Well, heck, if you want to burn money (and increase your engine maintenance), I suppose the joke's on you — but the mean-spiritedness of this just strikes me as sad, pathetic, and (sadly-not-only-)self-destructive.
The Conservatives Who Rebel Against Obama by Blowing Diesel Smoke at Priuses
Forty-five second YouTube clips don’t come any more American than “Prius Repellent.” It starts with a camera angled from the passenger side window of a truck, pointed at the namesake Japanese hybrid car. After 12 establishing seconds, the cameraman moves and points out the back window, where viewers can read…
252 view(s)
More at Business Insider — http://www.businessinsider.com/conservatives-purposely-making-cars-spew-black-smoke-2014-7
Some like to do this to bicyclists. One told me he thinks it's a kind of vigilante justice against cyclists who don't yield to motor vehicles. I am skeptical about the mileage claim though. How does tricking the truck into thinking it needs more fuel increase the mileage?
+David Newman Because dicking with others when one has been (or thinks one has been) dicked with is such an adult thing to do.
I think the improved gas mileage mentioned in the article had to do with (illegally) removing certain pollution control filters, which provides smokier exhaust, but is not the same as "rolling coal."
Of course, I suspect the "vigilantes" target any cyclists, not just the ones observed failing to yield, because if just one cyclist delayed them for a few seconds, then all cyclists must be punished, right? I am also told that some local high school kids regard it as a game, without any rationalization. At least that's honest in its delinquency.
I will note that the idea of HS students possessing such a vehicle is … disturbing.
I assume the next act of “protest” will be public defecation.
@Ellie – And flinging of same while they chatter and jibber.