Yesterday evening I pulled into my favorite Shell station to refuel the TCH. As the pump shut off and I started to return the fueling hose to the pump, a total stranger that was across the ally from me on the other pump island started yelling at me with lots of four letter words that cannot be printed here.

The thread of his assult was that his fuel bill was too high for his Lincoln Navigator, and somehow I was the reason. Hybrid drivers were screwing up the status quo and driving up the cost of fuel, slowing him down on the road with their gutless cars, and causing him so much stress that his wife was leaving him....

I didn't know this guy at all -- total stranger. That prompted me to start wondering what really set him off. Was it an irresponsible hypermiller -- unlikely given the location and the fact that all local thru-ways at that point are at least two lanes in each direction, and more often, three. Did he resent the fact that I was saving money and he wasn't, either by luck or good judgement....

and them it hit me! A most likely reason is guilt. Here is an affluent American (new Navigators are not cheap!) persuing his version of the American dream sterotype of larger, faster and more expensive (he with the most, biggest and fastest toys wins) -- and he knows that he should act socially responsible regarding global warming, fuel conservation and traffic overpopulations. My presence, and that of every other hybrid, is pointing out his own selfish social attitude.

Unfortunately our American social structure and the measures of success used by most of our peers encourage the development a "me first" attitue. Taken to its upper extreme, this becomes something like "social responsibility is for everyone else, I'm different -- I deserve to be treated as a exception", or worse, "the laws are for everone else, I deserve to be exempted".

The resistance to new, more efficient technologies such as hybrids is more than just resistance to change. It represents changes in the goals that many have been pursuing for most of ther lives -- and thus presents them with the realiziation that much of that pursuit has been in the wrong directions because the target has changed -- is still changing.

It is the ignorant among us that will eventually destroy us all.

It makes absolutely no sense to me why a person with a gas guzzler would be made at someone with a hybrid. As you use less, he gets to use more, right?

At any rate, around here that outburst could be taken as road rage (or do we now have pump rage?) And it's actually enforced.

It gets late early out there. - Yogi

I would have flipped him off, jumped in the TCH and taken off. Even if he chased you, he would run out of gas WAAAAYYY before you did. Then you would have the moral upper hand, and he would REALLY be pi**ed at hybrids. Might be enough to make him buy one!

It seems exactly like road rage. Do people understand what road rage is? Do they understand that every driver has it unless they consciously choose to suppress it? It's all about trying to control the road, believing that you know better than everyone else. You could be muttering under your breath about how such-and-such up ahead is being a jerk and an awful driver. You could take that a little further and verbally swear at them in the confines of your vehicle. Take it a little further and you're making gestures at them. Further still, flashing lights, honking, and passing them to slow down in front of them just to teach them a lesson. Becoming a self-appointed driving instructor or traffic officer. Further still, reckless driving like racing and screeching stops, unsafe maneuvers, bumping, ramming, or whipping out a weapon... Heavy machines are not the place to lose one's temper.

The estrangement with his wife could be for similar reasons but in a different context. Control freaks don't deserve marriage.

2007 Honda Civic Hybrid -> sparkle grey pearl

The guy was a moron for two reasons. First for acting like he did and second for thinking that hybrid owners (who use less fuel, suppressing demand and prices) are his enemy. If anything, land barge drivers ought to thank hybrid owners. I like to think that my HCH sort of makes up for the Dodge Ram pick up. Altho' that gets over 21 mpg on the hwy.

2008 Galaxy Gray Honda Civic Hybrid

That's all kinds of messed up.

A few years ago, I had a woman blame me for high gas prices. I asked how getting 35 MPG was causing high gas prices, she balked when she realized I was a hybrid, and apologized, saying that she thought I was just a normal gas guzzler. It was a rather funny moment.

First 4WD Hypermiler

Have you read the FEH FAQ?

Live in Michigan? Let it be known in Michigan Roll Call

A couple of years ago, after I got my Prius, I was sharing my experiences with the locals in a Huntsville USENET forum. Many parroted the usual hybrid skeptic nonsense, which I replied with source cited facts and data. One even posted he was glad I was saving gas since it left that much more for his gas guzzler. I replied,'Good, then we are both happy.' ... Somehow I don't think he was really happy.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

Hmm.... I seem to get nothing but compliments and smiles around mine.
Everyone who sees my (two) hybrids thinks they are the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Most think they cost too much.... but all are impressed and excited about hybrids after speaking to me.

At work, ( 330 employee's ) nearly all have given me compliments on my "new" 2000 Insight.
My favorite comment:

Q: "Hi! Is that one of those new electric cars?"
A: "No. It's an 8 year old hybrid car."

On the flip side ( no pun intended ) I find I get passed on the left MUCH more often in my Insight than my "normal" looking Escape Hybrid... even though, I travel the same speed, on the same roads. Maybe it's the hybrid perception that hybrids are always slow... or maybe a little car is just less intimidating to pass than a mid-size, jeep-size, SUV.

???? ????

I haven't gotten any negatives except from my best friend. He just has a hard time with buying "Foreign" vehicles because of how much money goes out of the US. Other than that he likes my TCH.

I think with me being 6'4" and about 260lbs right now not many people are going to curse at me like the OP...unless they have it in drive already. Not that I am a violent person.....usually.

A thought hit me concerning this thread.

1 Hybrids in the non hybrid world are the symbol of the radical environment movement.

2 Many people blame the oil shortage on the environmentalists because they have succeeded in stopping exploration and drilling in the US.

So put the two together and high gas prices are the fault of the hybrid drivers.

Ducit Amour Hybridae
Mark Smith
Master Certifited Technician
Tempus non reparabilis fugit
"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."