Cruising along the Capital City Freeway in a test 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid, I felt so good about myself.

I was doing my part for Mother Earth, driving what Ford Motor Co. bills as "the world's cleanest and most fuel-efficient sport-utility vehicle." The nation's first mass-produced, gas-electric SUV was not only rolling up impressive fuel-economy numbers, but also I was feeling good vibes for driving an SUV qualifying as an "Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle."

If only those two guys in front of me weren't trying to kill each other.

Yeah, it was a Honda Accord and a Lexus RX 330, cutting each other off and periodically slamming their brakes in front of me. I decided I had to get away from them before they caught me up in their two-car-crash tango.

Nailing the accelerator, I zipped around them in the left-side passing lane and left them 100 yards behind, in the time it takes a bowling ball to roll from hand to pins.

It took perhaps an additional minute for the startling realization to hit me: Holy cow, what was that? I just dusted those guys in a compact SUV with a hybrid power plant!