Funny story

My older dog doesn't hear all that well was asleep on the driveway (before we owned a Prius) and a friend with a Prius backed out after picking up my wife, and backed into our dog (they don't have the backup camera). Now this dog is a hypcondriac anyway but being nudged by a car was enough to send him to hiding for a few days. Hiding when hurt is his natural response to all injuries and sicknesses. The person felt awful, in particular when the dog went scurrying off. Be we know this dog, there ain't nothin' that really hurts him for long, he always bounces back.

I am sure there are some tragic cases of animals being truely injured or killed due to the silent Prius. The first thing I saw from the camera the very first time I put my new Prius in reverse, was my younger dog. He was just jogging behind the car. He has probably done this with all our cars but we just never knew!

 

We have 6 cats (soon to be 7) and all rescues. I have made it a habit to honk the horn before backing up. That's enough to startle the cats to run for cover before backing up.

Not a bad idea with small childern either. I have experienced where small children do not believe the car is running if they don't hear a motor.

 

Speaking of small children...

I live in a cul-de-sac and there are so many children living either there or nearby, that my street is where they all congregate. It is not unusual to see 15-20 kids out there in the evening on bikes, skateboards, scooters, and those little battery powered cars. It looks like the playground at kindercare out there.

My new prius is a 2007 with the package 6. I thought that the backup camera was basically a gimic and I did not trust it since it is a fish eye lens making distances hard to judge. You try to back up using only the screen, you are asking for trouble.

But, a couple of weeks ago, I was getting ready to back out of my garage and, after checking my mirror and putting the car in reverse, I looked at the screen and there was a 5 year old squatting down behind my car looking at a bug. I was this close to running him over. You could not see him at all in the mirrors.

The whole thing scared the crap out of me. And reaffirmed my belief that there are a lot of stupid people out there. Who lets a 5 year wander across the street and stand behind a car!

 

Toady at my Toyota dealer I was silently gliding into the service witing area & a tech stepped out of the cab of a pickup right in front of me. Oops! I didn't hit him but came awfully close & scared us both!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jeffgb @ Aug 6 2007, 01:23 PM) [snapback]491384[/snapback]</div>

That is why I love my backup camera. Life is priceless.