Y Do Prius drivers drive like their 80 years old?

And you will not speak to me unless you are asked a question other than to say YES MISTRESS.

I'll still call ya Sis...

 

I may be only a couple of years away from the 80 year mark, but I don't drive in a way to hold up fellow drivers. I usually drive the speed limit, a lot of the time with cruise control when appropriate. I have better things to do with my money than pay speeding tickets, or extra insurance premiums.

If the freeway traffic is moving several miles faster than the speed limit and it seems to be the majority of the cars, I will be moving right along with them. "Old age" doesn't mean that a person has to be a bad driver, but it does pay to be careful and pay attention to the speed limits.

 

Forgive me if someone else have already mentioned this, but there are so many reply's to this. I'm not going to read them all.

In the same thread, why is it, that most of the speeding cars that I see in the morning speeding to work, have females driving them. I'm not just talking about speeding down the left hand lane, I'm talking about weaving from lane to lane through slower moving traffic.

I just don't get it. !!!!!!

 

Driving slower can cause density waves around your vehicle as people have to slow behind you, then change lanes to get around you, and people in the lane next to you have to change lanes to get around the people getting around you, etc. It is density waves, or speed variables, that cause accidents, not necessarily high or low speed. Density waves behind a fuel conserving slow driver ironically cause the other drivers passing you at the flow of traffic to use more fuel. So while you may save a few pennies, you have cost everyone else some money, the environment, strategic oil, etc.

That being said, I try to drive in the right lane without causing density waves to pile up behind me, since most highway 2-car accidents happen along the crest of that "reverse" wave caused by the slow driver.

So much for hypermiling. Actually, I will also take slower highways to keep from having to speed. The Balt. Wash. Parkway is usually 10 to 25 miles per hour slower than Route 95 that runs parallel to it.

 

Okay, I'm going to say it: They want to get there early to put the coffee on. Oh geez, I knew I shouldn't have said that. It was a joke, people!

Actually, when I see someone speeding to work, I assert that they want to get there early so they can be the one to turn on the copier! Woo-hoo, high point of the day!

 

Are you Bob?

 

I don't know why everyone is getting testy with her...oh maybe I do, maybe they are the ones doing 15 under the speed limit with a train of cars behind them honking and flashing...

I actually don't see this from a lot of Prii, it is mostly minivans around here, but the same scenario, 15 under in the fast lane completely oblivious to the world around them.

I TRY to be good, I really do but this place angers me like no other. People around here try to bully you if they feel you are going to slow and I don't take kindly to that. Tailgate me and I will show you brake lights, just a tap, a warning if you will.

People around here cannot see past the car ahead of them it seems, they will change lanes to pass me when there is clearly no way in hell it is going to happen based on conditions ahead and I laugh every time they end up several cars back because they are too stupid to judge flow.

I also laugh when they haul nice person by me to stop at the light and I go cruising by still doing 30 when it goes green.

My wife is named Christy and she's a meanie too, I think its in the name.

Uh, err...Dr. Meanie.

 

^Looks like a Prius! LOL

Actually, I drove the fastest when I was a New Driver; my graph would look like a wedge of cheese.

 

I would be willing to wager that more of these reverse waves are caused by people slowing because some fast driver cut in front of them (or other road rage maneuver), then by someone who is driving a consistent (but slower) pace.

 

when you say 'the speed of traffic' or 'flow', are you talking about the traffic immediately around you, or the traffic on the whole highway?

 

Hee hee, wait till your kids reach driving age. Then you'll be praying that they drive like an 80 year old......and insist that they must follow Subarus, Volvos, and Prii.

 

I can't tell you how many times when the light turns green at intersections, the driver behind me peels around me ASAP, ASSuming I'm going to accelerate very slowly. Even had a landscape truck blast the horn the instant the light turned green????....I waited for five seconds in response.

So when myself and others get a daily dose of that, then see a thread worded like this one - yeah, the idiotic rush to judgement about Prius drivers is going to hiss some off.

 

good one, i like trying to maximize my mileage (i'm not 80, but closer to 80 then 25... sigh...).

I have to laugh though since my father in law (in upper 70's) who bought a 2011 (very similar to mine) drives much faster than I do. He get's 48MPG and uses the power mode so age isn't always true indicator of speed...

 

It must be regional. While some drivers do that in my region (especially Ballard), they are still driving cars twice as old as the oldest Prius. Car rust here is slow enough that they haven't yet been forced to move up to a Prius.

 

"I am talking about actually driving some 15 mph -- give or take -- under the speed limit -- usually on an average day on a roadway where there is no way to get by the slower vehicle. On a short stretch of road, it makes no difference. But multiply that by many miles, many drivers each and every day and it gets a bit frustrating."

In my neck of the woods we have a 2 lane hwy with a 55 mph speed limit. It's the main road to get places with few opportunities for passing. It never fails that there is someone driving anywhere from 45-50 and completely oblivious to traffic piling up behind them. Most times it's a pick-up or SUV with an elderly male behind the wheel.

Kinda different vehicles than the OP stated in her post but just goes to show that this happens everywhere. And it is frustrating and dangerous when people take chances to pass and push the comfort level sometimes actually causing traffic in the other direction to slow or actually move to the shoulder. This scenario usually only occurs in the summer with vacationers from our neighboring state to the south.

 

Actually, between BC and CA, there are portions where a significant (though still minority) fraction of the traffic doesn't ignore the signs. But it seems that many cars with BC plates don't notice, and are nearly at CA speeds 400-500 miles before reaching the CA border.

Very true.

 

I shouldve explained my graph.

In macmaster's utopia, food is free, all women are stunningly beautiful and everybody drives accordingly so:

 

I am one of those terribly annoying drivers who can be found driving 30 mph in a 45 mph limited road. What can I say -- we all wait at the red light.

Dear grad student: do you know the difference in energy wasted by slowing down from 45 mph vs 35 mph ? Vs 30 mph ? May I respectfully suggest you become a wee bit edumacated before you sound your horn ?

 

I see all sorts of driving behavior on the road - people with cell phones to ear even though there is apparent crack down on this. Texting.

The ones that bug me are lead footed - they want to blast off to the next red light. Retarded. Burn up your gas faster to burn up your brakes into the next stop light. Stoopid.

When I spot someone who is really dreary ahead, I'll check them out while passing. They usually look pretty clueless and out of it.

People could be on anything out there - medications, illegal drugs, buzzed, tired of depressed.

I don't notice Pruis' being driven too much different than other cars. They seem to blend in pretty well. I'm not seeing a heck of a lot of 3rd gen's around this SE Bay Area, still more 2nd gens. Mostly I see conventional cars around which is kinda sad.

Lots of talk about advanced tech cars, but they are not coming nearly fast enough in society. Unfortunately, there is still a LOT of gasoline to be produced and sold. In fact, I read a Stanford professor's book excerpt stating that gas will be used for quite a few years to come.