At a busy intersection in the San Francisco Bay area, the team stationed “pedestrians” at crosswalks… Drivers of shiny, expensive cars were three times more likely than those of old clunkers to plow through a crosswalk, failing to yield to pedestrians as required by California state law. High-status motorists were also four times more likely than those with cheaper, older cars to cut off other drivers at a four-way stop.
Rich people behaving badly! It’s easy to imagine the kind of satisfaction the researchers from Berkeley enjoyed when their research showed that class warfare extends all the way to the concrete traffic jungle… but the other behavior they observed was probably a bit tougher to swallow.
According to Science magazine:
In an interesting twist, about one-third of Prius drivers broke crosswalk laws, putting the hybrid among the highest “unethical driving” car brands. “This is a good demonstration of the ‘moral licensing’ phenomenon, in which hybrid-car drivers who believe they’re saving the Earth may feel entitled to behave unethically in other ways,” Piff [the chief researcher — JB] says. (The Prius results were observed but not analyzed for statistical significance in the study.)
Kudos to Dr. Piff and his crew for reporting this; it’s seemingly become increasingly common for scientists to report what they want to be the case rather than what they actually find. The moral of the story? If you’re going to rely on the car coming your way to actually stop when you cross the road, it’s best to choose a car that:
- is being driven by someone employed in a “low-status” position such as a janitor, fry cook, or MotorTrend editor-in-chief;
- is not a Prius;
- does not have Ohio license plates. I’ve never met an Ohioan who understood the concept of yielding to pedestrian traffic;
- is not a club racer, because in the paddock, vehicles have the right of way.
No word yet on whether the “Prius c” will also be a pedestrian-whacker, but since our very own Alex Dykes is currently testing one, we should have the word on that any day now.
When I arrived at Beale AFB outside Marysville/Yuba City in November, 1969 and went through base orientation, we all had to attend a class on driving in California. The very first thing we were taught was any pedestrian anywhere have the right-of-way, and that you MUST stop for them. To this day, if you really want to tick everyone off is to step off a curb in a crosswalk or anywhere else, and you will stop traffic. If it’s not in a crosswalk or if the “WALK” light is not on, you will incur the wrath of every living thing in a 100 ft. radius.
Every time we go to California, it’s still the first thing I be sure to observe.
When the Navy sent me to San Diego in 1970, that was true. I’m still in San Diego, and it’s still the law, but everybody now drives like there are no pedestrians around to inconvenience them. If you’re a pedestrian and you step off a curb, you’d better be sure they (want to) see you.
I once told a co-worker, a state highway engineer, that it was because of all the drivers from New Jersey. He told me he was from New Jersey and was driving a drunk friend home late one night when he got a ticket for going the wrong way down a one way street. When he got a notice a few days later that he had to appear in court, he packed up his belongings and moved to California!
There is a well-marked cross walk on a stretch of Ingraham that runs between two big apartment complexes. It has street lights, a center island, and flashing yellow lights strung over the traffic lanes. Pedestrians still have about a 25% chance of anyone stopping for them if there are cars. The only thing worse is the traffic circles of Birdrock. People can barely navigate them without worrying about pedestrians or cyclists. There is a special place in hell for traffic calmers.
At the AF base I was stationed at, the rule was if there is a pedestrian in the crosswalk, you wait until they have completely crossed the road, and have stepped up from the curb onto the sidewalk before proceeding.
This was pretty annoying on the main drag out of base, as it was five lanes wide @ 12′ per lane. You could be waiting there awhile.
If you think it’s bad in Cali, you should try So Fla where pedestrians are fair game for drivers, and where cars have the right of way.
+1: FL is the worst. Even if pedestrians have a green light, you still need to watch out for cars making turns if you don’t want to get run over.
This is not really hard to figure out: narcississtic personality traits! A distinct characteristic of these folks is a marked lack of empathy, which would explain the ambivalence regarding comfort/safety of pedestrians.
High-end cars are often owned by high-achieving individuals. Like it or not, narcissistic traits are very helpful in the cut-throat environment such individuals live and work in, so no surprise there.
