Was heading up to the mountain cabin in northern AZ late at night, driving 65-75 mph (legal limit was 65) when we ran up on a Toyota Prius driving erratically at 55-60. I followed from a respactable distance a while, then decided to pass and make better time. Flipped the turn signal, blipped my high beams to catch his attention, then mashed the loud pedal. Even though we had a solid yellow line (no passing) there was plenty of room for the "Porsche Pass". As I pulled alongside-- oncoming headlights appeared. I changed down to 3rd gear-- floored it, and the Prius driver went apesh**. Honked his horn (why would you do that in a desperate circumstance-- shouldn't you be doing something more productive and practical in an emergency??) way over braked, swerved madly, and just about totally lost control of the vehicle. I pulled back into the lane 100 feet ahead of him and continued on at about 75 mph. The oncoming vehicle didn't even hit his brights.

Mr Prius was pissed-- he accelerated to catch me and turned his brights on and left them on-- gracious indignation! I accelerated to 85 on some straights and left him behind. Then encountered a local truck driving the limit, so slowed down because it was just 15 more miles to the cabin turnoff. Here comes Mr. Prius-- bright beams ablazing, and parks himself on my bumper. No biggie; keeping an eye on him, we continue to the turnoff, and turn into the development. Mr Prius does too. Hmmm-- maybe he lives here. Calling back all of the old detective shows from the 70's, I drive through the development rather than go right to my cabin door and perhaps have a needless confrontation. Mr Prius follows me from about 30 feet the whole way-- all the way out to the back exit of the development to the main highway-- for 15 minutes. I turn around to do it again-- we go through the same routine. This is escalated a bit-- time to call the sheriff's department, if for nothing else to document how I act in case things get ugly.

Wife on Phone: I would like to report a potential road rage situation.
Deputy: Are you armed? (I swear-- that was the first thing he said!)
Wife: Yes, my husband has a pistol in his hand now.
Deputy: What type of vehicle are you in?
Wife: A Porsche.
Deputy: What type of vehicle is the following vehicle?
Wife: A Prius.
Deputy: So what's the problem? (!!!!!)
Wife: The problem is we don't want to stop at out cabin and have a confrontation where someone gets hurt. He has followed us around a loop 3 times now-- he appears persistant. Can you have a deputy meet us somewhere?
Deputy: The deputy that services your area is off tonight. (!!!!)
Wife: Where are you?
Deputy: 75 miles away from you!

Quick end to story is, on the fourth lap through the development, he turned off. And we lost him. Fearing that he might double back on me, I exited to the highway and snuck down a back road and hid for 15 minutes than went in the back way to the cabin.

Two lessons here for me-- beware passing Prius's at night-- these are seriously sensitive people!!! Two-- that pistol sure felt good in the middle of the night 75 miles from law enforcement when in an uncertain situation....

 

Glad you think it was funny, you attempted a pass in a no-pass zone at night, scared the crap out of some guy driving a car that handles like a lunch truck and then is excited that you had a pistol just in case. Guess I'm missing the funny part.

 

My car drops spikes from the back and when the spoiler goes up it shoots missels worth the option i never worry about tailgaters

 

Man, I can't believe Mr. Prius had road rage! Glad he finally gave up... hope you parked your car in the garage! As for the sheriff - that's the thing about rural law enforcement - too much ground to cover, too few people. You're always going to be the one responsible for saving your own tail.

Hope you had a nice weekend...!

 

You should not cross a double yellow we all know that but seriously how many of us can say we have never done it? And as for the Pri-ck-us driver I really get sick and tired of people feeling like bc they are behind the wheel of a car they are all of a sudden some kinda badass, ok you got cut off but no one was hurt, Bo damage done to your car stay calm and drive your a$$ home don't follow someone looking for trouble you never know who you're dealing with. I was in my friends car one and he did more or less the same thing you did driver behind honks and turns on his high beams and follows us. We pull up to in intersection with flashing yellow lights. Very late night. My friend stops the car and all four of is get out. Three of us start walking toward his car to find out why he's following us. He backs up does a three point turn crosses the yellow line and goes off in the opposite direction. he was Billy badass until he saw that the car was occupied by four big black dudes. The lesson is just be calm it isn't worth it...

 

I'll admit to having (carefully) crossed the double yellow, and the passed drivers did get pissed a few times. I think some people take it as a major insult, as though somebody butted ahead of them in line. Getting passed by a Porsche just makes it worse ("... arrogant rich bastard ..."). Glad you're OK. Be careful out there, y'all.

 

He couldn't help but give up... his battery ran out...

 

This is why insurance sucks! Prius driver *knew* what the driver behind him was thinking, but instead of using this information to let the car behind him pass, he decides to 'play stupid' and makes a potential accident situation out of a previously safe scenario!

Check this out:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b3f_1317350832

Over there, whether you crash or someone crashes into you, you lose. That means repair, injury, or death bill comes out of your pocket regardless of who's fault it is. Kinda forces people to protect themselves by being predictable and aware of the vehicles around them.

American drivers basically assume someone else (insurance) will pay for the accident. Like that Prius guy - I'm pretty sure he would have had no problem running his car into the ditch saying someone had cut him off. No need to protect myself, someone else is doing to pay for it!

 

There are some unintended consequences of that position though, so not all is rosy.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-accident.html

 

Wow!! and all you guys are admitting to breaking road laws on a public forum. KUDOS!!!

 

In all honesty, I just don't see the point in driving a Porsche if the plan is to stay within speed limits and other road laws. In that case, a luxury car seems to make more sense.

I'm a fairly aggressive ("spirited") driver, but also hyperattentive to risks, and not afraid to use those big brakes when necessary. I'm sure a lot of us struggle with the tradeoff between having fun versus safety ...

 

I don't get it. You drive a very nice sports car; it could not have been very hard to simply ditch the Prius - it's not like it could have kept up with you?

 

That's what I would have done. The Prius would not have kept up with me, or he would have died trying.

 

It may be against the traffic law but if I'm in a rural area (where I live and drive) and there's a tractor, prius or blue hair in front of me driving less than the speed limit, I won't think twice to go around him, striped line or not if road conditions are good and there's no apparent danger to me or who ever is in front of me.

Speeding is illegal too and if anyone here says they don't do it on occassion I'd find that very hard to believe driving 300+ HP cars like we do.

 

So.... crossing a double line at night to pass a slower car and then a pistol drawn while driving.... nice.... you create an unsafe situation, get someone upset and then get ready to shoot them. This country is going downhill fast.