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Increase Your Chance of Avoiding Accidents

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Accessories and Modifications' started by New_Yorker, May 5, 2010.

  1. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    Hey, I *like* the trailer tape, but then again I don't mind a
    more "utilitarian" look as my Prius does indeed often function
    as my work truck. I'd also strongly consider some of that
    black-and-yellow diagonal "bumblebee tape" in a reflective
    style, too -- think "research vehicle", Buckaroo Banzai, etc.
    In a quick look I see a couple of online sources, hmmmm...
    .
    "We're not in the eighth dimension, we're over New Jersey"
    .
    _H*
     
  2. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Okay, I looked it up today. They only legal reflector colors for Michigan are red in the rear, and amber elsewhere.

    If anyone is contemplating this modification, they may wish to check their state laws.

    Tom
     
  3. HTMLSpinnr

    HTMLSpinnr Super Moderator
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    I think I'd argue that the included reflectors are indeed about adequate and clearly delineate the outer profile of the vehicle, especially on a "white" (Blizzard Pearl) car. Instead, I'd question where the car would be parked where such reflectivity would be a must where existing reflectivity is inadequate - inside a dark narrow tunnel?

    When driving at night w/ the headlights on, there's additional lighting front and rear. Anything beyond that is more of a distraction than an attention-grabber.
     
  4. RedBackFur

    RedBackFur Owner

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    Really reminds me of Vintage TRON light cycles!
    [​IMG]
     
  5. Thai

    Thai Prius Neophyte

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    x2. I still don't understand the need for that many reflectors! :eek:
     
  6. New_Yorker

    New_Yorker New Member

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    So trucks and cars with reflective commercial signage are illegal in Michigan ? They're everywhere in the Northeast ! They make all kinds of refective signage for vehicles, pizza delivery, plumbers, blood mobiles, and more. That's why 3M makes this material, and it's where the bulk of it goes.
     
  7. New_Yorker

    New_Yorker New Member

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    Places where the reflectives do more than look good.

    1- Backing Out of parking spaces, especially the tiered garages

    2-driving in wet snow and fog where the lights and OEM reflectors can be obscured by clinging snow, or rendered less effective by fog.

    3-parking on a highway at night, especially a curved section of road where the OEM reflectors can be far less noticable

    4- picking your car in a lot with other similar vehicles, the reflectors at night are very useful in spotting your car.(long term parking at airports)

    5-helpful in other drivers seeing your car when they are (take Your Pick) Yenta'ing on their Cell Phone, Checking out the lighted billboard at 80 mph, text messaging, fiddling with their radio, mesmerized by the Nav Map for the GPS, rubber necking an accident, the MP-3, the legs on the aldy next to them, drunk, on something, or just not paying attention to their driving.

    Visibility is the key to avoiding accidents. It is also why emergecy vehicles use them as well.

    Oh, and they Really Look Cool, day or night !:D
     
  8. New_Yorker

    New_Yorker New Member

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    I disagree.:)
     
  9. New_Yorker

    New_Yorker New Member

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    [​IMG]

    Looks Great at Night . . . . .or . . .


    During the Day !

    [​IMG]
     
  10. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Strictly speaking, yes, unless the colors match the requirements. However, generally these sort of laws are never enforced unless you do something stupid, or dress up your car with a bunch of pimp lights and draw attention to yourself.

    If you want to get stopped for even the most minor infraction, try driving though our neighboring Indian reservation. The tribal police will stop you for anything.

    Tom
     
  11. New_Yorker

    New_Yorker New Member

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    The New York State Police use a Dark Blue and Yellow 'Livery' with one inch or wider Reflective Yellow that Really Stands Out at Night, and there is no law against pinstriping your car with the same color. Every municipality has its own livery, they'd have to outlaw every color there is, and so they don't actually make using these materials illegal. I suppose if one were trying to imitate a police or emergency vehicle then you'd have a problem but I first did this on a 94 Jeep, and it is now similarly applied to four vehicles just in my family. Not one time in all those years in any state I've driven through, which are quite a few, including Michigan, have I been stopped even one time. I guess that says it all.

    but I do get a lot of compliments.
     