Likewise, we all know that many hybrid owners can develop an inflated sense of self-importance, which also promotes these personality traits.
In my experience in DC, the worst type of narcissistic drivers are the “Christians” with the “Jesus Saves” bumper stickers. Talk about feeling high-and-mighty/better than thou! They drive like they own the road, and I’ve gotten a good number of sneers from these drivers as they pass me at way too high a rate of speed.
I remember a woman from an old commute of mine who had a personalized license plate espousing her godliness (“IMSAVED” or something to that effect). EVERY TIME I saw her, she was driving her Camry like she stole it. Including too-fast acceleration, laying on the brakes when stopping, swerving, honking, etc.
I wonder WWJD to these people?
Purgatory, even if most Christians other than Catholics don’t believe in it.
So by extension, we should expect high status/ecologically minded drivers (Karma, Model S, S400, ActiveHybrid7, etc) to be the worse offenders?
Too bad they didn’t discern between diesel and hybrid owners. The former are probably feeling the hate of being left out of American consideration. Again.
I wonder if the rate of Prius drivers would be higher due to it beimg the most well known “green” car, implying that their drivers are on average more converned with people being aware they’re driving a hybrid than other drivers would be.
Cali drivers in general are far more likely to yield. Try walking in Philly or NYC. We even have an “implied crosswalk” law that covers most any intersection. However, only a yellow school crosswalk requires drivers to not enter it if any pedestrian occupies any portion of it.
Im probably wealthier than many who lease luxury cars. Just because the car is “cheaper, older” does not mean the driver is a janitor or fry-cook, please!
As a near-luxury car driver in San Francisco who stops for people in crosswalks, I’m starting to be a little selective in obeying that law. In residential areas where speeds are slow its no problem. The issue is on major thoroughfares 4-6 lanes wide like Geary blvd (where I witnessed a police ‘sting’ for this very issue a few months back) or Alemany where traffic is moving at 40+ mph and someone steps out into a crosswalk mid block, if you stop major chaos will ensue behind you. If you don’t get rear-ended, the most unfortunate and common reaction to you stopping is the person behind you to honk their horn, abruptly pull out into the other lane and gun it through the crosswalk in a rage, just in time to nearly clip the pedestrian you coaxed out into a busy street. A lot of times the pedestrian waves you past because they don’t want to take their chances until there’s a major break in traffic.
I spend a lot of time out walking with my kids in the city and I full expect people to stop for us on side streets. BMWs tend to see and ignore you until you force the issue. Priuses are the ones that have nearly hit me on several occasions -worst drivers ever. As for those major arteries? Walk down to the stoplight!
I don’t even know why they have crosswalks without traffic signals. I’d never use one. But who needs a crosswalk? Where I live, people jaywalk like crazy.
Oh, those soft-science behavioral psychologists.
The Science magazine article is describing a PNAS paper where Piff et. al. did seven studies of behavior, only two of which were related to driving. For high-status cars, 45% of n=13 cars, so 6 cars, didn’t yield to pedestrians. This, compared to 30% of middle quintile cars (20/61 cars) didn’t yield. I’m not a statistician, but that doesn’t sound like enough data to me (ask Michael Karesh). If two fewer high-status car had yielded, their drivers would have been indistinguishable from the middle quintile results.
Also, “(The Prius results were observed but not analyzed for statistical significance in the study.)”
Clearly, not enough data to make it through peer review. In conclusion, I call BS!
Exactly. Like those “unscientific polls” one hears about, which is a bogus attempt to lend credence to the speaker and the speaker’s friends’ opinions.
Exactly. Like those “unscientific polls” one hears about, which are a bogus attempt to lend credence to the speaker’s and the speaker’s friends’ personal opinions.
I spend a lot of time riding a bicycle on back roads and the biggest jerks by far are driving expensive euro cars, followed by really overdone pickup trucks with loud diesel exhaust and dual wheels.
BMW sells cars to the most jerks of all.
This is not a scientific study and if your a driver of euro cars in the country, you may be perfectly fine. But other members of your club not so much.
