545h4

That silence when running the electric is certainly stealthy. I had a pretty close call yesterday when one swung out of a parking spot...

ratell

Driving a Prius I haven't had a close call yet, but I have been stuck behind meandering cyclists who don't realize I'm there. Once they do they jump a foot and move to the side or go faster.

It's a tough call because the other option is to honk and startle them even more.

n4zou

They should mandate hybrid car owners stick cards in the spokes so we can hear them coming.

ax0n

This swine in a prius used to pass me, then dive right in front of me almost every day. About 1/4 mile up the road, she'd be parallel parked just in time to give me the door prize, too. She did this pretty much daily all last summer. I haven't seen her in 9 months or so, can't say I miss her either.

maddyfish

"Any close calls with Hybrids?"

They are the only car that I really single out as trouble. I call hybrids MSM. Maddyfish Seeking Missles. It seems that they try to run over me, especially at stop signs. There must be something about Hybrids that makes people want to coast through stop signs???

ItsJustMe

I don't think I go by engine noise at all anyway so I don't think there's any difference. Almost all the time I'm riding, it's on 50MPH + roads and the road/wind noise is the major factor there, so hybrids make as much noise as most cars. Occasionally there's a jacked pickup that is loud, but even then, it's mostly tire noise, not engine noise, that dominates.

I used to drive a Ford Probe that was so quiet that I'd scare joggers (yes, without music players) on quiet residential streets, so it's nothing new.

sauerwald

I was hit by a prius, but I don't think that the quiteness of the car had as much to do with the accident as the failure to yield while making a left turn on the part of the driver. I assume that the Prius doesn't have good brakes either since the driver was not able to stop after the accident and continued on down the road.

HardyWeinberg

I'm holding out for on-bike sonar like to help those lexuses parallel park.

harleyfrog

You could also develop an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) weapon and mount it on your bike. That'll stop 'em, cold.

bdinger

Gold Prius!? I swear, that describes this #!@$!$@@!~$! that I deal with here. I've seen her off and on this year, but last year it was a daily occurance.

lil brown bat

The other day, I almost got hit by a car that was driven by a white person. What's with white people, anyway?

vaticdart

Hybrids make more noise than a well maintained bicycle so if you're being aware and watching for other cyclists, you should be aware of hybrids. You can usually hear the tires on pavement if nothing else. Another good reason to never wear earbuds while riding.

unkchunk

What do you mean by "hybrid"? A Prius or one of these things?

HF2300

Nearly bought a 7.5 FX the other day...

545h4

When someone in a "conventional" car is sitting at the wheel, you can normally gauge whether the car will be moving any time soon based on the sound of the engine starting up. In a gas-electric hybrid, the car silently is switched from standby to on, and is a bit less predictable. That was the situation yesterday. The driver looked as though they were sitting in their car doing non-driving activities (messing with something on the passenger seat). I assumed no forth-coming movement, and then almost made contact by the DS front-1/4. No earbuds, no lack of visual assessment, just never heard the car start up... Based on some of these responses I guess I must be ******** or something, since I can't summon psychic detection of movement outside my field of view....

chipcom 

The beauty of riding with my MP3 player, I don't depend on hearing a vehicle to let me know one is there. Try looking before you make a move on the bike, or maybe get a mirror. I also always assume the driver is going to do the stupidest thing possible, so I don't have the problem noted by 545h4 above...I would already be planning on that car pulling out in front of me, rather than assuming they will not.

starla

Waiting for a comment like that. I immediately thought of a hybrid bike when I read the thread title.

SingingSabre 

I have a mirror...vehicle noise is a moot point for me.

bike2math

If they are in front of you watch the front wheels and the driver for clues. My hearing is not so great (lots of shift work in factories while in college) so I already do this for normal cars. For example usually a car about to leave a paralel spot will turn there wheels to the left before they start to move. For a car behind you, other than a mirror there isn't much you can do. I have a coworker who seems to take great joy in sneaking up behind me in his Prius and laying on the horn, he always comments on how high I jump out of the saddle; I'll admit its gotten old at this point, but I can imagine it is amusing to watch me jump up like a startled white tail deer.

Overall I like Prius drivers they seem to drive with less anger than the rest of the bozos on the road. YMV

Jtgyk

545h4

My mirror wasn't too useful, it being on the left and all...

genec

Yeah, but it was my fault... about 2 years ago I was in an unfamiliar area and I had stopped to try to figure out which way to turn. I pulled to curb and had oriented myself and then I was just about to ride away, but I didn't bother to look behind me before pulling away from the curb. (it was a quiet area... so mentally I figured I would have heard anybody approach). Opps there was some sort of minivan/hybrid pulling up to make a turn right at the intersection and I just put myself right in the way.

The guy stopped suddenly and we looked at each other... I was no doubt embarrassed by all this, and sheepishly rode off.

No horn honking or anything. Even the tire noise was pretty quiet... no doubt as he was slowing to turn. The thing really was quiet.

My neighbor owns one of the first Prius made... and it is always rather amusing to watch her back into her driveway... silently.

At speed I imagine they still make the tire whooshing noise... but when they are moving slow... you really hear nothing.

ratell

At speed a prius makes as much noise or more than any other car. It only does electric only up to 20 mph. The gas engine also runs whenever the AC is on, so it should be less of a problem in hot weather.

JanMM

Haven't noted hybrids to be significantly quieter than other cars with intact exhaust systems.

Catgrrl70

My husband and I had a close call with one in the grocery store parking lot. He had just opened the car door when the Prius parked next to us just took off without a glance in our direction, coming close to losing its mirror and getting the side scraped up. We had no clue from her movements in the car that she was about to "go." Then the woman turns down the wrong direction on a one-way lane.

There's also a silver/greenish Prius that I see every so often on my route home. The woman hates me for no reason. I can't wait to run into her again at a light so when she rolls down her window to yell at me I can find out what her problem is.

And yes, they are silent at slow speeds which is dangerous in parking lots, cross-streets, over-taking, and side-street pullouts. I tend to use all mysenses when riding, including my ears ("that sounds like an 18-wheeler with a trailer/without a trailer...a delivery truck, a car, a motorcycle, a scooter, another bicycle - most have some rattle/braking/gear noise/rider noise...but slow moving prius?"