Strange? or just par

Most people just drive it. It's a car after all. At any speed it gets better mileage than any other gasoline car. People who care about FE will drive slower and more gently whatever their car. The Prius gets better FE than other cars, but is just like any other car in that sensible driving burns less gas. There's really no reason to expect that people will drive more sensibly just because they chose to buy the best, cleanest, and most efficient stinker you can buy. Enjoy your car. Drive safely and sensibly. There's nothing you can do to change other people's behavior. Most people are idiots. Regardless of what car they drive.

 

And you don't even need to be a Pri-ite to drive sensibly. The day I started driving lessons on 1969, I learned that moderate acceleration & speed, etc. kept MPG's low ... in any car.

It's pop psychology: Miserable slobs, locked into their sorry lives, focus on their versions of the good life -- obnoxious pick-ups & cartons of cigarettes. Armed (no random word choice) with those 2 items, they boost their puny self image with the anonymity of aggressive driving. If confronted, they affect an apathetic air, until they are victims of such behavior.

The $ cost of their odious, offensive behavior is worth it, in that they've attained their 15 seconds of, curiously, unacknowledged, fame.

Cynical? You betcha.

 

I think you may be on to something.

I highlighted your daily commute to make a comment.

I have a daily commute (4 miles) which sometimes is done by car, sometimes by bicycle (winter!!), but in all occasions is done outside of the typical morning commuter world. All of this to say -- I don't really interact much with the daily commuter.

This morning was different. I had to run around to a couple of places, and it took me right in to morning commuter traffic. Wow! I really am glad I don't have to work with folks like that. For the most part the drivers were in such a rush they battled for every inch of space. I can hardly remember how many times I was cut off in the space of only a few miles -- and at speeds of 30-45 mph. I have to admit I really was pleased to creep up behind the same cars, over and over again, when we hit stoplights. Sometimes, I even passed the cars, because I didn't have to come to a full stop.

I did applaud one particularly sensible young lady who managed to cut in front of me twice within 10 seconds in her little Honda Civic. I wonder if she gets really good mileage in that Civic and a calming effect from the cigarettes?

I'm very happy to drive at odd hours and on rural roads to get where I am going.

 

I see you live in Florida. Does ANYBODY drive sensibly there?!?

 

If you can double your mileage without giving up any speed, how is that a bad thing? My prius doubles the 25 or so I get in the Subaru, without driving it any different, except for slowing down more for the curves. Let's not get all pius and turn the freeway into a bunch of slowly moving Pruis road blocks.

 

It depends on your definition of 'sensibly' means....Is it at posted speed limit or 15mph under? That's a common talk that you'll never get pulled over on the highway by just under 10 mph over the limit.

 

I optimise my and everyone Else's mileage by not messing about with slow driving techniques.
Rather than dribbling across an intersection when the red light you couldn't avoid stopping at goes green I get mobile quickly. This allows 10 to 15 cars in my lane to cross the intersection rather than the 2 or 3 that get across behind a slow driver. My actions mean those extra 8 to 12 cars aren't gong to sit at that intersection idling for another cycle of the light saving everyone fuel. And my economy? Well it isn't that bad thanks for asking. I get 4.1 to 4.4L per 100km depending on air-conditioner use, that is 53 to 57mpg around town which isn't too shabby I think you would agree? My mpg only drops if I head out on the open road where I don't drive in a manner that holds up long haul trucks.

So maybe the people you think are driving like idiots are actually saving everyone else fuel too and overall they are responsible for a bigger reduction in fuel use than the mobile road blocks some Prius drivers seem to be and at the same time they aren't perpetuating the myth that Prius are slow, then just maybe once this is realised the driver of a conventional car might check out a Prius and buy one. There's another Prius driver, driving "like an idiot" and saving lots of fuel.

 

Haven't driven I-4 yet (next weekend) but I drive I 75 every day and never go over 75 mph. I gladly let everyone else pass me doing 80+. I have also been passed twice by Priis. However, most the Priis I see are doing the same speed as me.

 

Yeah, there's a few of us....though the average speed around here does seem to be better expressed in Mach numbers than mph.

Surprisingly enough, I usually find driving up to Orlando to be a rather refreshing experience because the drivers are so much better behaved up there. If you want to see truly insane driving, come down to Broward, or better yet Miami-Dade County. I consciously avoid going to Miami because of the idiot drivers.

I routinely get passed by other Prius on I95 doing 70+ and/or on the city streets seeing folks drive them just like the idiots in their Hummers.

I'll believe that people are really getting serious about FE when the overall flow of traffic is right about the speed limit and people stop roaring up to stop signs and red lights just to slam on the breaks (and yes, that "people" includes plenty of Prius owners I've seen driving around me.)

Yes, there are crazy people everywhere, but sooner or later they've going to have to behave themselves or they're going to have to stop driving (because they won't be able to afford the gas.) I just wish that people could get it through their heads that there is a correlation between the way you drive and your FE.

I still remember the stink that people made in the '70s when the national speed limit was lowered to 55. I was too young to really understand it, but I certainly remember it. Today, I can only shake my head and wonder what ever possessed anyone to think that it was a good idea to raise it again. (OK, I took the foil hat off for a second and seem to have momentarily forgotten that the oil companies were probably behind that.)

I wonder when we're going back to ideas like lowering speed limits?