My experience is that the Lexus SUVs will deliberately try to run me off the road. The bro-dozers (jacked up trucks) will make noise and complain but generally don’t aggressively intimidate. I have more problems with drivers who get scared of bikes and refuse to take their right of way leaving everyone in a bind.
However, while in my car, I have had multiple bro-dozers try to deliberately hit me. My guess is that they have a might-is-right complex and their large vehicle thus entitles them to bully.
I ride a bicyle on back roads and also drive a BMW (not simultaneously).
When I’m driving I’m always extra careful around pedestrians and cyclists.
When I’m biking I’m most cautious around Volvo station wagons, especially when they’re older with lots of bumper stickers. Just seem to drive erratically, and most likely to clip me with an unsignaled right turn. Admittedly a prejudice, not based on statistics, just experience.
The law can say whatever, but if the people don’t obey it, it’s meaningless, here pedestrian often ignore crosswalk rules and when the do, tragedy follows, I’ve had a couple of near misses cause pedestrians, including panhandlers or those selling stuff at intersections get careless and go into the traffic lanes.
Funny you should mention me. I am usually fairly diligent at stopping for peds in the crosswalk regardless of the vehicle. (Rev matched downshifts impress peds while Xing) However this weekend in the baby Prius I was so intent on keeping my MPGs above 67MPG that I blew right through a crosswalk with someone in it (two lanes away coming towards my lane), while not a clear and present “danger” it was not my typical pattern.
hypermiling immediately came to mind when I read that the Prius is a high offender the article. if someone walks out in front of you, that means slowing down quickly, faster than the optimal regen rate, which in the mind of a hybrid driver who is playing the mpg game, is completely unacceptabl.
Isn’t that contratry to the very point of buying a hybrid?
Say, if you are driving a regular gas car, a 60-0-60 would cost you quite a bit in fuel. However, a Prius is supposed to cost you less due to regenerative braking. So you should care less about stopping, when you drive a hybrid.
FWIW – I just took ownership of a more-expensive car and I’ll admit that I’m driving 21.7% more like an asshole.
rentonben –
self awareness is the first step to rehabilitation
“does not have Ohio license plates. I’ve never met an Ohioan who understood the concept of yielding to pedestrian traffic;”
And what of it?
Ohioans are possibly the worst drivers in the US. I grew up in Pittsburgh and always heard about it but assumed it to be a state-rivalry thing. Then I vacationed in Ohio a few times over a few years and EVERY YEAR somebody tried to run me off the road in their car. I’m already a fast driver and an evasive one, they tried to run me off the road because they were either nuts or in such a hurry they were trying to push through traffic when the gaps were way to small and thus something had to give.
I would normally chalk it up to the more rural areas I was in but where I see that activity once in a while in PA and in other places in Ohio it had be 30-40% of the entire driving population tried to rush and squeeze thru openings, run people off the road, and in general be such poor drivers how the Ohio police don’t drive around in Porsche 911s with the obvious amount of tickets they could write.
In the Carolinas the most most annoying drivers on I-77 are the Ohio snowbirds heading to or from Florida. The get in the left lane in Cleveland and stay there until they hit Columbia SC, irregardless of whether they are passing anybody or not.
A Ford Panther with fabric roof covering and the driver wearing oversize cataract sunglasses are apparently Ohio DMV requirements.
Bonus points if they are pulling a 30’+ travel trailer or driving a class A motorhome that they only move twice a year. Since they have no idea how to drive a huge vehicle, are afraid to pass, and cannot see well enough to merge, they just park it in the left lane for 400+ miles at 50-60 mph.
Deep breath. OK, now I feel better:)
As Prius driver in California, I can attest the fact that you really hate to lose velocity because some inattentive pedestrian decides to step off the curb at the last minute before the light changes.
So that’s how more smug is produced.
wow, hypermiling at all cost. Interesting logic since given its regenerative braking a Prius is likely to expend much less energy in stopping and starting than a non hybrid.
