Prius Backlash

[Freedom_Aflaim]

Interesting story.

The backlash is uncalled for, although I have admit that if folks are hogging the left lane going to slow then thats a problem as well.

http://www.autospies.com/article/index.asp?articleId=7205&offSite=rss

(sorry, it appears to be video only)

(edit: Seems that link isnt valid anymore, but here is the story in text: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hybrids10apr10,0,4636957.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Beacho]

1. I don't get it

Backlash for what? not being a dumbass and saving cash at the pump?

Someone please explain

:shrug:

[Freedom_Aflaim]

4. Indeed

But morons like to lashout

[Deep13]

2. "hogging the left lane going to slow "

Define slow. Going 55 in a 55 zone is the maximum allowed speed.

So what's the backlash? I don't have a sound card at the office.

[Freedom_Aflaim]

3. take at look at the updated link

I've got a text story there now. (seems the video disapeered as soon as I posted the link, go figure)

"Define slow". thats a very valid point, but in most parts of the country going 55 in a 55 in the fast lane is going to slow. It is what it is.

[SoCalDem]

5. My husband drives the Calif freeways and here's one beef

that drivers have about the HOV lane.

We wait DECADES to finally get desperately needed lanes added..we watch them built as we sit on those long narrow parking lots..It takes YEARS to finish them..

As they near completion, everyone gets all excited at the fact that they may now be alble to "sleep in until 4:00 AM"..and then they realize that that shiny new lane will be an HOV lane, which will do little to alleviate the gridlocked traffic, and is just an "escape route" for people who are lucky enough to be able to carpool to work (most people around here cannot easily carpool), so they continue to creep along as they watch the HOV lane sit there virtually empty, but for the occasionaly blur as someone speeds past.

A while back they decided around here that hybrid cars could use them, without the second person, so to most people who cannot afford the pricey cars, it's just another slap in the face. People with some bucks can once again, go to the head of the line.

For the other people in the HOV with extra passengers, it's an annoyance to them because they probably worked black magic to GET a carpool together and to make it work..and then they come up behind a single person in a hybrid, poking along..you bet they get pissed.

[leesa]

23. What an incredible bias! What makes you think Prius drivers drive slow?

My car goes very fast. Why are you picking on hybrid drivers because your carpool people think they are gods of some sort.

[SoCalDem]

29. huh?

My husband does NOT drive the HOV lanes...does NOT carpool and I do not drive the freeways at ALL.. :shrug:

were you responding to a different post:shrug:

[alcibiades_mystery]

30. Seems like a helluva incentive to carpool, by hook or crook

Of course it's not going to be easy to carpool. Of course it is difficult. But damn, by your own description the carpool is a desirable goal. The lucky ones are the ones for whom it is easy, you're right, but that's the same everywhere. Simply because it's not easy doesn't mean you shouldn't strive for it, inconvenience be damned.

[SoCalDem]

34. Out here in CA, it's almost impossible to carpool

My husband's company is an example..

The guys in the shop work from 6 am to 2 pm
The office people work from 7-4 pm
My husband gets there at 7 also, but once there he travels from the office to places all over SC for job walks and bid openings and meetings. Sometimes his last meeting is a few miles from home, so he does not GO back to the office. If he was driving that day, the people who went with him would have to wait at least 2 hours for him to even get back there to pick them up and then another 2 hours home..

and then there's the fact that he's the only one who lives in our town.. His company has about 75 employees and I would bet money that they probably live in about 40 or more different communities/towns..

It's not like the olden days where people lived blocks away from each other and all worked "downtown" or at "the plant"..

Companies stagger their hours to save on payroll, and it makes someone either have to twiddle their thumbs before they start work, or after they finish, if they want to carpool

[wtmusic]

36. Depends on the job

My wife carpools Burbank-Century City and saves $50/wk on gas.

People who have desk jobs for large companies have no excuse. There's always someone who lives close enough.

