Prius drivers in danger?

Valid points. However, the only vehicle I've ever owned that has been 'coal rolled' is my Prius. So yes...there is a stigma in some circles. As pointed out above...I think Tesla is fast becoming the new 'poster child' for these coal rolling folks. Of course, I'm not sure their trucks would be able to catch a Tesla.

 

.....and some nut wants to build flying cars. I hope I'm long gone before that happens. Just think how many cars will be falling out of the sky, hitting homes, businesses, and people. And are we going to have high-speed police chases in the sky?

 

Maybe we need this on our cars...

 

I don’t know about your Prime, but when I do 35mph I am only going 33mph. My Speedo is off 2 mph. May be the reason people are honking.

 

That might be. To tell the truth, I never measured the speed meter accuracy on my car, though it is very close to what Garmin desplayes. In any case, point is that most people around here do not drive at or below speed limit. The street my house is on is a rural back road with 40 mph speed limit, and people drive on this stretch of road at 50-60mph regularly.

 

This is spot on. I like taking back roads ('byways') on road trips and such. Seems like some of the worst speeding offenders are on two lane rural highways. Many folks go far over the posted limit. This is probably due to the speed limit being lower than on the freeway and the assumption that 'cops are not out here'...which isn't true at all. In fact, I often see more people pulled over on rural highways than on the freeway.

 

I do the same. I also notice that you really have to watch the section line type roads with stop signs every mile or so. People have gotten to where they don't feel they need to stop or barely slow down for these.

 

In general, I've experienced hardly any (if any) serious Prius rage. An old guy driving conservatively in a Prius is considered normal behavior around here, but I've only got 17,000 miles of experience so far.

Then again, there's my brother-in-law.

Several years ago he was ranting and raving about a Prius driver who "cut him off" late one night when riding his Harley. Said he returned the favor with some aggressive maneuvers and sped away. Minutes later, he was pulled over by police. Claimed the Prius driver alerted them (good call if that happened). He went on to express his extreme distaste (his language was much stronger) for Prius drivers in general.

Bought my first Prius not long after that.

 

My understanding is most cars read up to 5 mph over the actual speed. The law actually prohibits reading under the actual speed, and requires any error to be on the high side.

I've also observed that drivers who are unhappy to be behind somebody doing the speed limit are generally unhappy to be behind somebody only doing 10 over the limit. There's no way to make them happy except excessive speeding.

Generally, I go 5-10 over the limit because I do want to get where I'm going in a timely manner. I will slow down and hug the shoulder when there's a passing zone or climbing lane to allow drivers an opportunity to pass, because I don't want to be "that guy" who speeds up in a passing zone. But be warned, two drivers who have passed me on country highways this year have been pulled over a short time later by the local law enforcement.

 

I have a story that clearly indicates Prius hate exists. I'm sitting at a red light in a left turn lane. Waiting, not bothering anybody. I'm about 6 cars back from the leader. 2 cars sitting in the straight ahead lane. It's summer, my windows are open. A guy pulls up next to me and stopped with 4 car lengths open in front of him. I hear a quick honk and I look to my right. He looks my car over up and down and says "Nice car. Pu$$y". Then he laughs and pulls up to the car in front of him.

He was driving an old beat up mini-van.

 

At least he did not "grab" you.

 

I posted about prior experiences, but I just had one this morning.

It's 7:10AM on the highway that is always congested, just less packed on Friday mornings. So, driving along on the rightmost lane of the three lane road, I'm travelling around 20-25mph (35mph limit) in very loosely packed traffic and because looking downrange (1/8mi) it's a red light with traffic stacked. Just then, I noticed the car behind me aggressively pulls to the left and I hear his engine spinning up, so instead of beginning my regen I sped up a little to close the gap in order to discourage him cutting me off while needing to brake hard shortly after. Well, I guess it was better I didn't speed up more, because he was right up on the other car's bumper when he overtook me - we're going around 40mph I think and then we stop. He's looking at me in the side mirror, so I gestured with the hands up and pointing at the red light a few hundred feet ahead. He starts laughing at then gestures out his window yakety-yak puppet hand. Seeing the left lane just opened up, I roll up next to him and ask "didn't you see the red light?" He responds in rapid fire with "don't drive so slow then" and "dipshit" with variations in between. I respond with variations of "how far did you get" and "you didn't gain much" since I then started to creep my car ahead, making him shout his diatribe forward while trying to maintain eye contact through my 85% tinted rear passenger window. I didn't cuss at him once, which is kinda strange.

