Is it me, or is the Prius a moron magnet?

^ They do that in SC a lot.
No....not So Cal...South Carolina.

No acceleration lane...just a yield sign.
The Yield sign is cheaper than 600 yards of pavement I guess.
I can't count how many accidents I witnessed when I was living there that was caused by somebody getting to the yield sign....STOPPING to look for a gap....and then getting rear-ended by the person behind them who was busy looking over their shoulder...
I haven't lived there for quite a while, and so I hope that they have retrofitted some of those on-ramps by now...

 

There was in the Jacksonville, FL area an on ramp to get on I-95 or I-295 (can't remember), that was steep and once you reached the top you were basically shooting out into the lane. It was horrible.

Of course that wasn't as bad as the time my Father and I were driving to Arkansas in the late 80's. In a city we were driving through on the interstate in Mississippi or Alabama there was like 5 or 6 lanes of traffic on each side. NORMALLY the far left lane or the far right lane ends on an interstate right? Not there though, the freaking center lane ended and you either merged right or left and had to do it fast. If you didn't you were running right into a concrete barrier that was shaped like a V Traffic went right, traffic went left, if you were in that center lane and couldn't get over you were ******.

 

Not my place to tell folks what bumper stickers to put on their car. Certainly Prius owners and future buyers will do better (tax credits, mpg standards, higher gasoline tax to make their purchase even smarter) with Obama than they would have done with Romney (tax on Prius for getting good mpg).

With a large majority of Prius owners being tree hugging Obama voters, the morons with a bad attitude towards Prius are likely a different persuasion.

 

There is a difference between yield and merge.
Yield, means just what it says, you yield your right of way to the flow of traffic. It means you must STOP, if there isn't a safe mean of entering the orderly flow of traffic. In some states, it is actually illeagle for the other driver to slow down or change lanes to let the person with the yield in. So being polite, nice, or considerate is a wrong idea. Keeping the flow, not messing up the flow is the right idea.
Merge however, means that lanes of traffic will merge into less lanes. Now here it becomes fuzzy. I think in this case everyone has to cooperate and take responsibility, to keep the orderly flow of traffic. I don't think anyone has the right of way in a merge.

 

Man I hope we don't go there, lets keep politics out, please.

 

Here it is required by law.

But we still get drivers who will decide to stop their vehicle at the very end of the on-ramp merging lane. They will come to a complete stop, and wait until everyone on the on-ramp has passed them, before they will continue onto the interstate.

 

Good idea. I'll drop a note to the person who injected politics into the discussion.

 

I believe it is the car itself that has a large effect on the drivers attitude.
Bought my first prius(the big wagon version) this past summer and I've noticed a big change in my driving habits and attitude(for the better) coming from a 2008 Honda fit 5 speed manual sport trim. The fit felt like a go cart, and like all hondas gave you the sensation of full throttle with only 1/4 pedal travel, so I drove it like a little race car.
Traffic is also pretty light around the Edmonton area, with lots of high speed rural highways in the outlying areas. Lots of room to act out my race car driver fantasy.

Then I took a road trip last spring out to Vancouver. Got a taste of real city driving. I sure was cursing the manual transmission at this point.

So in the summer I got to looking at the prius, always was curious about them but always just bought into the automotive journalist hype how terrible of a car they are, no good for the aspiring race car driver.

Now I'm drivin my prius and I actually enjoy driving the speed limit, even on highway off ramps, it is a strange sensation, very relaxing.

This car begs to be driven sensibly, unlike most cars today that beg to be driven fast and give the operator the illusion they are a race car driver.

 

I seem to be lucky, I get no flak for driving a Prius. (It is possible they have never seen one before and do not recognize one) I pass about as many vehicles as pass me. (I pass farm equipment, F-150s pass me) I am blessed with multiple 8 mile straight aways and no hills, so I have no issues passing. One day a year there is a traffic jam in Webb.

 

Had a moron moment last night. Coming back from the Jersey shore, I got to my street, which goes from one lane to two then back to one when the right lane ends at a right turn. This guy in a fairly new Audi comes flying up behind me, cuts a Caddy off in the right lane then cuts me off when he comes flying back into my lane. He then slams on the brakes to make a left turn. The only problem was he had a little too much momentum going and the street he turned onto wasn't plowed very well after the storm. He found out that the curb was stronger than his suspension and I found out that he was an equal opportunity moron as he also cut the Caddy off, too.

 

Hate to sound like a jerk but.... That is awesome! Isn't karma a *itch?!

 

I for one is definitely not a Prius owner that holds up traffic, in most case people need to get out of my way. I just love the look on their faces when I pass them. Disclaimer: I've had many years of professional race track training at Road Atlanta, tracking Porsche 911 variety cars.

 

I think 75, so given that all the speedometer is off by at least 5 mph at this speed I was only 4 mph over the speed limit

 

Heheh, tell that to the judge. It's only a measly 4 mph. Incidentally, you'll probably be going too slow in some LA freeways. 80 is like the minimum on those freeways to drive on the left lane. You'd need to go even faster than 83 to avoid being honked and passed constantly.

 

I've found that tailgaters can be annoyed - if not deterred - if I turn on the front windshield washer. If my speed is sufficient, it will force them to wash the fluid off their own windshield and, perhaps, get the message to back off.