For both a hybrid and a non-hybrid coasting and then re-accelerating will use less fuel than coming to a complete stop and then re-starting. Even max regen on a Prius doesn’t capture more than 30% of braking energy. I know you said only that a Prius would expend less energy than a non-hybrid in coming to a stop, but you said that as if that fact were a critique of the logic. The logic is still intact: for any current vehicle, hybrid or not, coming to a full stop and then re-starting will use more energy than coasting to a lower speed and then re-accelerating.
But of course the broader point is still valid: hyper-miling, or any action to save fuel, whatever it is called, in a Prius, in a non-Prius, or even on a bicycle, that puts a pedestrian at risk.. is wrong.
To a point, that’s true. ABS-locking braking will regen very little in the Prius.
Another observation is that a Prius gives you a wealth of tools to monitor (and improve) your driving efficiency performance, where a conventional car gives you at most an instantaneous or average mpg meter.
@Glenn Mercer “The logic is still intact: for any current vehicle, hybrid or not, coming to a full stop and then re-starting will use more energy than coasting to a lower speed and then re-accelerating.”
You are trying to answer the question “why don’t hybrid drivers completely yield to pedestrians?” Well, because, you don’t get your energy back completely.
However, that’s a question nobody asked. The real question is “why are hybrid drivers more less likely to yield than gas car drivers, when they actually spend less fuel than gas cars?” You would have thought that the more you spend, the less likely you stop. But not the case here.
My explaination is that:
Hybrids are typically operated in congested cities, where all cars are less likely to yield. It’s the study that didn’t control the sample location that hurts the hybrid reputation.
In Philly the locals dare you to hit them as they cross where ever they feel like and take their time crossing. Most begin their journey across 4 lanes of traffic right as the light changes, hoping to win the lawsuit lottery, or get you to stop for other nefarious reasons. Carjacking is one of the hobbies in the city.
Plenty of Philadelphia Lawyers around looking for their next payday.
I stopped for one in Philly and got horn blasts and yelled obscenities from the drivers behind me. I was in a rusted out Chevy borrowed from a local, but was driving like a Californian.
I agree entirely. As a Prius driver I know the extreme temptation to try to keep the MPG up by coasting when I should stop. This does NOT excuse my behavior: pedestrians have the right of way and if I do not respect that I am in the wrong. But for one Prius driver, anyway, the motivation to cut corners is based on an obsession with MPG rather than on some sense of inflated self-importance. And the MPG number just sits there on my dash, egging me on. Again, that doesn’t make it right for me to do it!
I wonder, in the abstract, if this kind of behavior will spread as more and more cars, whether hybrids, EVs, or even regular ICE cars, are equipped with instantaneous-readout MPG meters. And if gas prices climb. (No, I am not trying to deflect criticism of Prius drivers, just asking a follow-on question.)
I have one of those in my SUV. While interesting (look, I’m getting infinity miles per gallon), I don’t think it’s had much impact on my driving style. I learned to drive during the 70s gas crisis, so I’ve always been one to avoid jackrabbit starts and coast whenever I can.
The difference is that the MPG meter in the Prius is centrally placed designed so that you’re more likely care what it reads.
The ergonomics of the Prius are carefully designed to encourage conservative driving. Even the feel of the accelerator pedal feels like it encourages you to avoid pushing the pedal all the way down.
Of course, if you whump the accelerator, the Prius will scream like a banshee and go as well as any other small 4-cylinder car, but if that’s your idea of what driving should be like, you probably didn’t buy a Prius. :-)
>>As a Prius driver I know the extreme temptation to try to keep the MPG up…<<
That can go the other way for those who don't care about their MPG. Brutal acceleration / deceleration are just as potentially deadly to pedestrians.
That said, when a pedestrian in my urban-ish environment, I assume all drivers are clueless ass-hats. Lawsuit lottery be damned, I want to be able to walk right when I'm 60.
Rich, poor, lawyers, ecologist etc are all handy folks to blame for poor driving and walking habits. We all need to be more considerate and attentive.
–the motivation to cut corners is based on an obsession with MPG rather than on some sense of inflated self-importance–
But the obsession with MPG is based on an inflated self-importance.
