hybrid hater honk?

palau · 04-16-2006, 11:00 PM

i just got back from visiting my parents in the OC and on the way down from LA, my husband was driving in the second to right lane in a four lane hwy.

anyway, he was driving at the speed limit (a constant 65). traffic was moving fast but not so fast that people were leaving us in their dust. we weren’t even the slowest drivers.

so all of a sudden there's a honk from behind (a mid 90s honda accord) and then this dude passes us, gets right in front of us and signals with his hand what I could only imagine was intended to mean that we should be in the far right lane.

i'm not terribly offended, we actually thought it was funny, but it was our first taste of what i suspect is hybrid hating.

my husband is a safe driver and i bet if he was driving in either his jetta or my old subaru the person would have simply passed us (like they usually do) with out such rage.

i wonder if anyone else has experienced this sort of negativity. maybe i'm paranoid. maybe it’s the smug. :P

by the way, Prius is now at 276 miles and we are averaging 45.3 mpg. i look forward to this number only going up. right?

thanks for reading.
christine

KTPhil · 04-16-2006, 11:21 PM

Jealousy isn't pretty. F*** 'em.

hdrygas · 04-16-2006, 11:27 PM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(palau @ Apr 16 2006, 08:00 PM) [snapback]240711[/snapback]</div>

Quote:

i just got back from visiting my parents in the OC and on the way down from LA, my husband was driving in the second to right lane in a four lane hwy.

anyway, he was driving at the speed limit (a constant 65). traffic was moving fast but not so fast that people were leaving us in their dust. we weren’t even the slowest drivers.

so all of a sudden there's a honk from behind (a mid 90s honda accord) and then this dude passes us, gets right in front of us and signals with his hand what I could only imagine was intended to mean that we should be in the far right lane.

i'm not terribly offended, we actually thought it was funny, but it was our first taste of what i suspect is hybrid hating.

my husband is a safe driver and i bet if he was driving in either his jetta or my old subaru the person would have simply passed us (like they usually do) with out such rage.

i wonder if anyone else has experienced this sort of negativity. maybe i'm paranoid. maybe it’s the smug. :P
by the way, Prius is now at 276 miles and we are averaging 45.3 mpg. i look forward to this number only going up. right?

thanks for reading.
christine
[/b]

I think you make a few people mad just driving at the speed limit. I don't think that people like that even know what a hybrid is. I am not seeing a lot of change in driving behaviors yet. I read something that suggested that will not happen until around $5/Gal. I think that you will know that the gas price is at the right spot when the student parking lots at high schools and the busses are full in the morning. You will get better milage as time goes on. I am a believer in the break in change, and I don't care if it mechanical or biological or a bit of both. A lot goes into your milage but driving behavior is central.

**Tideland Prius** · 04-17-2006, 12:43 AM

oh I don't know about that. When I took the RX400h on a test drive, it had custom plates RXHYBD. On the highway, I was met with the worst drivers I have ever met. One was some pissed off kid in a late 90s Maxima. He accelerated right my tail then slammed on his non-ABS brakes and repeated it several times til he found a gap to overtake me (I was doing 80km/h in the middle lane. The last time i checked, the limit was 80km/h and the right lane at that time was one of those lanes that has an onramp in the beginning and an offramp at the end). After that, I got some crazy lady in a Ford Aerostar honking and waving her hands at me when she drove beside me making it seem like it was my fault that that kid in the Maxima was pissed off and couldn't overtake DESPITE the fact SHE was the one BESIDE the Maxima and I had to speed up to let him pass.. wtf.

eagle33199 · 04-17-2006, 01:12 AM

Honestly, i doubt too many people realize their driving habits effect their MPG's. Prior to getting my Prius 1.5 months ago, i really had no idea. Granted, it's pretty obvious that revving the engine real high to speed up quickly burns a lot of gas, but it's not so obvious that maintaining 75 MPH uses all that much more fuel that maintaining 65 MPH. I'm guessing that this sort of logic needs to be more broadly advertised before people will start driving sensibly. If you ask me, everyone should be required to have an MFD of some sort showing them they're MPG data. Our national fuel consumption would decrease instantly, as would the occurances of high speed collisions.

benighted · 04-17-2006, 01:26 AM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Apr 16 2006, 09:43 PM) [snapback]240755[/snapback]</div>

