Prius driver demographics?

It's notable that absent some sort of methodology that controls for it, confirmation bias (observations confirming a conclusion that one has already come to consciously or unconsciously) is a powerful force. The human brain is fully capable of helping you not notice multiple occupancy cars.

That being said it seems likely that *most* cars in the US are driven for a majority of their mileage with a single occupant making the occupancy of the Priuses you see not terribly unusual.

To determine how 'serious' a problem single occupant Priuses is, you'd have to include some sort of comparison to other cars.

 

How does this differ from other vehicles?

 

lol I was gonna ask that one too. Saying that, I don't think I have ever seen a woman drive a Prius and I must see loads of Prii every day. Most seem to be driven by retired men with beards which is a rather worrying trend

 

In the SF Bay Area there are so many Prius cars on the road that there is no single demographic that you can identify. It's so common to see two or three at a stop light that I don't even keep track anymore. I have seen three of the same color traveling in the same direction. Silver is the predominate color in California.

 

well, i fit the profile, although, i keep pulling over and asking random people if i can give them a lift, but strangely, no takers.

 

I respectfully submit the 'free candy' sign on the door is not helping your success rate.

 

right. i should start charging?

 

Maybe there's some truth in the saying older but wiser.

 

lol, that means you're retired and have a beard doesn't it?

To add balance I saw a rather nice 20 something blonde woman in a black gen2 today. I don't have a beard either but unfortunately a lot of the Prius drivers I see are more like Noel Edmunds clones than human beings .

 

Wright on one count, sorry no beard.

 

The wife drives mine but usually when I'm with her. Neither of us has beards!

 

Some people would say that since you're a man driving a Prius your wife is your beard.

Fortunately, since those people are unlikely to own a Prius it dramatically reduces the neanderthal ratio in the Prius demographics.

 

Depends on the day here. Weekdays single occupants middle age. Weekends and holidays 2 or more and older. Beards yep you got me .Dress me in red and santa is driving ,unless i let Mrs. Claus drive, then i grab the dash close my eyes and hold on.

 

Well, I'm one of those old retired, bearded, Prius drivers. However, there are two other Prius owners/drivers in my extended family: my ex-wife and a cousin, both of whom are women and beardless.

 

22 year old FF/EMT soon to be Paramedic. No beard.

 

No beard, but I do wear glasses.

 

I see far more women driving than men. I am definitely seeing more Prii in Sydney than I have over the last few years, but nearly everyone of them is being driven by a woman.

Snap!! Even my children are starting to call me santa, and my missus is definitely a lead foot - absolutely ruins the good fuel figures that I try to build up.

 

wow!
we dont even have stop lights
but silver is common here too

 

We don't have stop lights either. Well, wait a minute, we do have *one* stop light at the other end of the county. I can go see it if I am willing to drive for 40 minutes.

As for silver, it was the most popular color. Why was it the most popular color? Because Toyota made more silver Prius than any other color. It was a chicken and the egg sort of thing. Toyota's marketing people determined that silver was the most popular car color, which made it self-fulfilling with the Prius, since they were not made to order.

Tom