[WGH]

I'm very polite and let the speeding cars pass me, one reason is they are no longer on my rear bumper (half the cars on the road look like they have been rear ended) and the second reason is they become cop magnets which keep the police from looking at me.

My best friend drives a Prius, she always uses cruise control (even in the city) because her Prius is so smooth and quiet her speed creeps up and she has gotten a few tickets. 

[Photon46]

I just try to remember one thing that's always stuck with me from Bon Bondurant's high performance driving instruction - if someone else has to hit their brakes because of the way you're driving on the highway - you failed the good driver test. 

[charmerci]

If you are in the left lane, you shouldn't be there...even if you are driving the speed limit or just over.

The left lane is supposed to be for passing.

George

I don't know if it's changed but when I drove on the London highways 20 years ago, each lane went their own speed, so you got into the one you wanted - for example, 60, 65 and 70mph lanes. The outer (fourth lane) was mainly empty so you could go your "own" speed if it was faster than everyone else which I did. But when you saw in your rearview someone coming fast behind, you pulled in and let them through. Great way of highway driving - not the 'everyone at their own speed in whatever lane' way.

The last time I drove on the highway with my Mom, we had her car full of stuff and so I drove slower in the right lane. She said, "I always drive in the center lane." (Of three lanes) I explained why I was in the right lane. "But I drive in the center lane." "Look, if you want to, I'll pull over and you can drive." "Drive in the center lane!" 

[CSI]

This is an audio forum so my solution to the Prius dilemma (don't really want one) vs. saving the environment (I really do want to help) is to take my audio gear off the grid as much as possible. My Vinnie Rossi LIO operates on ultracapacitors and it sounds so good it really makes me feel good about myself.

[Emil]

If you are in the left lane, you shouldn't be there...even if you are driving the speed limit or just over.

The left lane is supposed to be for passing.

George

Depends on where in the US you drive.

I occasionally travel through Pennsylvania on a two lane interstate called  I80. When I come upon a car  with PA plates, they will politely move to the right allowing me to pass. But if its a Jersey or New York plates, they ain't movin' fa nuttin'.
Cultural thing I guess.

[charmerci]

This is an audio forum so my solution to the Prius dilemma (don't really want one) vs. saving the environment (I really do want to help) is to take my audio gear off the grid as much as possible. My Vinnie Rossi LIO operates on ultracapacitors and it sounds so good it really makes me feel good about myself.

I heard some staggering statistic on the radio one time where if people (of course not ACer's!) would simply keep their tires inflated properly, the US would save something like 3% of the oil consumed!!! Given half the consumption is by businesses - that's still 2 billion gallons a year! 

[Emil]

This is an audio forum so my solution to the Prius dilemma (don't really want one) vs. saving the environment (I really do want to help) is to take my audio gear off the grid as much as possible. My Vinnie Rossi LIO operates on ultracapacitors and it sounds so good it really makes me feel good about myself.

CSI
So you think you have the moral high ground on us? Does the LIO come with solar panel? I didn't think so

[GregC]

Don't drive a Prius, but respect the decision to drive them by those that do.  As to pulling over to let someone by, I don't do it anymore.  I drive the speed limit or a bit over.  If someone want to exceed the limit and pulls up on my bumper, all he gets is a tap of my brakes.  I don't have to make allowances for others desire to break the law- and there is too much crap on the shoulders to drive there safely.

California law says pull over if you have more than 5 cars behind and you are travelling less than the speed limit.  I drive a single lane road that has a speed limit of 55 mph in some parts and 65 mph in most parts.  Guess what type of car 9 times out of 10 is driving 40 mph and having motorcycles be forced to pass in the bicycle lane?  If a car drives the speed limit, I cannot and would not complain.  Like JerryM said, a Prius driver often drives 55 mph in the left lane on the freeway and purposely drives the same pace as the car next to them so nobody can pass and drive the speed limit. 

[GregC]

If you are in the left lane, you shouldn't be there...even if you are driving the speed limit or just over.

The left lane is supposed to be for passing.

George

George,

You are correct it is called the passing lane. 

[Photon46]

Here in Florida they've recently made it a traffic offense to drive slow in the left lane. The led message boards on the interstates constantly flash messages to drivers to remind them that the left lane is the passing lane. Can't say it's had much effect on driver behavior yet.