Quote:

oh I don't know about that. When I took the RX400h on a test drive, it had custom plates RXHYBD. On the highway, I was met with the worst drivers I have ever met. One was some pissed off kid in a late 90s Maxima. He accelerated right my tail then slammed on his non-ABS brakes and repeated it several times til he found a gap to overtake me (I was doing 80km/h in the middle lane. The last time i checked, the limit was 80km/h and the right lane at that time was one of those lanes that has an onramp in the beginning and an offramp at the end). After that, I got some crazy lady in a Ford Aerostar honking and waving her hands at me when she drove beside me making it seem like it was my fault that that kid in the Maxima was pissed off and couldn't overtake DESPITE the fact SHE was the one BESIDE the Maxima and I had to speed up to let him pass.. wtf.
[/b]

The guy behind you was just signaling you to wash your windshield until you run out of fluid.

hycamguy07 · 04-17-2006, 05:20 AM

I pull up at a store and get the usual responce, Is that one of those electric cars?

Yeah buddy hears your sign!

daniel · 04-17-2006, 08:53 AM

I don't think those folks know what a hybrid is. But they definitely hate people who drive the speed limit. I don't get comments often, but on the very rare occasions when someone comments in a parking lot, the questions are either "Is that a Prius?" or "Is that a hybrid?" Nobody has ever asked me if it was an electric car.

qbee42 · 04-17-2006, 09:43 AM

I know exactly what you mean. We just picked up our Prius two days ago and put 400 miles on it visiting our kids and driving home from the dealer (we bought it in the Detroit area, 300 miles from home). I usually drive at the speed limit, and on the highway around Detroit I spent a lot of time in the lane second from the right. The right lane was full of cars merging and exiting, and often became an "exit only" lane, so it wasn't good for through traffic. This was a four lane highway, which left two more "fast" lanes for passing us snail-paced slowpokes who only drive the speed limit. We were overtaken constantly on both sides, with cars in our lane often preferentially passing us on the right! Many of the drivers showed agressive behaviour, running up behind or cutting right in front with a high-speed lane change.

Being a reformed speeder (I used to drive a Honda CRX), and now driving a minivan and a black Prius, I some opinions about agressive driving behavior:

1) Most people in this country think or feel that they have a God given right to do whatever they darn well want to do and laws exist only to keep other people from getting in their way. Okay, I know that is an exaggeration - most of us try to behave and want to be good neighbors - but come on, admit it, we all know that leash laws are only for bad dogs and speed limits are only for average drivers. Good drivers, like us, can saftly drive much faster than the posted speed limit.

Part of this comes from the American culture. America was built on wide-open spaces and individual freedom, and in many respects we haven't adjusted well to sharing our space with the increasing numbers of others. Our roads and highways are a microcosm of this.

2) Rushing. We are all too busy. It's the American way: rush, rush, rush. If we have a little free time, we schedule something in it, then rush over to do it, and rush back. Everyone is in a great big hurry, and they are all tring to make up for it on the highway. I don't have an easy solution for this, other than to tell people to take a deep breath and relax a bit. All of this stress and rushing is mostly self inflicted. We don't have to do it, we choose to do it to maintain our existing life styles.

3) Because it is fun. Speeding and agressively driving a high performance car is just plain fun. I can't argue this point, I can only remind people to be safe, and to remember that they have no right to speed, and no right to ANY lane of a highway at speeds above the posted limit. If slower cars are blocking the way, then they should move to the left lane and wait for the slower cars to get out of the way. It's hard for a slower car to move right when faster cars are sling-shotting by on both sides.

4) Passing to the right. Sometimes people pass on the right because it is the only open lane. This gets back to my previous comment about giving slower trafic a chance to move right. Other times faster cars preferentially pass on the right when it would be just as easy and certainly safer to pass to the left. Why is this? Being a reformed speeder, here is my take on this annoying and dangerous move: On the highway it is harder to get nailed by radar when you stay to the right. Get over there and hide behind those other cars. Maybe the police won't see me, and if they do, it will be hard to get a clear shot with the radar gun. I've done it, but I don't do it anymore. It's just a bad idea.

5) Are other drivers more agressive towards hybrids? I think it is a size issue, in general. I drive my big green Aerostar minivan at exactly the same speed as my little black Prius. Other cars don't come anywhere near as close to me in the Aerostar, and I don't think it has anything to do with it not being a hybrid. People are basically bullies when they get behind the wheel of an automobile, and a Prius looks pretty harmless. I think it is mostly an unconscious decision to cut closer because the Prius is small. That said, there are, of course, real bullies. I won't say what I think of them...

That's my rant for today. Anyone have more to add? Oh, and by the way, we love our new black #7!