Since we're stacked in traffic, you have to drive like a real jerk in order to make any gains by weaving in and out. He did just that and I was tempted to chase him down, but I just remained in the center lane behind a disappointingly leisurely TSX. If I was going to catch up to him with my normal driving pattern of driving with traffic and foreseeing opportunities to gain with a lane change, I'll do that with satisfaction. That never happened. I can see him do 2-3 lane changes per city block on our approach to the freeway that was 1.5mi away to ensure that I won't be rolling up next to him at one of the five traffic lights we would encounter.

It didn't make my blood boil as it was still the morning and I have higher levels of apathy to stave off road rage, but still. This coming from a guy driving a new Corolla and me in a new Prime. Neither of us are in sports cars and if we did drag race, I think I'd be able to keep up - gonna look at specs. It was just ridiculous and my hope that in his effort to ensure I don't pull up next to him after his dangerous driving style, he would either have a moment to contemplate his stupid risk/reward analysis or notice the same Prius he next overtakes without confrontation to end up right next to him again with the epiphany that he doesn't gain much.

Add that to the pile.

 

@Witness And the guy was in a Corolla?! Now that's a new one! However, in my neck of the woods people rarely seem to look ahead at the next traffic light. I'ts just dumb....I agree. However, I've had this sort of situation in my 'sporty' car as well ( ok it's a Hyundai Sonata ...but the Sonata does have a good amount of power ).

I wish they would teach 'traffic light tactics' in drivers ed. Neither of my kids had anything other than 'light turns red and then green..with yellow in between'.

 

I've had people honk at me because I don't see the point in inching forward a car length or two only to stop again. Usually that happens when I'm in the Mustang with it's decidedly un-friendly clutch. People just can't handle traffic delays rationally. And yes, I include myself in "people" some days

 

Yeah, I'd look at your Sonata and pass on a drag race. A Corolla. They're nice to have as a commuter if Prius didn't exist, but come on(!) blipped in my head. I do have to say that it was the Prius Plug-In I had previously that trained me to look further downrange. I didn't do that nearly as much previously, but just enough that I didn't spin up the engine only to brake hard soon after.

I don't even know how I'd handle that, it's so ridiculous. "Let me scooch up 5ft, so that we can be 5ft closer to the red light - it makes a world of difference."

 

Gee....I haven't managed to attract much of the Prius Hate that I keep hearing about, despite driving one for 8 years in the deep South.
I'm thinking that this must be a regional thing...or a population density thing.
My car has a tracking device.
This means that I HAVE to drive within a few ticks of the PSL - otherwise people up the food chain start getting automated nasty grams. I manage to get from place to place WITHOUT attracting "PH" by being courteous.....trying not to be a jerk about acceleration and driving AT PSL (delivery trucks and semi's are my friends) and so on.
There's only one or two stretches of road that I drive regularly where you can see the next stoplight from the one that you're sitting at.....so the 'light to light' thing isn't much of a factor.
The only time some pimple-faced high-school junior tried to "coal-roll" me in his pappy's ragged out Dodge farm truck ended up embarrassing him more than smoking me. I still smile when I see the look on his face when I squirted away from him.....

As people (who fancy themselves) out on the sharp end of the stick start ditching their cordless cars for 'the next thing'.....I strongly suspect that whatever 'real' Prius Hate there is in the world will be re-directed, and what remains will be regular-old garden variety....hate.

I just try to make sure that it stays on the other side of the windshield.....

 

I learned some new phrases in your post

Being aware of the hate and to some degree, mutual disdain for the stereotypical Prius drivers, I do drive with a lot of courtesy. I drive in the slow lane if I'm trying to maintain mpg, I'll move over to the right if I see a faster moving car in the center lanes, I'll forego regen over a long stretch of road leading up to a light if there are cars behind me, I'll usually allow another car to overtake me within reason and I always stay within the flow of traffic.

I do get great pleasure whenever someone pulls around me stomping on their pedal to hit the stop light I saw a 1/8mi away. Then I roll up a dozen seconds later next to him (it's almost always a dude) and he is doing everything he can to not look my way. Petty revenge, but I always hope they maybe learn that there's more advantage to looking beyond a couple hundred feet in front of them instead of just mashing on the gas pedal.

 

Guess I dished out what most of you think is Prius hate today.

Behind an idiot driving a Prius - doing 40 in a 55 Ugh....Finally I was able to pass - I roll my window down and fly a one fingered salute in retaliation. Guess you all may have to revoke my Prius privileges.

 

Nah, you've been punished enough as you broke cover to burn more gas.

Bob Wilson