[GregC]

I am 51 years old and I can say that in all my years of driving since I was 16, I have only seen one driver ever get pulled over and cited for driving too slow.  And even then it was only after 7 miles on a single lane road, and when the road went to two lanes he cut into the left lane and got in the way of the cop who had been stuck behind him for 7 miles.  There was a string of well over 100 angry drivers.  And guess what model of car it was? 

[timind]

I must live in a vacuum as I had no idea there were this many people who hated other people simply because they drive a Prius. 

[Doublej]

I must live in a vacuum as I had no idea there were this many people who hated other people simply because they drive a Prius. 

Pales in comparison to the number of folks that dislike BMW or VW drivers...

[GregC]

I do not hate anyone (including those who drive a Prius), I just dislike the behavior of many who choose to drive a Prius based on an established pattern of self indulgent driving patterns.  I would dislike someone in a Ferrari too if they chose to be inconsiderate on the road.

[SoCalWJS]

I must live in a vacuum as I had no idea there were this many people who hated other people simply because they drive a Prius. 

Don't hate anyone for driving a Prius....


.....hate how so many people drive their Priapasus'es (plural).

[zybar]

I do not hate anyone (including those who drive a Prius), I just dislike the behavior of many who choose to drive a Prius based on an established pattern of self indulgent driving patterns.  I would dislike someone in a Ferrari too if they chose to be inconsiderate on the road.

+1

[CSI]

CSI
So you think you have the moral high ground on us? Does the LIO come with solar panel? I didn't think so

No. I don't think anyone has the moral high ground because of the car they drive or, obviously, their audio gear. What is becoming painfully obvious to me is that lots of folks have no sense of humor. Alas. But try this on. Imagine you could wave a magic wand and mandate solar panels as the only source of energy for yourself. And all your neighbors. And everyone in your State. And everyone in your part of the country. And everyone in North America. Would it make a difference? No. Why? Because we (you) aren't the problem. Do the math. Then look around the world and find the real polluters (can you spell "China"?). Then figure out how to solve the real problem. It's not a question of moral posturing. It's a question of objective reasoning.

[S Clark]

If you are in the left lane, you shouldn't be there...even if you are driving the speed limit or just over.

The left lane is supposed to be for passing.

George

Not in this state.  If I choose to drive in the left hand lane because of the superior road surface, I can do it.  If I am running the speed limit or over, I don't feel obligated to move out of a speeders way.  Sorry if you don't like it. 

[JLM]

We (American guys) detest any econobox because its a symbol of loss and regret.  Loss of earlier, simpler, and more innocent days.  When a teenage boy could (afford to) buy and fix up a "classic".  When gas was $0.30 a gallon and stations were on every corner.  When safety was in the hands of drivers, not on board computers.  And of course it goes beyond cars.  Before AIDS, terrorism, loss of middle class, exploding cost of healthcare, loss of our own health, political correctness, male dominance, back when America was the moral/military/economic leader of the free world, collapsing infrastructures, all the environmental issues, and the ever increasing rate of change.

We "had it all" but the fossil fuel age is coming to a close and we wasted our advantages on luxuries leaving little for future generations.  We turned over our responsibilities for contemporary pleasures, becoming addicted to entertainment while big money took over.

[Letitroll98]

Not in this state.  If I choose to drive in the left hand lane because of the superior road surface, I can do it.  If I am running the speed limit or over, I don't feel obligated to move out of a speeders way.  Sorry if you don't like it.

The roads are pretty good here in south Jersey, at least in comparison to urban areas, but Route 55 is one long pothole in the right lane.  The lane has actually collapsed right where your left wheel tracks, I'm sure it was under engineered, they keep filling it with tar that helps a little for a while.  I drive in the left lane at 10 mph over the speed limit, yet still move over for faster traffic.  I may not move over as fast as the testosterone infused young men driving 80 and 90 mph want me to, but I move over because it's the rule. 

When I encounter someone driving too slow in the left lane and traffic is too heavy to pass on the right, there's a following distance that doesn't piss off the driver in front of you, yet gets in their personal space enough to make them uncomfortable enough to move over.  I can't qualify this distance, it just seems right, and works for 80% of the drivers who aren't jerks or oblivious to their surroundings.  Many of these distracted folks drive Prius' or other hybrid or electric cars, except for Lexus hybrids, they speed everywhere.