The interesting thing is... it's not what you drive, it's how you drive it. Top Gear (automotive consumer/entertainment programme in the UK) did a test where they drove a Prius flat-out around a track and then matched pace behind it with a BMW M3. The result was that at those speeds the BMW M3 was more economical and planet-saving than the Prius. In any case, the manufacture of a Prius (due to those batteries) was also shown by Top Gear to be a more ecologically destructive process than the manufacture and lifetime emissions of a Range Rover Vogue - the sort of vehicle that has a reputation for being a 'gas guzzler' over here. So even when driven economically and with 'environmental awareness', the Prius doesn't make sense as a global solution: it merely reduced local emissions and moves the problem elsewhere. So that latter 30% really isn't doing any planet saving at all, either locally or on a global scale. The only thing it does is alleviate The Blissfully Unaware of guilt or gives them an sort of moral superiority or smugness that doesn't hold up under scrutiny. Quite simply, they bought the wrong car. So go ahead and drive your Ferrari... you're doing your part for the planet. All the best, Andrew.
The worst behavior I've ever seen in regard to a Prius car/driver is an Obama '08 sticker on the bumper...and that's but a passive statment of political preference. A gentle tap on the horn to let the hardcore bicyclists know you're passing safely will at times get you the bird, curses or both.
You mean THIS horn, don't you? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjR5K_Fb6r4 See the reactions here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gSsMYjQVnY GOTTA GET ME ONE OF THESE! CW
what does honking your horn at a cyclist do? cars are passing cyclists all the time and the cyclists are use to it. any use of the horn is interpreted as aggressive and car is telling cyclist they don't believe in sharing the road. two abreast cyclists are bad, often they are just talking and don't hear a car come up upon them, bad as a texting or cell phone driver. however, on narrow single lane roads cars shouldn't be passing the cyclist if oncoming traffic or no pass zone, same as if you came up on a car. often a cyclist will be a foot or more left of the right line to keep a car from buzzing them where they shouldn't be passing. 3,500 lb. car vs. 16 lb. bike, take a breath and 30 seconds to pass safely.
I find that really funny, glad I'm not a victim of it. My detailer has a "full blown" ship horn on his commercial truck, oh man that thing kills. Left some kind of oil pool on my driveway when he blew it.
The best cure for this is a very close pass, about 1-2 feet from them, combined with an air horn. I'd say around 60% of the time it makes them crash.
The last time I personally tested out which car was best for picking up Chicks I was driving a VW Beetle but your observation makes me glad those days are behind me.
LOL! A 5-door Peugeot 106 worked just fine for me about 8 years ago. The chick I picked up became my fiancée in June. So those days are behind me too and I couldn't be happier. Admittedly, I did take some stick from family (on both sides) for waiting 8 years to propose... All the best, Andrew.
If I wasn't just born in the hippie daze, my motto for hippie chicks would have been shave them, bathe them, and THEN lay them.
I got ya beat. 9 years. And congrats. I may have run into this same Prius here in Utah recently, but it still had it's Utah plates...then again, all of Utah is kind of like this. As far as cyclists go... I was on my street with a cyclist in the center of the travel lane. I went around with no problems and he started yelling at me for some reason saying to "share the road." No traffic, plenty of room, and he should have been as far over as possible.
Prius to be banned, or Toyota to pay up? To be sorted out in court... http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstocks/archive/2009/10/07/toyota-s-prius-threatened-by-probe.aspx
I agree entirely. Any horn use, especially within 100 feet, just makes cyclists angry. That should be evident, though, from the middle fingers you get after honking at them. Wow, man. Not all cyclists are granola-munching car haters. This is the kind of behavior that makes me want to start carrying a gun somewhere on my frame.
Already thought this one through, I have a CHL and can legally carry while I ride, but don't because... 1) I'm working out hard and very emotional when a car drives aggressively towards me, those two things are working against me making a good decision in a acute period of time. 2) Kinda like putting keys in your back jersey, if you take a fall with a gun back there it could increase chance of serious injury. Something that hard on your spine. 3) By the time a car does something that threatens your life, then it will be over and they won't be threatening by the time you can pull. At that point it would just be "payback" and you would be charged with something. The exception would be if driver stopped and came back at you with a deadly weapon. If a car hits or even buzzes a cyclist with intent causing injury they will be charged with assault with a deadly weapon, a felony wherever you are. Use to be hard to prove and law enforcement often wouldnt pursue it, but now many cyclists are starting to wear video systems on their helmet. You will start seeing more serious charges against drivers with this video proof. Amazing the very caring and smart people that give much money and time to charities being good people otherwise, but treat cyclists like they rapped your wife.
