Prius an auto with purpose

Not sure about the G2's but the G3 (turd gen) is shaped sorta like a door stop.
Unlike some other cab-forward cars, it's a hatchback which means that (a) you get to count all of the interior volume and call your compact car a "mid sized" car, and (2) there's not two feet worth of trunk and rear bumper behind the rear glass.

What this means is that, despite what it says on the copilot's rear-view mirror, objects are not as close as they appear to be.

That....and Priuses have a reputation as traffic plugs, so sometimes people think that they're driving more slowly than they appear to be.

YMMV

 

Still In Good shape getting rear ended is good payout for replacement

 

I never experienced anyone trying to run me off the road when driving my Prius.
I suspect you are drawing conclusions from coincidence.
Friends of mine have experienced being run off the road while driving cars other than a Prius.

It happens, which is a sad state of affairs. The world has also gotten more enraged. More people have shorter fuses and it has become more acceptable to lash out.

 

after 18 years of prius, i have a pretty good feel for how close cars are to me. they do tend to stay right on the bumper if you're going the speed limit in the right lane.
if they're really enraged, they swerve back and for to let you know. and of course, they sometimes pass over a double yellow line.
in my dakota, they tend to stay well back.

why? because prius represents everything that's wrong with the world to them

 

Nothing personal, but a lifetime of experience says doing 40 in a 45 will get your bumper ridden every day of the week, no matter what you're driving. That's just reality.

 

Not everywhere.

 

Somebody brake checked me one time. I rear-ended her. The cop cited her with a summons and she got named in box one. My car was totaled and her insurance company paid me for my car

 

Happens all the time. Around here you can be doing the same twenty over the limit as everyone else and some fool in a superduty is going to lose his mind trying to pass you on a double yellow in front of the daycare.

 

I would call that flashing the brake light (something I do infrequently), not brake checking (something I don't).

Well, I actually do real brake checks to test winter traction in dicey conditions, but not when other vehicles are anywhere close, following or oncoming.

That rule of one car length (defined as 20 feet in my state, nevermind most cars being closer to 15 feet) per 10 mph, translates to just 1.36 seconds of space, not 3 seconds.

Your 85 feet at 45 mph translates to 1.29 seconds. If you want 3 seconds at that speed, you need 198 feet.

I was taught a defensive driving minimum of 2 seconds, in daylight on dry pavement, which means 176 feet at 60 mph. When more is reasonably available, use it. But busy highways are commonly packed much more densely, which is how we get 50+ car pileups.

Just be sure to take turnouts when too many vehicles are stuck behind without adequate safe passing opportunities.

 

if anyone in government cared, we wouldn't be having nearly as much of this and other driving problems

 

Greater following distance is good for mpg, allows you to coast through more slow downs with need to touch the brakes (which robs you of momentum). It's a doubly good tact when you've got a tailgater, for a couple of reasons:

1. Less chance you'll need to hit your brakes abruptly.
2. The big gap in front of you might tempt them to pass.

I find when I've got a tailgater, for my peace of mind I need to at least partially "put them out of my mind". Even though I know it's dangerous having them there, you're better off if you can manage to keep your cool. And use the tactics @fuzzy1 suggests, using pull-outs and whatever opportunities, to get them on their way, out of your life.

 

Translating from miles-per-hour to feet-per-second is a very simple units conversion. From there, it is very easy to compute distance covered in a given time. No need to trust "the Net" or any person.

1 mph = (5280 ft/hour) / (3600 sec/hour) = 1.4666... ft/sec.

 

More --

IIHS:
2008 Toyota Prius
2022 Toyota Prius

NHTSA:
2008 TOYOTA PRIUS 4 DR FWD | NHTSA
2022 TOYOTA PRIUS 5 HB FWD | NHTSA

 

You back paddled very nicely in this conversation however it's pretty clear that you brake-checked somebody.