What is going on with folks who drive the Toyota Prius car? I don't know how it is in your town, but out here, folks who drive a Prius have several unusual behaviors. They tend to drive slowly, i.e., too slow for the traffic flow. What's yer problem there Prius driver? Can't get it into second gear? No third gear on that buggy? Afraid that gas pedal will stick?
The Mensa Genius has a theory. Genius postulates that Prius drivers do not want to use energy; they think driving slower will save energy. Well Prius folks, let me clue you in. The fact that everyone coming up behind you has to break, because you are driving so slow that it reduces the flow of traffic, may actually increase the use of gas because we will finally have to accelerate to get around and ahead of you. There may also be a contribution to air pollution from the needless use of our brakes as we slow down when you are ahead of us going so darn slow.
The second thing I notice about Prius drivers is that they always leave about 7 car lengths between themselves and the vehicle in front of them. What's that about? Don't your brakes work? You don't need 7 to 10 car lengths to break when you are holding up the flow of traffic at your vehicular crawl of 30 miles per hour.
An online search revealed that the Prius v gets 44/40 est. mpg (miles per gallon, estimate?). Big deal. My old Honda Civic Hatchback manual transmission from the 1980s got over 40 mpg and I did not need to suck electricity from coal burning or nuclear plants to make it happen. I did not need to drive slowly or leave excessive space between my Civic and the vehicle in front of me. That Honda was a good car with great mileage using technology nearly 30 years old.
I have come to a conclusion: If I see a Prius on the road ahead, I
a) seek an alternate route, or b) find the fastest way to get around and ahead of it.
I am pleading with all you Prius drivers -- Help the rest of us Southwesterners out and step on it! If you want to drive slow, move up north!
Sincerely,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2012
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