man, they love to tailgate a prius

i believe in my case we now sleep better knowing were not a target on the road anymore, it happens way to often here in ny, maybe its the people who knows, it really dont matter now because we did sell the car, im tired of having to worry about when my wife takes the car out, for who is going to get on her bumper, sorry but im one of those people who gets really pissed when someone does get on the cars bumper, i have no problem chasing after them and i have, thats why i had to sell the car,im not going to jail because of someones stupidity and my stupidity for going after them, just being honest about it

 

Until you LOSE! Some drivers out there are willing to kill.

Over the decades (long before Prius), I've encountered three out-of-state tractor-trailer drivers so upset at me for obeying the speed limit in the right-hand lane that, once traffic allowed them to pass in the fast lane, they were willing to scuff up their right rear trailer tire on my driver door in an attempt to physically push me off the road.

 

I definitely appreciate your honesty. But I believe I wouldn't be doing the right thing if I didn't say that you should maybe look into getting some anger management sessions.

 

Keep your cool on the road guys. Brake checking someone because they're following too close makes you just as bad a driver as them and creates a dangerous situation for you and everyone else on the road. If your brake check causes an accident you will be held liable!

If someone is tailgating you, maintain an extra cushion from the car in front so you are able to brake gently and stay right so they can pass as easily as possible. All else fails - do your best to ignore them.

 

Had that happen to me a few months ago, but it was in my CR-V, not the Prius.
I was doing 72mph in the middle lane of the LIE- both the right and left lanes were open around me too. Some nice person-half in a sedan bore down on me and stayed within 5-10 ft of my bumper for 2-3 miles. She actuality sounded her horn then finally got frustrated and passed me on the left- flipping me off as she blasted past. I guess 72mph isn't fast enough for the middle lane of a 55mph road any more. First time I've ever had someone blow their horn at me on an open road. Must be a NY thing

 

Yes, he does sound like a good friend.

On the second, he is no different than I was even with my Baja. You get too close on my tail and I will slow down. Some of it to tick them off a bit, but also for my safety if I have to slam on the brakes for some reason....

 

After accounting for the difference in our odometer and a properly calibrated radar gun (difference of 2 to 3mph generally). So generally 5mph over the limit after that difference is accounted for is safe. But one has to take in account road hazards that one knows about (speed traps, photo radar of any sort), deer, children, blind hills that might have backed up traffic, and the such.

Sounds like you win with your friend. Sadly there are too many like him that don't think long term. At least he has money left over for tickets to he games. For me and my fiancé, we are loving that we don't have to think about taking a drive to nowhere just because we have the time free....

 

OH yah. . . try going to the Cape on 495 and keep the speed limit.

Best to stay up to speed of traffic rather than get pushed down the road.

 

you could get some serious em pee gees if you were pushed down the road!!! :rockon:

 

It's not that others intentionally tailgate Prii, it's that other drivers tend to substitute oil for knowledge and operate by "feel" rather than efficiency. "Go get more" permeates our oil-based culture and most drivers drive faster than slower. Someone driving for efficiency is out of the norm and greatly impedes most drivers.

 

I think this sums it up better than anything I've seen yet.

 

Easy solution: Put trucknuts on your Prius. They'll be laughing too hard to be annoyed.

In all seriousness, I saw a few links to vehicle-cameras early in the thread, and figured I'd contribute a few more. do not know if DealExtreme was mentioned earlier (I didn't see it in my skimming), but these guys have some seriously cheap cameras:

DealExtreme's Car DVR category

Mind you, it's all Chinese crap, so don't be surprised when it falls apart after a few months, or if the menus are so poorly translated you struggle to configure the unit. But if it works for ya, the prices are hard to beat.

Yes, a "smile, you're on camera" bumper sticker would be a nice addition. Any sign-shop can whip this up in five minutes on their vinyl cutter; they should want less than ten bucks for it.

 

i actually had this idea as a joke, but my gf said she'd kill me if i did :lol:

 

I'm not going to wade through eleven pages to see if anyone has posted this, but there is an off-the-shelf solution in the "Mobile Watchman."

Looking at their website, it looks like they're behind on keeping up with inventory right now, but this is one system that I looked into a while back when a jerk was intentionally targeting one of my neighbors by driving hazardously around them.
Mobile Watchman Car Camera Security Systems - Home

I also looked into some retired police systems on eBay.

Alternatively, if you're techy enough you could attempt to design your own by ordering cameras and parts from Super Circuits.

 

Many times I drive my Prius as though still driving my BMW 5 Series, and some drivers really get upset when a Prius zooms around them in the passing lane or lines up in the left lane at a stop light. I always leave a lot of room in front of me at a stop light and inch forward a foot at a time if someone is on my bumper. After moving forward five or six times, they usually give up. Then I'll press the power button, and off goes the Prius to leave the pack behind.

 

Yeah cause if it wasn't for that power button you'd be crawling. Does that placebo - I mean power - button even do anything?

 

I'm with fuzzy.

You are playing with your life by playing that kind of game. Not to say that I've never ever done it (I did something like that when I was much younger, didn't have dependents, and the other driver *really* made me mad by charging and then riding my bumper. I didn't brake at all, but I did turn on my headlights which made the rear red driving lights come on and scared him.).

But now I have little responsibilities.

The driving instructor tells you to increase the distance from the vehicle in front of you to give you (and your tailgater) more time to stop if needed. Of course, the tailgater is still always unappreciative. If I see trouble ahead (slowing traffic) I'll tap the brakes to try to get them to look at traffic ahead instead of fixating on my bumper.

Regarding the truck drivers, I go out of my way to keep them from ever having to step on the brakes if I can at all help it. That means I'll disregard the speed limit, change lanes, change pace, or even drop it into reverse to give them space to make a turn, whatever is safe. They normally seem very appreciative.

I know how irritated I feel when I have to step on the brake because someone is driving slower than traffic or is doing something stupid. I'm sure that with their shear mass, the number of gears, and the fact that this is their JOB their irritation is much-magnified.

 

It's no supercharger, but at least it makes the prius feel/respond like a normal car. It makes such a difference that it's all I drive in now.

 

In Minnesota most of the other drivers are complete a-holes. No reason to ride someones nice person or cut people off but the cops here do absolutely nothing about it. It's a self police state :mod:

Mike

 

Funny story ^ Years ago when I drove big truck I seen the occasional jerk that thought they could speed up to keep me from changing lanes when I had my signal on previously. Well they mostly chickened out when they would see a 53' trailer moving right where I was going in the first place. It's get the hell out of my way or eat my trailer Of course I never ran anyone off the road or ran over them, but a little fear of a 53' trailer every once in a while was needed to show them to respect a big truck. The tailgater was real easy to get rid of. You like my trailer then check out the cool rocks as I drift over onto the shoulder buddy I miss driving over the road sometimes.

Mike