  12. Thai

    Thai Prius Neophyte

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    Yeah, at night, i kinda like it to some degree, but the daytime pic of your car hurts me. I love BP (my favorite color)...but, all those stickers (WITH WRITINGS ON IT TOO!!) just take so much out of the BP beauty...for me. I promise...last comment by me on this. Sorry.
     
  13. HTMLSpinnr

    HTMLSpinnr Super Moderator
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    Yea, I think this is going to be a love or hate modification. I personally couldn't modify the beautiful lines of the car. Then again, I don't like pin-striping in general (with some tasteful exceptions).

    I understand the motivation, but think there's ways to approach this with a bit more obscurity, i.e. white reflective tape only that generally matches the BP color.

    This of course, is just my opinion. While some people thing specific rims on their car look fantastic, others may consider the design or approach repulsive. It's all a matter of taste.
     
  14. New_Yorker

    New_Yorker New Member

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    You would find it very difficult, nearly impossible, to find a Toyota Prius anywhere on Long Island that does NOT have those stickers. If you lived here, you would have them on yours too.

    The "stickers with the writing on it" are Clean Pass Vehicle emblems so when I driving alone during the rush hours here in New York on the 'High Occupancy Vehicle' (HOV) Lanes, a cop will not pull me over. Those stickers are the reason I bought a Toyota Prius back in 2007. They save me from inching along with the tens of thousands in the other cars that can't qualify for them. They save me something irreplaceable, and something Far more valuable than money, those stcikers Save My Time.:cool: When I'm zipping past all those BMW's, Mercedes-Benz's, Humungous SUV's, and all the rest spewing their filth at 10 miles and hour, They Look Fantastic. So much so that people often trade in the slow moving BMW's and M-B cars on a Prius, just to be able to acquire them.:D (note: There is another poster on the Gen III Main Forum with a thread, " I GOT MY HOV Stickers " in case you have any doubts.
     
  15. racer

    racer New Member

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    I like the pinstripes on the sides but I would have avoided the small blue ones on the rear as they just make it too busy for me during the day and night time. Although it does make your car unmistakable.
     
  16. New_Yorker

    New_Yorker New Member

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    I did that because it reminded me of the graphic that appears in the Prius whenever you press the Start Button. The word Prius with lines above & Below. Adding the Roman Numeral afterward seemed logical.:D
     
  17. Prius42

    Prius42 New Member

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    If they had such a program in Maryland, they could require any sticker no matter how big or ugly and I'd do it.

    "There are currently no exemptions to the HOV occupancy requirement for hybrid vehicles in Maryland." -- from MD state government web site.
     
  18. New_Yorker

    New_Yorker New Member

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    Or in more accurate terms, " Unlike New York, The State of Maryland Refuses to offer ANY INCENTIVES to Good Citizens who Choose to responsibly purchase vehicles that SPEW Far Less Filth and Pollution, like PZEV ":eek:
     
  19. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Because the HOV lanes are primarily intended to reduce highway congestion, not air pollution, this is a reasonable choice.

    Washington State also does not offer this incentive. And it shouldn't. We are adopting hybrids very rapidly without this incentive, and letting a flood of single occupant hybrids into those lanes would wreck their primary purpose.
     
  20. New_Yorker

    New_Yorker New Member

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    And yet cities needing clean air, and a nation needing to lower its export of money to nations that supply oil, and support terrorists would seem a worthwhile reason to do what can be done to encourage the purchase of clean efficient vehicles, and penalize the gas guzzlers. Perhaps Gas Guzzlers should be Disqualified from the HOV lanes at the same time. Vehicles that get below 15 mpg, excluding buses and vans with large capacity seating, obviously.