There is a green halo effect that has become the new self-righteousness for an entire group of people. The ability to brag regarding MPG is catnip for many, just as horsepower figures, or towing figures, or purchase price is for others.
People are smug. That is why there are different vehicles. We justify our purchases differently, but smugness is human nature.
Whatever makes someone feel superior to their neighbor is an important motivating factor to a vehicle’s popularity. Prius drivers don’t drive hybrid Civics or Fusions because those cars don’t signal to other drivers the level of smugness a Prius offers.
Just as a Mustang in 1966 offered more smugness than a V8 Falcon, a HUMMER in 2000 offered more smugness than a Suburban, a Prius offers more smugness than any other hybrid.
Prius drivers are normal people. Normal people seek out opportunities to appear better than their neighbors. Driving a Prius doesn’t make you a saint, but a lot of Prius drivers feel otherwise. But that’s OK.
I made this post with Google Chrome. You know, that browser that is better than yours?
Oh…you’ve probably never even heard of it.
That’s OK.
Oh – and I can say that in another language because I’m multilingual which I became by attending school in Europe where I always took mass transit or walked. And I never fart because I don’t wish to add to any greenhouse gases. And I fart in a language you probably don’t know either – but it is better than yours, I’m sure.
If I drove a Prius, I would always stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, unlike other Prius drivers. I’d even stop for pedestrians on sidewalks, because, well, because I’m better.
I think it is extreme to suggest wanting to save fuel is (always) based on a sense of self-importance. By extension, using a coupon at a grocery store is based on a sense of self-importance. I like higher MPG because it means less money out of my wallet. For other hybrid drivers higher MPG might be desired so they can boast or seem more green and otherwise display smugness. But just as I do not assume that everyone who wants higher MPG (in a Prius or even in a regular ICE vehicle) is not being smug, I do not assume that everyone driving a low-MPG SUV wants to destroy the environment. Different people have different motives.
–just as I do not assume that everyone who wants higher MPG (in a Prius or even in a regular ICE vehicle) is not being smug, I do not assume that everyone driving a low-MPG SUV wants to destroy the environment–
Oh – you are good.
Turn around!
‘Pat! Pat!’
I especially like the part about not judging everyone in a low-MPG SUV. That takes the halo!
Now tell us you are using your Prius for Meals on Wheels.
@VanillaDude: “the obsession with MPG is based on an inflated self-importance.”
So are posts like this.
That’s the real reason for the shape of the Prius. It’s not for aerodynamics. Unlike a HUMMER, a pedestrian hit by a Prius will just roll off the hood. :)
There, guilt-free hit and run.
Given how quiet a Prius is, I’m surprised it isn’t the grim reaper of school zones.
There is nothing inherently smug about driving a Prius. No different than a HD pickup with a NRA sticker on the window and a never used scratch free bed. I think most transgressions with pedestrians has to do with maximizing MPGs. No different that trying to get through a set of twisties in a few seconds less than last time. Different vehicles push their owner’s buttons in different ways. The opinionated folks like to mock the guy saving fuel as a being a “eco weenie”…Well, I’d much rather be a eco weenie than a redneck any day of the week.
Rednecks have far more fun. They aren’t as selfish either, reflected by how they didn’t figure as self-absorbed crosswalk runners. I can’t imagine why anyone would rather be an eco-weenie. I’m sure most eco-weenies would have been born with full sized genitalia and unburdened by misplaced guilt if they had it all to do over again.
What is it with the enduring fascination with stereotyping people based on what car they drive?
Don’t stereotype me, please. It isn’t an enduring fascination, it is an observation based on experiences.
When it comes out in book form and is taught to you in a credited university, then you’ll agree!
People’s personalities can be indicated from their possessions to some degree. I stereotype because life is too short to get to know everyone.
I stereotype blogger’s avatars. This saves time actually reading what they blogged.
For the record, I am not a talking truck.
VanillaDude, your hair looks magnificent today.
