Why Prius owners drive like that

Hi Bob - This guy is a very sensible local tech columnist. He and some other geeks also host a weekly call in radio show on public radio, talking about tech news and trying to solve people's computer problems. You may want to see this other thread on the same subject:
Here's Why Prius Drivers Drive Like That | PriusChat

 

I guess those pokey, snails pace Prius drivers don't live around here. I've been passed many times on local and interstate roads by a Prius. In fact, most times I notice it's people in other vehicles driving that way. Admittedly, the red light coasting I am guilty of, but why would I race up to a red light anyway? I do that same thing on my motorcycle and did it when I drove a manual trans as well. I do enjoy when people get passed by me, then they suddenly speed up and jump right back in front of me and slow back down so we keep playing the game of passing each other.

 

Well I drive like this. Why are people in such a rush to get to a red light?

 

Oh yeah, so what do you do in that situation?

Something is broken in that statement, LOL.

Uh, welcome to the club, I guess...

Whoa, I actually like this one. Except: "forced" to attend? By whom? A judge?

There you go, back in form.

 

I feel the same way. I'm going to rush to a red light so I can slam on my breaks?
Everybody does it. People here (Phx area) complain about gas prices when they go up but they don't care about saving money by adjusting their driving habits a little.
A lot of them own big trucks and SUV's here, they drive very fast and they speed up when the light is red just so they can slam on their brakes.

 

Which reminds me...
On Friday coming home from work there is an initial ~6 mile stretch of road going east that I take before I make a right heading south.
I have pretty much all the lights timed except for one on this 6 mile stretch. A big older truck (I think it was a ford) was behind me right from the get go, passed me and started racing down this road like there was no tomorrow, passing cars with nasty exhaust smoke coming from the tailpipe (no joke).
He missed almost every light and at the end of the 6 mile stretch I caught up to him.
He was waiting to turn left at the light and I made my right. No time saved at all.

 

Count me in this club now too. I love semi trucks now too.

Living in the SE Michigan area between Detroit and Toledo (Jeep), the Chrysler semi truck drivers take the most offense drafting off of them down the interstate. I actually had a couple show me that I was number #1 with their middle finger.

 

This happens all the time and I LMAO at every one of those fools. I want a bumper snicker that says
Only a moron races......to a red light.

 

When people see my moded Prius, they want to race. I still get the standard 10.1 secs 0-60 as any other, but I have smoked a couple of pickup trucks and SUVs off the line. By the time they pass me, they're already above the legal speed limit. I'll let them get the ticket

 

Washington DC Metro area is very affluent and many of the drivers are using their vehicles to save time so they speed and rush to the red lights without thinking too much. Adding in the congested roadways of Washington DC (due to over development) and these type of drivers also become more aggressive drivers - weaving in and out of lanes and ignoring traffic rules/laws so they can shave a few seconds off their travel time regardless of what kind of safety hazard they pose or how extremely energy inefficient they are driving. With great wealth comes a sense of entitlement and the sense that one's time is very valuable commodity - traveling time/driving is viewed as an overhead that must be minimized. This also influences the wannabees who seek to become affluent and so take on the same behavour in hopes that it will make them more competitive and thereby richer and more powerful.

 

Closet pokey driver here. Got the privilege of choosing when I'm commuting. So - it's at 4:15am and 1:15pm - when traffic is ultra light. That way I'm not holding anyone up, and no one has to see me poking along. But when I do have to hit the road when it's likely that slowness will bug folks, then I do bump it up. Thank goodness for the tractor trailer rigs from the local grocery stores. Get behind them (yes, at a reasonable distance) and no one gets mad at you because they can see it's the truck in front of you. Good to have a plan.

 

I read this article back when it was posted on the chron. I was going to post a rebuttal to the effect that he might as well write an article about Asian drivers while he was at it since so many Prius drivers DO NOT drive as he alleges (locking up traffic, etc.) especially here in Houston, and that the underpinnings of the piece were clearly based on a stereotype. But as it were, I am banned from posting on the chron. And then it occured to me that the tabloidesque antics of the chron- as exemplified by this article and most others- are there for just such a purpose and I no longer have any interest in correcting the lies, false assertions or propaganda, even when they are veiled, however thinly.

 

I have been coasting to red lights for as long as I can remember -- certainly longer than my Prius ownership. I also do not particularly care for the sound of an ICE at high rpm, so I learned early on to drive a manual in a manner that also happens to maximize fuel economy.

These skills and preferences immediately turned my Prius into a 60+ mpg car from the first spring I owned it, and this has not changed.