Anti-Prius Motorists

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Jul 11 2007, 05:10 PM) [snapback]477100[/snapback]</div>

Flipping someone the bird does not equate to road rage in my book...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mwalsh @ Jul 10 2007, 04:40 PM) [snapback]476299[/snapback]</div>

Hi

I have no problem letting a red-light racer pass me on the right and then pull into the center lane, where I am sometime.

But I will close the door, if traffic ahead is too slow for the red light racer to get ahead , and then stop safely, or if my front bumper is already in front of his rear. I do this because I do not have time to keep my eyes on the red-light racer, and traffic to my left. Left is where I will need to steer quickly if the red-light racer is incompetent. This happens all the time. And several times I have had the red-light racer will pull into the center lane, with his door even with my right front bumper. These guys gotta remember, that hybrid cars are quieter than other cars and not to pull into the center lane, without visually checking. But that is pretty hard, when they are flying into a line of slow or stopped cars. So, they rely on their hearing, which is faulty in the case of an electric or coasting car, which is what happens when you pull your foot off the gas to get ready to hit the brake.

Why is it red-light racers have the poorest differential depth perception? And these guys are just lousy at it. They should practice hypermilling a few days a week to get better at this. Then they will not be screwing up so often when they do red-light race.

The perception that the hybrid driver deliberly accellerated, but the fact more often is the the line of traffic the red-light racer was in slowed down, and hybrid driver was in coast mode mode and did not slow. This screws up the unaware red-light racer's timing. Believe me, when I am approaching a line of cars slower than me, from behind, my eyes are pealed for somebody who might incompetantly pull out beside me, or too short a distance for me to stop.

Its not like this is totally a Prius thing. I had a Corvette do this to me in the early 80's when I was driving a bright yellow Opel Manta. His brakes were clearly better than mine. And luckily his rear fiberglass bumper was saved when I popped the clutch to get engine braking, as the friction brakes were just not going to stop that Manta in time. But he still got out of his car ran to my window and started swearing at me.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Swanny1172 @ Jul 9 2007, 09:12 AM) [snapback]475541[/snapback]</div>

Who said anything about hypermiling on the freeway? Some of us get rage just by following posted speed limits. Taking your anger out on someone through your driving is unacceptable under ANY circumstances. I don't care if the person in front of you is going 5 mph on a freeway, there is no excuse to drive in a way so as to threaten the life and safety of another driver even if someone else is doing it -- that is no justification.

Those who think road rage is acceptable, under any circumstances, need to have their heads examined by a professional.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PriusBoyAZ @ Jul 12 2007, 03:06 PM) [snapback]477627[/snapback]</div>

I absolutely agree that road rage is unacceptable. In fact, I'll take it a step further and go as far as saying that I think the police should be more concerned about aggressive driving than they should be about speeding.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Swanny1172 @ Jul 11 2007, 07:39 PM) [snapback]477286[/snapback]</div>

Well, that is all it takes to spark a road rage incident sometimes. I had someone pull a pistol out of his glove compatment and wave it at me after flipping him the bird. There are a lot of different books out there, so it may be prudent to err on the side of caution.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(RobertG @ Jul 13 2007, 12:13 PM) [snapback]478160[/snapback]</div>

I hope you wrote his license plate down and called the police immediately. Brandishing a firearm is a crime in most states.

I agree with what you are saying, but that wasn't exactly what I was talking about. We have a group of people on here that seemingly think that everyone that waves a middle finger in their direction is committing an act of road rage. There seems to be a certain amount of "Prius victim-stance" going on around here as is evidenced by the number of posters who seem to thing they are being targeted for driving a Prius. Personally, I think they need to take off their tin-foil hats and put down the Kool-Aid.

 

Driving the 'posted speed limit' on the long island expressway will get you shot, no matter what car you drive. :lol:

I've never experienced "Prius Rage" persay, but I've seen 'faster than though' antics. I usually use cc on highway/expressway driving, and set it to 65. This usually puts me at a moderate flow of traffic speed and I usually stick to the middle lane.
Occasionally there will be people that don't understand the 'constant speed' concept in front of me and I'll move to pass them on the left. As soon as I pull along side them and they see what I'm driving, they speed up so I can't pass them. I sigh and fall back into the lane behind them for 2 minutes until the process repeats. While yes this may happen with other car makes, I get it far more in the Prius than any other car I've driven.
I get the vibe that they are of the opinion that they drive a "fast" car (nissan, etc) and thus should not have "Hybrids" passing them.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Charles Suitt @ Feb 27 2007, 07:48 PM) [snapback]397517[/snapback]</div>

thanks, I am waiting for my 2007 driftwood with package 6, like yours. I started out wanting white, with silve pine mica as second choice. Was called one day and told there was a Prius on the list, but driftwood in color, package 6, beige leather which is the color leather I wanted.

Sounds like you have no regrets. And reading the many posts about getting all the bells and whistles nad getting just the pare minimum, I am glad I said package 6. Don't have to worry about what to choose, so thanks for your post, just making me more anxious about getting my Prius, which that say beginning of August.

Richard

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Katrina @ Jul 13 2007, 12:37 PM) [snapback]478173[/snapback]</div>

What's fun is when you goose it and let the AC motors and CV-Transmission do their job and jump you from 65-80 in short order. ;-) I love the look of shock that comes across some people when that happens. Makes it worth the three cents in gas it costs me.

 

To the question of the topic, we have never encountered any "anti-Prius" motorists on the road in the year and a half that we've owned the car.

We think that most drivers are too preoccuppied with their own concerns to really care what we drive, just so long as we are not in their way.

We have noticed a few Prius motorists who appear to be anti-everyone else. Scarily speeding (no wonder some folks complain of fuel economy in the 40s!).

If it's a small car sensation, do some Prius owners feel victimized any more than say a Yaris, or an Aveo owner? Is there a difference between feeling victimized versus vulnerable?

If it is this "choice for the environment" mantle that some Prius owners are reported to haughtily wear on their sleeve, then it makes one wonder if Highlander Hybrid, Camry Hybrid, Rx400h Hybrid, Silverado Hybrid, or Ford Escape Hybrid owners feel "victimized" also?

A year or so ago, a new Prius owner, also from the Los Angeles area, also who was a member of the forums for less than a month, and also who was an owner of a Prius for less than a month, started a thread that posed the very same question. That is not only ironic, that is very interesting.

It begs the questions:

Are new Prius owner's more self conscious about their new car than more experienced Prius owners?

Are southern California drivers more exposed to rudeness and road rage than drivers in other areas?

Also in that older, but strangely similar thread, accusations of being a troll were detonated throughout, aimed at a minority responder who dissented from the backslapping view that Prius's were selectively victimized on the road because their owners are a special, intellectually superior class of people that others wish to put down with their bigger, badder vehicles.

In the Portland area of Oregon, and in the SF Bay Area of California, there are so many Prius drivers on the road that they are more the rule than the exception. The Prius is too ubiquitous here to be treated any different than any other car.

That is, if the other drivers are even paying attention to what the other cars on the road are, which I seriously doubt, because they are busy talking on the phone.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Nettbeast @ Jul 13 2007, 03:05 PM) [snapback]478380[/snapback]</div>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Swanny1172 @ Jul 11 2007, 09:39 PM) [snapback]477286[/snapback]</div>

That level of immaturity will get you shot in some places.