Dear Car Talk letter re: Priuses

I found your answer to Susan interesting, regarding her belief that Prius cars “feel the need to set the pace of others”. Your answer, “we achieve what we want to measure” should have been “we measure what we want to achieve”. In other words, if Susan believes that Prius are holding up the line of cars in the left lane, she will selectively dismiss other makes of cars that do this and only take notice of the Prius cars. In Texas (we don’t have many Prius), the same belief is held of overly large, slowly accelerating SUVS, like Chevy Suburbans. “You see,” many will point out, “I told you Suburbans are the problem”. In truth, we collect data only to prove our point and dismiss other observations. Your thoughts?

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Slower traffic should be in the right lane. It seems the fine for obstructing traffic is so low LEOs do not think it is worth their time to enforce it.

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This is the article:

https://www.cartalk.com/blogs/dear-cjar-talk/slow-and-steady-wins-prius-race

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I agree. If somebody thinks Prius drivers are slow, they’ll remember every time that happens, much more than the 10X as many times some other vehicle is at the head of the slow line of cars. I see a good number of Pruises in Dallas, haven’t notice any difference in how much they slow down traffic.

ps - you won’t get an answer from Ray, this is an open forum.

In most states it’s the law. Drive right - except to pass. If you’re NOT passing then pull over. I think NH was the last state to pass this law (just 5 years ago).

And most states don’t enforce this unless the cop is bored.

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If you are constantly upset about people passing you on the right, YOU ARE IN THE WRONG LANE.

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I drove my brother in law’s Prius a while back and totally agree with the response - not only is there a big display showing your gas milage, part of the display is an ‘eco meter’ that has a green, yellow and red zone. Well, the only way to keep it in the green zone is by barely using the accelerator (just for kicks, I tried it when no one was behind me and it took me 3-4 blocks to get up to 35 mph.) On top of this, the car scores your driving, giving you a lower score for less eco friendly driving.

Now we have a car that tends to be purchased by people worried about gas milage and being environmentally friendly that constantly gives them feedback encouraging them not to accelerate and rewards them with a high score when they don’t. It’s a wonder they ever get out of the parking lot.

So I can definitely say that yes, the car is at fault.

Minnesota was just a couple years ago. Prime offenders were folks coming up from Iowa or as it seemed. I think the electronic signs helped some but it’s probably a little confusing. Move over for emergency vehicles but move right if you are slower. Can’t win.

I don’t remember talking to Susan though. I knew a couple Susans years ago and it was 50-50 for ending well. I see her brother in church though so I’ll have to ask. And for the old timers: " No no no, Mr. Bill, please don’t flag me." People had a sense of humor at one time.