Tom

M. Oiseau · 04-17-2006, 09:51 AM

Reality Check: Keep in mind that most vehicles exhibit a MPG sensitivity to driving habits that is much lower than the Prius.

When I struggle to improve fuel efficiency in my older minivan by lightly accelerating, cruising at lower speeds, anticipating stops and coasting to them, shutting off the motor at lights that'll be longer than a minute, not running the A/C, keeping the windows up, keeping it well maintained, upping the tire pressure, etc. then what I get for all this trouble is fairly significant, about a 10-15% improvement.

This 10-15% improvement amounts to an increase of only 2-3 MPG. I predict that most people who go to the trouble of quantifying their driving habits will give up going to great lengths to improve their fuel efficiency. On a single user basis, for most it's not worth the hassle.

04-16-2006, 11:00 PM	#1
palau Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 32 My Car: 2006 Prius Package: #7 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	i just got back from visiting my parents in the OC and on the way down from LA, my husband was driving in the second to right lane in a four lane hwy. anyway, he was driving at the speed limit (a constant 65). traffic was moving fast but not so fast that people were leaving us in their dust. we weren’t even the slowest drivers. so all of a sudden there's a honk from behind (a mid 90s honda accord) and then this dude passes us, gets right in front of us and signals with his hand what I could only imagine was intended to mean that we should be in the far right lane. i'm not terribly offended, we actually thought it was funny, but it was our first taste of what i suspect is hybrid hating. my husband is a safe driver and i bet if he was driving in either his jetta or my old subaru the person would have simply passed us (like they usually do) with out such rage. i wonder if anyone else has experienced this sort of negativity. maybe i'm paranoid. maybe it’s the smug. :P by the way, Prius is now at 276 miles and we are averaging 45.3 mpg. i look forward to this number only going up. right? thanks for reading. christine __________________ 2006 Silver Package 7

04-17-2006, 12:43 AM	#4
Tideland Prius Super Moderator Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 13,932 My Car: 2005 Prius Package: B Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 11	oh I don't know about that. When I took the RX400h on a test drive, it had custom plates RXHYBD. On the highway, I was met with the worst drivers I have ever met. One was some pissed off kid in a late 90s Maxima. He accelerated right my tail then slammed on his non-ABS brakes and repeated it several times til he found a gap to overtake me (I was doing 80km/h in the middle lane. The last time i checked, the limit was 80km/h and the right lane at that time was one of those lanes that has an onramp in the beginning and an offramp at the end). After that, I got some crazy lady in a Ford Aerostar honking and waving her hands at me when she drove beside me making it seem like it was my fault that that kid in the Maxima was pissed off and couldn't overtake DESPITE the fact SHE was the one BESIDE the Maxima and I had to speed up to let him pass.. wtf. __________________ 2005 Tideland Pearl Premium Package as of 25th Oct 2004 VVT-i Emblem, Sport Pedals, OEM All-Weather Mats, Cargo Mat, EV Mod, JDM Prius Interior Footwell Lighting, DICE iPod Integration Kit, LED licence plate lights, Phillips Vision Plus 2008 smart fortwo passion coupé as of 28th Apr 2008 Foglights, dash pods, leather seats, OEM rubber mats, BRABUS alum. handbrake, LED licence plate lights & dome lamp

04-17-2006, 01:12 AM	#5
eagle33199 Platinum Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 3,649 My Car: 2006 Prius Package: #7 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	Honestly, i doubt too many people realize their driving habits effect their MPG's. Prior to getting my Prius 1.5 months ago, i really had no idea. Granted, it's pretty obvious that revving the engine real high to speed up quickly burns a lot of gas, but it's not so obvious that maintaining 75 MPH uses all that much more fuel that maintaining 65 MPH. I'm guessing that this sort of logic needs to be more broadly advertised before people will start driving sensibly. If you ask me, everyone should be required to have an MFD of some sort showing them they're MPG data. Our national fuel consumption would decrease instantly, as would the occurances of high speed collisions. __________________

