock that wasn’t spoken for. 3 hours later, I drove away in my new Prius.

 

Gee, guess she had money in the bank to get her car fixed or replaced.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DanMan32\";p=\"98766)</div>

Or more likely, as I am in the Philadelphia area, she didn't have insurance. I didn't care, so I didn't ask.

 

wow. down here you have to have insurance or you can't get a license and registration.

not that i register my car here, i still proudly display my wisconsin plates

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee\";p=\"98772)</div>

I don't know how they pull it off, but I've read that 40% of the drivers in Philadelphia are uninsured. That's part of the reason we have higher insurance premiums than just about everywhere else.

And yes, insurance is required in Pennsylvania. I'm not sure if you need to show it to register your car, but you need to show it to get your car inspected every year.

But then again, the little insurance cards you keep in your car would be fairly easy to forge.