Growing numbers of hybrid drivers are becoming victims of road rage and they are calling it the "Prius Backlash" as the poltical debate over the environment seems to be moving to the carpool lanes.
Hybrid drivers, particularly in California and Virginia where solo occupants of hybrid cars are eligible to drive in the carpool lanes, are feeling a new form of commuter road rage.
Some carpoolers accuse the hybrids driving too slowly in order to maximize their fuel economy and they claim that the slower hybrids are beginning to cause traffic jams in lanes that were once clear.
As many analysts question the economics of hybrid vehicles, a growing number of Prius owners contend that they are also making a political statement about the environment. "People are a lot less friendly than when I drove a Mercedes," one Prius owner confessed.
"There's a mentality out there that we're a bunch of liberal hippies or we're trying to make some statement on the environment," said another California Prius Driver. "If every driver in America achieved Prius efficiency, the air would be drastically cleaner and foreign oil dependency would end," warned another Prius driver.
As more solo-occupant hybrids hit the road and begin using the carpool lanes, it slows down 15-passenger vans and other high-occupancy vehicles. In time that could drive carpoolers fed up with the delays to go back to driving themselves.
The California Department of Transportation has issued carpool-lane stickers for about 50,000 hybrid cars but now plans to study the effect of hybrids on carpool lanes. The same argument over carpool-lane congestion is taking place in Virginia where the state legislature is considering restrictions on hybrid drivers using the lanes in peak hours.
"If I'm going to be stuck in traffic, I might as well be enjoying the comfort and privacy of my own car instead of being packed in with 14 other people," grumped one Virginian who commutes daily into Washington, D.C.
Both California and Virginia allow carpool-lane access to hybrids that get at least 45 mpg. To date, only the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic and Honda Insight make the grade.
Because those hybrids meeting the standard use small internal-combustion engines in combination with electric motors to increase gas mileage, they also reduce air pollution.
Larger hybrid SUVs and luxury sedans with solo drivers are excluded from rush hour carpool lanes. The larger hybrids neither conserve substantial quantities of gasoline nor contribute materially to the quality of the air.
As the political debate over the environment moves heats up inside the HOV lanes, the "Prius Backlash" is giving rise to a group of self declared "hybrid haters" cruising chat rooms on automotive websites. The chatter can be bitter. "These idiot hybrids are clogging the car-pool lane," is typical of the views expressed on many of the anti-hybrid sites.
Growing carpool lane congestion is topic number one. "These drivers barely go 65 mph and allow no one to pass them on the right," fumed another chat room visitor. "Talk about road rage!"
"Go with the flow, or get the heck outta the way!!!," wrote another hybrid disparager.
Hybrid owners in California insist their carpool driving rights are not a free lunch in large part because most of the time, the HOV lanes and standard lanes are going at the same rates and there is no advantage.