[Sub Atomic]

32. I'll admit, I have a FastPass

Granted, the only time I can use it is on the weekends, as the HOV lanes all run against my direction of travel on my commute.

It sure is nice though, to be able to not sit in traffic.

[SoCalDem]

33. When he drove the 91 he used Fast Pass but now he's on the 60

and goes to Ontario, so he's just become more patient :)

[LSK]

8. what does that have to do with the cars make???

Any rude asshole can hog the left lane, regardless of car.

In Germany thats illegal to do.

[killbotfactory]

9. STAY RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS

STAY RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS
STAY RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS
STAY RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS
STAY RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS
STAY RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS
STAY RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS
STAY RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS
STAY RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS

It's a very simple rule to follow.

[Xithras]

19. They don't teach that here anymore, and it's not the law in CA

California law specifies that all lanes on multi-lane highways are "driving lanes" unless specifically posted otherwise. They don't even teach new drivers to stay right anymore.

Oh, and passing on the right is also legal in California. The tourists tend to get really PO'd when they get passed on the right, but since all lanes are driving lanes there's no prohibition against it.

[killbotfactory]

22. It's the law in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado

Probably a lot of other states around this region.

There are signs everywhere.

And people still don't follow this simple rule.

[Beaverhausen]

25. I didn't know that but it explains a lot

I'm from back east (PA) and was really surprised my first few years here at all the passing on the right and at the people speeding in the right lanes.

[wtmusic]

37. It's common courtesy

There are lots of things which are legal which are also rude as hell.

[Beaverhausen]

11. People seem to think that the car pool lane has no speed limit

I get in there and go 75 and have people riding my ass. I fucking hate that.

People need to SLOW DOWN!

signed: a smug Prius driver (who doesn't have the stickers - I only get in the carpool lane if I have 2 people in the car)

[Deep13]

65 is hardly poking along.

I don't go any faster than that even when the speed limit allows it. It is bad for the vehicle, bad for gas consumption and horribly unsafe. American-rated cars are not designed for autobahn speeds.

Hate to say it because it is not a solution, but the traffic and the perceived need to go fast are the results of sprawl which necessitates car travel and overpopulation.

[Touchdown]

26. Not a Californian, I take it.

Speed limits is LA are sugestions.;)

[Orsino]

44. But the HOV lane is a special privelege.

For any driver to claim it as a license to speed is ridiculous.

The HOV lane is not the left lane. It's a different animal.

[Touchdown]

45. They call them Lexus Lanes in Denver.

They were going to charge a monthly fee to drive on them, and the express lanes they built, but the voters protested.

[Orsino]

46. Ew. n/t

[BurtWorm]

6. I find it hard to believe that this is a real phenomenon.

And if it is, who cares?

[bigendian]

7. Too slow?

I've had a Prius blast past me when I was doing 80!

[stepnw1f]

10. WHATEVERRRRRR (nt)

[lectrobyte]

12. What's wrong with driving the speed limit, as long as you are not

in the passing lane?

[mod mom]

13. Fuel efficiency envy. nt

[DrGonzoLives]

14. Why should people be allowed to drive in car-pool lanes

without carpooling? Anyone care to answer that?

[Beaverhausen]

15. Hybrids have nearly zero emissions

Letting them go in the car pool lane is an incentive and a perk for driving a car not spewing so much shit into the atmosphere. :hi:

[DrGonzoLives]

17. Hybrids are also fairly expensive

Essentially, if you're rich enough to get one, not only do you get a tax break, but you get to use the special-kids lane.

Sorry, something seems wrong about this to me.

[Beaverhausen]

20. They aren't that expensive

especially when you consider that tax break and the price of gas these days.

I'm not rich by anyone's measure and I drive one.

