I started driving a Prius several weeks ago. I had been interested in owning one, but it wasn’t until several friends of mine offered their glowing endorsements that I decided to take the plunge.
What I’ve found is that driving a Prius is a lot like playing a video game. Toyota included a visual display telling you what kind of mileage you’re getting while you drive. When you accelerate after a stop light, MPG dips down to what seems like 10. But when you take your foot of the gas as you drift to a light or coast down a hill, your MPG spikes at 100. The goal of the video game is to make the display spike to 100.
What happens in trying to beat the Prius video game is you end up trying to anticipate traffic conditions. You want to be all smug and justify your Prius and tell your friends you get 45 MPG, so you end up looking waaaay out in advance for stoplights and hitting the brakes a mile in advance, coasting to a slow stop. You also tend not to speed or step on the gas in excess, driving in a controlled manner.
So the combination of being hyper-aware of driving conditions and slower driving speeds makes me, I think, at least a safer, if not a more annoying driver.