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This thread was started as an offshoot of the topic 'Regenerative Braking': http://www.priusonline.com/viewtopic.php?t=2252. I decided to give it its own home here.
To a lot of people, owning the Prius is about using energy wisely. A person might have bought the car because it is energy efficient, and to save money in gas. But it soon becomes clear that how you drive the car also has a big effect on its efficiency. Knowing that, it is easy to see that this applies to any car, not just the Prius.
This can put the Prius owner at odds with other drivers. Many car owners use their vehicles as much as an expression of personal identity as a tool for transportation. Unfortunately, a common part of this is the expression of personal power and dominance. This aspect of the auto has been heavily promoted in advertising. Those big SUVs may have a practical use, but most of them never see a gravel road, so it is clear their purchase wasn't a decision based on practicalities.
However this use of the auto to express power has a real and negative effect on all of us. You could compare it to smoking tobacco. It may be a personal choice, but it also affects the air people nearby are breathing. Those overpowered vehicles are using resources and polluting the environment in a way that seriously affects everyone, so it’s not only a personal choice. Those choices affect all of us.
The smoking analogy is a good one. A non-smoker used to have to endure all the bad air and the nasty smells, even in his own house, because of the overwhelming social pressure, coincidentally also heavily promoted by the advertising industry. But now things have changed. Laws have been passed, in Canada at least, to control advertising. Society isn't so ready to accommodate unrestricted behaviour concerning smoking these days. I think the same will happen with unwise driving habits.
For most Prius owners, it isn't cool to jam your foot down on the accelerator, and burn a few months life off the tires to show a slowpoke how he should improve his driving style. What is cool is using the energy you just reclaimed coming down that last hill to take you silently another mile down the road. As hybrids become more common, this will be cool to a lot more drivers. Just like the harmful behaviour of smokers isn't tolerated as much now as when everyone did it, I think that the frivolous expenditure of energy won't be tolerated so much either. More drivers will begin to learn that using tailgating pressure to hurry someone toward a red light will be seen for the actual aggression it is, and won't be accommodated.
I see on this forum that Prius owners are conflicted between driving the way they feel most comfortable and being pressured to drive more like the old way, as if fossil fuels are unlimited and harmless.
I’m not advocating that Prius owners should take it on themselves to teach the world the right way to live. However, I also don’t think that they should ignore the good things they are learning from their excellent decision to buy a Prius. So my conclusion is, don't try to send messages, just drive smart. The rest of the world will catch on eventually
To a lot of people, owning the Prius is about using energy wisely. A person might have bought the car because it is energy efficient, and to save money in gas. But it soon becomes clear that how you drive the car also has a big effect on its efficiency. Knowing that, it is easy to see that this applies to any car, not just the Prius.
This can put the Prius owner at odds with other drivers. Many car owners use their vehicles as much as an expression of personal identity as a tool for transportation. Unfortunately, a common part of this is the expression of personal power and dominance. This aspect of the auto has been heavily promoted in advertising. Those big SUVs may have a practical use, but most of them never see a gravel road, so it is clear their purchase wasn't a decision based on practicalities.
However this use of the auto to express power has a real and negative effect on all of us. You could compare it to smoking tobacco. It may be a personal choice, but it also affects the air people nearby are breathing. Those overpowered vehicles are using resources and polluting the environment in a way that seriously affects everyone, so it’s not only a personal choice. Those choices affect all of us.
The smoking analogy is a good one. A non-smoker used to have to endure all the bad air and the nasty smells, even in his own house, because of the overwhelming social pressure, coincidentally also heavily promoted by the advertising industry. But now things have changed. Laws have been passed, in Canada at least, to control advertising. Society isn't so ready to accommodate unrestricted behaviour concerning smoking these days. I think the same will happen with unwise driving habits.
For most Prius owners, it isn't cool to jam your foot down on the accelerator, and burn a few months life off the tires to show a slowpoke how he should improve his driving style. What is cool is using the energy you just reclaimed coming down that last hill to take you silently another mile down the road. As hybrids become more common, this will be cool to a lot more drivers. Just like the harmful behaviour of smokers isn't tolerated as much now as when everyone did it, I think that the frivolous expenditure of energy won't be tolerated so much either. More drivers will begin to learn that using tailgating pressure to hurry someone toward a red light will be seen for the actual aggression it is, and won't be accommodated.
I see on this forum that Prius owners are conflicted between driving the way they feel most comfortable and being pressured to drive more like the old way, as if fossil fuels are unlimited and harmless.
I’m not advocating that Prius owners should take it on themselves to teach the world the right way to live. However, I also don’t think that they should ignore the good things they are learning from their excellent decision to buy a Prius. So my conclusion is, don't try to send messages, just drive smart. The rest of the world will catch on eventually