Priuser Than Thou

Posted by Kate Flora

I live in a green neighborhood. Not green as in the color of the leaves. Right now, our leaves are red and yellow and orange and multicolored and even today, when it is cold and rainy, the world is breathtakingly beautiful. Outside my bedroom window, the ginkgo tree is making its stately progression from tender green to pale yellow. Today, it is a bright, luminous yellow. Any day now, though, we will have a hard frost, and within a few hours, every leaf will have fallen.

Last week, a storm with high winds brought down the annual carpet of pine needles. Driving back into the neighborhood after a trip out of town, the streets were all cushioned with a thick layer of russet, softening the sounds of tires and the remarkably loud crashing of falling acorns.

In our neighborhood, though, there is less need than many places for cushioning cars, for we are Prius central. Take a walk through the neighborhood, and those silent stealth cars will creep up behind you, scaring the dickens out of you when you turn and see one bearing down on you, soundless and implacable.

A digression: I'm a conscientious walker. Unlike so many of the people I see perambulating and jogging, in dark clothing, I walk like my mama taught me, facing traffic in our neighborhood without sidewalks, and I pay attention. Too often, I see young mothers out with strollers walking at dusk on the wrong side of the road, plugged into iPods or chatting on cell phones, here where the overhanging trees make dark tunnels and the narrow road winds sharply around curves. I want to shake them, or ask if they are intractably stupid, or call social services.

All I want to do to the Prius is put a bell on it, like a bird lover might do to a predatory cat.

But--true confession--there is something about the Prius that brings out the worst in me. I know the car is doing good for the environment, but there's something a little smarmy or ostentatious in the way it's distinctive shape declares that it, and its owner, are good. More than any other car except those driven by inattentive young women on cell phones, it is the Prius which likes to get in the passing lane and poke along at 55. So I find myself looking for the misbehaving Prius. So far, my Prius sightings have included the one that was weaving wildly through traffic (Doesn't Toyota repossess if they do this?), giving rise to the phrase, "Faster Than A Speeding Prius!" The one that blew down the street emitting a cloud of the smoking driver's cigarette smoke for the rest of us to breathe. The one that threw discarded lottery scratch tickets out the window. And just yesterday, the aggressive Prius that passed another car on a blind hill where there was a double line. I'm so impriussed.

Don't they know that if they're going to drive an ostentatiously obvious "I'm Setting A Good Example " car, they have to set a good example?

If you've had a good Prius sighting, please share.

Comments

[Edith]

Hoo, boy. I DRIVE a Prius. And adore it. I made the move when I landed my new job in February. Which involves commuting from Ipswich to Allston 4 days/week: an hour's drive on a good day. Obsessed with my cumulative mpg, which is currently at 58.9, I drive my car very gently, coasting to red lights, feathering the accelerator, and yes, going 55 on the highway. Sorry! It's a very nice ride. It's very fun to drive (I do drive carefully around walkers). And it's my gift to the environment. So shoot me... ;^) I'll take you for a spin sometime if you want?

[Catherine]

My question is -- what is the speed limit on the roads where the drivers are going 55? If it is 55, I have a hard time being sympathetic. I tend to notice Prii (should that be the plural?) because I drive one. I have to say I've rarely noticed the behaviors you describe. Certainly they are less frequent that the same behaviors by driver in other types of cars.

I had to laugh about the sneaking part. I've had people stop behind my car when I was waiting to back out of a parking space because they didn't know the car was even on. One of my co-workers was startled as I came up behind him because the slight hum of the electric motor sounded like a UFO!

I drive like Edith. The most important thing I've learned since driving a Prius is that I had a lead foot. With the monitor, I've learned to lighten my pressure on the accelerator and to let gravity and momentum work for me. This increased my mileage to 55-60mpg and I live in a very hilly place. On the level I can get 70-80mpg.

Well, I can talk Prius all day but I don't want to hyjack your blog...especially since you hate them so much! 8~)
Catherine