>>is being driven by someone employed in a “low-status” position such as a … MotorTrend editor-in-chief;
LOL. Picking on the new guy, eh? I don’t have enough history on TTAC, but I hope you picked on the old guy too.
The “king” is dead. Long live the “king”?
Life Irony 3,248: I got rear-ended once for soft stopping at a pedestrian crosswalk to let some kids cross and the woman that hit me started yelling profanities at me for stopping in the middle of road for letting them cross. She actually complained to the police officer that I had stopped and it was my fault for causing the accident.
Life Irony 7,652: Prius drivers (or other himi vehicles) that travel the left hand lane in the daily commute going 85 miles an hour. Get real.
In the Seattle area, the Priuses do a solid 45-50 mph in the fast and HOV lanes. I wish they’d keep their smugness in the right lane where they can birdwatch and plant trees to Jack Johnson albums safely away from the rest of us.
I’m close enough to Seattle to see the blue glow at night, and I must report that we passed a Prius the other day that was proceeding down the freeway at about 45 mph. The interesting thing about that Prius, other than the fact that it was in the right lane where it belonged, was that it had an Oklahoma plate. It must have been a long trip….
Before moving to Seattle earlier this year, doing 45 mph on the freeway in my former city, Houston, would nearly get you killed. I dearly miss Houston drivers.
I’ve only driven in Houston twice. Both times I wished I had a car with F1 power and handling, with Abrams APC level armor.
I’ve driven all over the country and in 40 years of driving the only place I ever saw someone hit the brakes and back up on the expressway because they missed the exit was Houston.
There’s a 4-way stop that was put in near ou house about 5 years ago. I’d say about 50% of the cars on the main thoroughfare actually come to a complete stop and about 75% come to a slow roll through that intersection. I never step out into that intersection if I hear a car coming (blind corner, ergo stop sign for pedestrians and cross traffic leaving the subdivision).
The reason Prius drivers and others who are overly focused on mpg don’t stop at intersections is the waste of forward momentum. Wringing every molecule of gasoline out and not wasting a single ounce of fuel trumps all else (not breaking at all is more fuel efficient than regenerative breaking).
No, but when the officials decide to jam up a road with a new set of stop signs where there were none for decades, well, I run those with impunity. Because they were never there before, and there is no cross roads, they were put there just to screw up a good curvy road or to make money with tickets. Makes no difference what I am driving at the time….
+1.
The same applies to useless left turn arrows that don’t default to solid green for driver discretion. These have become a plague in NY State, pimped by Safety Freak neurotics at the state DOT.
At 5am, I often idle at a traffic free intersection for 3+ minutes waiting for the signal cycle. At a certain intersection with good sight lines, I take a page from Adam Carolla’s book and run the left turn red when it’s green in my direction.
An enterprising law firm ought to sue and demand environmental impact assessments every time these Left Turn Time Cancers are installed. Wasting the peoples’ time is just like wasting energy.
Extremely NSFW look at other entitled commuters….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgCqz3l33kU&feature=player_embedded
(found over at Althouse blog along with another one)
Next they can do a study of the kamikaze bicyclists that infest the Bay area.
You’re missing an artist’s credit on the photo-illustration.
Hover over the photo; you will get it. It is from a site called OakNoPark, which doesn’t provide specific authorship.
So we studied drivers at one corner in SF and somehow we’ve determined that all Prius drivers are careless around pedestrians?
Maybe that wasn’t said in so many words, but the implication is there in the tone and tenor of the article and referenced “study”.
I call statistical bulls–t on this one!
The only time I’ve been screamed at by a motorist for riding in the bike lane, which is BTW perfectly legal, was by some old guy in a MINI who told me to “stay off the f’ing road.”
Toyota deserves a ton of credit for the marketing genius behind the Prius. Who knew that stuffing some electric motors and batteries in a clowncar-looking penalty box would have such strong appeal to a certain subset of auto buyers? I wonder how many Prius buyers are converts from other brands?
The oxymoronic ‘green consumers’ are a verdant field, anxious, so it seems, to be plowed by companies that can successfully tap into their state of mind.
Smug Alert