[leesa]

24. Nonsense. They are about 20,000. What are you talking about?

The gas hogs out there cost much more. They gas hogs ALSO get a larger tax break because they often get full tax deduction as trucks, cars, if they get any, get $2000.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

41. That's very expensive for me

I bought an old 1973 Saab Model 96 last year for $1800. It gets good mileage and has an engine that just keeps on going forever if you take care of it. My cousin bought a Mercedes turbo diesel station wagon with 250,000 miles on it for just a little over $2000. It's said that that engine often gets over 400,000 miles on it without a major overhaul. I can't (and no one in my family or my friends) can afford the down payment and the high monthly payments to buy a new car, not to mention the high insurance premiums involved.

I'm still waiting for U.S. carmakers (or those importing into the US market) to come up with a very small two seat, no-frills (no radio, no factory air), ultra-light, turbo-diesel-hybrid commuter car built for the working person in the $5000 to $7000 range. Renault is building the Dacia for sale in Eastern Europe, which costs them about $4,400 to build (resale about $6000). I'm still waiting for high technology to make a very small no frills car that the working person can afford to buy and to operate.

[onenote]

27. less than the average price of a new car

The average price of a new car is over $28,000. I believe that a Prius Hybrid is in the 20-22,000 range.

onenote

[lectrobyte]

28. If you don't like hybrids in your HOV lane, complain to your councilman.

And thanks for the compliment, I did not consider my Prius an expensive car, or myself espeically rich.

[lectrobyte]

16. Because they are wanting to reward use of cars that pollute less. Kind

of like the federal tax credit for buying a hybrid. LA still has some pretty serious air quality issues from what I hear.

[alcibiades_mystery]

31. They shouldn't

Carpooling is a worthy social goal. People should be rewarded for acting communally to achieve worthy social goals. Prius drivers should be allowed in the carpool lane...if they are carpooling, and only then.

[wtmusic]

38. What's the difference?

Are conserving fuel/eliminating pollution not worthy social goals?

[SoCalDem]

35. It's a reward for fuel efficiency, which is fine

but most people who sit in traffic idling, probably feel that traffic that moves is a better idea, and having a nearly empty lane is an irritant to people moving 2 ft and stopping for a couple of hours.. Tax money from everyone went to build that lane, so it's annoying to lots of people to see it NOT alleviating the congestion they thought building it would relieve.

[Orangepeel]

42. what if it was called a "lower energy use lane" instead of a carpool lane?

carpooling is one way to save on gas. driving a more fuel efficient car is another.

Why do we have carpool lanes at all? If the purpose was, say, to encourage social interaction, then it wouldn't make sense to open the lanes to drivers who engage in other gas saving activities. But if it is to encourage saving gas, then it does.

[TheFarseer]

47. Here's my answer

If a ridiculously small number of people are using the HOV lane, then you should open it up to more people. Unless you just want to let anyone drive on it, you've got to single out some other group, so why not hybrid drivers? It makes the most sense to me to encourage the purchase of fuel efficient vehicles even if it might be unfair to people who can't afford new vehicles at the moment.

[bunkerbuster1]

18. Aww. Poor widdle babies can "only" go 65mph at rush hour?

what a bunch of whiny ass titty babies.

[lectrobyte]

21. The times I've been driving in LA, I've never been able to go 65

in a HOV lane, due to just the general congestion, and sheer volume of traffic. Probably varies where you are, but I can understand not wanting to merge in or out of the HOV lane any more than you have to once you work your way over to it.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

39. They Should Have Never Given That Privilege To Prius Owners.

It's good to offer an incentive for buying hybrids, but this was just the wrong way to do it and will end up being counterproductive in all likelihood.

The whole reason for the existance of HOV lanes is to ease congestion. This incentive goes directly against that whole concept and is just reversing the whole benefit of the HOV lane to begin with. They should have come up with an incentive that wouldn't have affected an already existing incentive for a completely different group. I think it was well intentioned, but foolish.

[wtmusic]

40. I would agree, but...

in reality the carpool lanes are hardly used at all. Much better to make some use of them than virtually none.

[Dave Reynolds]

43. I spent 2 hours on a bus every day on I-5 in Seattle.

Sitting in a HOV lane that was just as stop-and-go as all other lanes.