It's not just me. Whenever I park next to a Prii, the other driver goes out of his way to avoid eye contact. Plus people here just think they are masters of the road, even in a parking lot. I swear you've never ever seen so many people who don't know how a 4-way stop sign works or that you are suppose to yield to pedestrians. You also see people who get angry with people walking in the hashed-out section of a parking lot that designates where people are suppose to walk. Then you see moron pedestrians who think it's somehow intelligent to walk down the middle of the lane in a parking lot. It doesn't help when you are in a Prius in EV mode.
Wow. Not at all the responses I was expecting. I guess being down in a small town in the South, we're a lot friendlier and will wave at anyone, for anything, regardless if we know them or not! Just after we bought the first Prius, a guy driving one waved at us and I was completely giddy. There aren't that many around here, so it's exciting when we see another one. And people being friendly as we are, I guess I didn't take into account the rest of the country not being so nice. I do like the middle finger salute at the gas station though.
I'm sorry that I'm not more enthusiastic, but I've come up with a gang sign that is so lame, only a Prius driver will love. First, with your left hand, make an OK sign by touching your index to your thumb and holding the remaining three fingers straight. Then rotate your hand so that your extended fingers point downwards (if they were pointing at 12 o'clock, now they point at 6 o'clock). You will have to move your arm and raise your elbow a bit more as well. It's a P when the other person sees the sign. Yes, you may look like a retard (no offense).
I can still show you places in OK where it's rude not to give a wave at anyone you meet on the road. They're getting harder to find but they're still there. Frankly, It's kind of nice.
In most of NJ you cannot wave or beep or perform elaborate gang gestures, someone will shoot back at ya.
Either that or Snooki will come by and punch you in your grill. You best not be flashing no gang signs when a Guidette gots to do her GTL.
It is nice, and almost always makes you smile. A random wave from a stranger is fun! Prius driver, or not. I love it! If I were in SoCal, I'd totally do it at you!
I was talking about the rural areas of course. It's almost always the men though that wave understandably. You can tell when you're getting VERY rural when the women will wave. (Just the ones driving pick up trucks) Now we're just talking a two finger lift off the steering wheel wave and not a big flashy arm up type wave. That would be too forward unless you already know her. There really is a complex choreography to all this and it was probably the precursor to the method of flashing gang signs.
My Cobra I waved. My motorcycle I waved. My Subie I waved. There are waaaay too many Prius drivers in the MD/DC/VA area to wave. I'd be hanging out with my hand out the window everywhere I went.
Most Prius drivers in Ireland tend to be well.....old!! and tend to drive embarrassingly slow and i honestly think they wouldn't/couldn't recognise another Prius,there are only a handful of Prius taxis in Dublin but i don't stop on ranks to have a chat.
I always do that 2 finger over the eyes dance move like in pulp fiction, but people never return the gesture and just stare at me.
I did a circle island run with some visiting family a few weeks ago and I saw many Prii at least 20 to 30. I waved at everyone of them and did not get a single wave back or to me initiated by another driver. My wife just rolls her eyes at me and thinks it's silly. I had my mother and sister in law in the back and they are Lao so they were chatting in Lao amongst themselves with my wife. It was not until I got home that I found out my mother in law had talked to my wife about me having allot of friends because she had seen me waving at all the other cars. My wife explained to her that I was just waving at the other Prii and how she thought that I was crazy.
Yeah I was kind of wondering the same thing myself.....when I owned Corvettes the owners would wave at each other and as well on motorcycles. As a new owner it is a good thing I didnt make a fool of myself by waving first LOL.