Aggressive driving behaviors against Prius

That there are tons of similar threads here on PC should answer your question.

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To a large degree, we see drivers decide to get better MPG with the their Prius, without consideration of other drivers. Get in the right lane with the semis on freeways, do not pulse and drive in traffic, use the accelerator similar to other drivers, etc.

I get little flak from other drivers as I am not impeding their drive. The only Prius effect I notice is that slow drivers speed up and re-pass me, as they are ashamed to be passed by a Prius. (Sadly, then they slow down again)

 

For many years, I felt the "We're Being Persecuted" attitude of Prius Owners was overblown or simply not valid.
BUT....
I've changed my viewpoint.
Once I owned a Prius? I found myself being passed aggressively, even when I was going significantly above the speed limit and moving towards the front line of traffic flow.
This has been further confirmed in my personal experience now, I'm driving a Honda Fit....and find that vehicles are NOT passing me with the same aggression. Even if I'm going at the speed limit or slower.

This is the difference.
In the Prius....a truck or other vehicle would come up behind me, sometimes when I was going plenty fast...and usually without even signaling, zoom past me at ridiculous speed.
In the FIt?....vehicles will sometimes come up behind me, but I watch them, and they calmly will put on their blinkers...move over and smoothly and sanely pass me.

Since my driving style hasn't really changed...I can only surmise that the difference is in The Tin....Prius vs. Fit...and in the moniker on the back, and prejudices other people may be attaching.

Pure speculation..but it almost seems to me like with The Fit...even if a trailing vehicle wants to go faster, they almost are forgiving...of a sub-compact..not expecting me to be "able" to go fast. So they pass me as a matter of course.
With The Prius....I sensed a much more...."Get Out Of My Way! Stupid Prius!" attitude, resulting in aggressive passes...and cut offs.

Caveat: COULD THIS ALL BE MY IMAGINATION?

I have to answer yes. BUT...I don't really think so.

 

Yep, tons of threads here about it. Last week, a yound lady in a honda tailgated me through a school zone while school was in session!!

 

It's the same for a 2001 insight.

And it's rather new, 5 years ago I never hardly noticed anyone driving like a zombie without a steering wheel.

Empty road with just me and another car 4 lanes but their steering wheel is broken

 

this morning, i was doing 30 in a 30 zone, quiet road approaching a school. an audi came up behind me quite fast, went over the double yellow, passed me, and too a right 50 feet beyond me.
yse, it's the same everywhere. just close your eyes when you're driving.

 

It must be because they are liftbacks with a split rear window then. Any CRX owners out there that can chime in?

It will be 10 years since I sold my 2005 Prius in the near future, and I've haven't stopped seeing the same asshat behavior in drivers since then. Some are even in Prii.

 

Not since I started using 60,000 lb semi-trailer trucks as my pacing vehicle and camouflage for my 3,200 lb Prius or 2,900 lb BMW i3-REX. They see the 'elephant in the room' and never even notice the frugal driver, a safe following distance, behind.

Bob Wilson

 

Regarding the "blend in" comments: seems analogous to blending in with the Walking Dead.

 

Whew, I do aggressive driving behavior against some Prius drivers. They are going 15-20 under the posted speed in good conditions. Have to admit, it irritates me. I have actually posted on this before. VW vans, Subarus, Buicks, Volvos, a percentage of Prius drivers, all seem to drive a good 15-20 under the speed limit.

If I am driving, I need to be somewhere. Otherwise, I usually bike, hike or run.
kris

 

wow, i'd like to live somewhere, where people drive like that. never seen it, but i haven't spent much time in the gnw.

 

Hey, you're in Texas - shoot out their tires...

 

Here in MA, this very morning, I saw a Prius (not mine) pass a slow dump truck by pulling into the oncoming lane while crossing an intersection and playing chicken with a pickup truck going the other way. Both the dump truck and pickup had to almost stop to avoid making a Prius sandwich.

I see aggression against slow and/or unpredictable drivers in general no matter what they drive, but maybe that's just the Northeast.

That said, I think it's also natural to profile other drivers based on what they're driving. When picking a lane at the light, are you going to get behind the Ferrari or the over sized load? Oh that's right, I'm in Prius Chat, and of course you'd get better mileage following the slow accelerating oversized load

 

Pacific Northwest drivers sit at a stop sign. After you, no, after you. No, after you. It does not matter who got there first, this ballet continues...

I am being a bit silly, but seriously, it happens all the time. It seems a time-honored tradition to want to yield your right-of-way to other drivers.

I never do it because my brother got caught up in one of those "no after you" things and after it went around two or three times, he went forward and ended up hitting the other driver (who had the right-of-way, but kept signaling to my brother to go ahead). Brother was considered at fault....wrecked his Mustang. Other driver filed suit, brother of course lost the suit.

Lucky insurance covered it, but did not pay for his wrecked Mustang, which he worked all summer to buy.

I NEVER participate in that ballet, thanks to his experience. Once, it happened, I refused to move (other driver had arrived well before me and had the legal right of way). Other driver refused to move, also. I finally got out of my car and stood next to the door. It was only the people behind him who finally (after many minutes, because PNW drivers are polite) started honking their horns, that he drove on.

 

Massachusetts, where traffic signals are mere suggestions...

 

My goodness..............the world of driving gone mad...................

 

Hey hows this then? I was in a long line of vehicle on a narrow two way road for ten minutes when at the foot of a steepish hill there was an overtaking lane (UK). My Gen 4 was in normal mode and I floored it and overtook the whole line, including beemers in 1,000 yards. I think I was as amazed as everyone else! Even had to back off before the top of the hill as I was well over 70mph in a 50 zone.

 

something about this type of thread always strikes a nerve, or maybe we just like telling stories.