04-17-2006, 09:43 AM	#9
qbee42 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Northern Michigan Posts: 5,701 My Car: 2006 Prius Package: #7 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 6	I know exactly what you mean. We just picked up our Prius two days ago and put 400 miles on it visiting our kids and driving home from the dealer (we bought it in the Detroit area, 300 miles from home). I usually drive at the speed limit, and on the highway around Detroit I spent a lot of time in the lane second from the right. The right lane was full of cars merging and exiting, and often became an "exit only" lane, so it wasn't good for through traffic. This was a four lane highway, which left two more "fast" lanes for passing us snail-paced slowpokes who only drive the speed limit. We were overtaken constantly on both sides, with cars in our lane often preferentially passing us on the right! Many of the drivers showed agressive behaviour, running up behind or cutting right in front with a high-speed lane change. Being a reformed speeder (I used to drive a Honda CRX), and now driving a minivan and a black Prius, I some opinions about agressive driving behavior: 1) Most people in this country think or feel that they have a God given right to do whatever they darn well want to do and laws exist only to keep other people from getting in their way. Okay, I know that is an exaggeration - most of us try to behave and want to be good neighbors - but come on, admit it, we all know that leash laws are only for bad dogs and speed limits are only for average drivers. Good drivers, like us, can saftly drive much faster than the posted speed limit. Part of this comes from the American culture. America was built on wide-open spaces and individual freedom, and in many respects we haven't adjusted well to sharing our space with the increasing numbers of others. Our roads and highways are a microcosm of this. 2) Rushing. We are all too busy. It's the American way: rush, rush, rush. If we have a little free time, we schedule something in it, then rush over to do it, and rush back. Everyone is in a great big hurry, and they are all tring to make up for it on the highway. I don't have an easy solution for this, other than to tell people to take a deep breath and relax a bit. All of this stress and rushing is mostly self inflicted. We don't have to do it, we choose to do it to maintain our existing life styles. 3) Because it is fun. Speeding and agressively driving a high performance car is just plain fun. I can't argue this point, I can only remind people to be safe, and to remember that they have no right to speed, and no right to ANY lane of a highway at speeds above the posted limit. If slower cars are blocking the way, then they should move to the left lane and wait for the slower cars to get out of the way. It's hard for a slower car to move right when faster cars are sling-shotting by on both sides. 4) Passing to the right. Sometimes people pass on the right because it is the only open lane. This gets back to my previous comment about giving slower trafic a chance to move right. Other times faster cars preferentially pass on the right when it would be just as easy and certainly safer to pass to the left. Why is this? Being a reformed speeder, here is my take on this annoying and dangerous move: On the highway it is harder to get nailed by radar when you stay to the right. Get over there and hide behind those other cars. Maybe the police won't see me, and if they do, it will be hard to get a clear shot with the radar gun. I've done it, but I don't do it anymore. It's just a bad idea. 5) Are other drivers more agressive towards hybrids? I think it is a size issue, in general. I drive my big green Aerostar minivan at exactly the same speed as my little black Prius. Other cars don't come anywhere near as close to me in the Aerostar, and I don't think it has anything to do with it not being a hybrid. People are basically bullies when they get behind the wheel of an automobile, and a Prius looks pretty harmless. I think it is mostly an unconscious decision to cut closer because the Prius is small. That said, there are, of course, real bullies. I won't say what I think of them... That's my rant for today. Anyone have more to add? Oh, and by the way, we love our new black #7! Tom __________________ *Black* 2006 package #7 Northern Michigan

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04-16-2006, 11:21 PM	#2
KTPhil Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 1,213 My Car: Package: Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	Jealousy isn't pretty. F*** 'em.

04-17-2006, 05:20 AM	#7
hycamguy07 Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Central Florida Posts: 2,707 My Car: 2007 Prius Package: N/A Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	I pull up at a store and get the usual responce, Is that one of those electric cars? Yeah buddy hears your sign!

04-17-2006, 08:53 AM	#8
daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Spokane, WA Posts: 9,151 My Car: 2004 Prius Package: #6 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	I don't think those folks know what a hybrid is. But they definitely hate people who drive the speed limit. I don't get comments often, but on the very rare occasions when someone comments in a parking lot, the questions are either "Is that a Prius?" or "Is that a hybrid?" Nobody has ever asked me if it was an electric car.

04-17-2006, 09:51 AM	#10
M. Oiseau 6sigma this Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Tulsa, OK Posts: 239 My Car: 2007 Prius Package: #6 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 1	Reality Check: Keep in mind that most vehicles exhibit a MPG sensitivity to driving habits that is much lower than the Prius. When I struggle to improve fuel efficiency in my older minivan by lightly accelerating, cruising at lower speeds, anticipating stops and coasting to them, shutting off the motor at lights that'll be longer than a minute, not running the A/C, keeping the windows up, keeping it well maintained, upping the tire pressure, etc. then what I get for all this trouble is fairly significant, about a 10-15% improvement. This 10-15% improvement amounts to an increase of only 2-3 MPG. I predict that most people who go to the trouble of quantifying their driving habits will give up going to great lengths to improve their fuel efficiency. On a single user basis, for most it's not worth the hassle.