Some of those stories and comments were very amusing.
For me, I'd say I'm a safer driver overall. However... sometimes I find myself more distracted then my lead foot days, because I'm trying to take in so much more information and remember so many more things. Hypermiling certainly takes a lot of thought and planning! Which I enjoy.
I take more back roads and side streets now. BTW, I wish there was a GPS, app, or website that would tell you a route that had the least amount of elevation changes! That would be cool!!
I drive anywhere between 20 MPH under the speed limit, to 10 MPH over on the hwys.
With our hilly terrain, that's easy to do. Though, as soon as I see someone in my mirror, and there's not a good place to pass, I adjust my driving to accommodate them. Typically that means driving closer to the speed limit (no less then 5 MPH), and taking advantage of down hills or curves to gain some distance from them, which is SO easy to do on the curves.
Yeeee haaaa!
In town, I don't seem to have TOO much trouble from people, though more then I do on the hwy.
I've learned to come to a stop at a red light a lot further back, so I can start getting going before the person in front is moving. That has really helped keep the people following me from zipping around and cutting RIGHT in front of me. *SO annoying!*
The only thing that I've been doing, that will probably bit me later, is I can't stand stopping fully for stop signs, or turns anymore!
Out in the country, I'm really bad if there's nobody around.
YeahPete: I also go faster through green lights to help others get through it too. I try to not only keep an eye on my fuel efficiency, but those around me too. If I can manipulate someone else to not have to stop, I'll do it, minus holding someone up.
I'll also move into the left lane in town if I'm going to be first at a long red light, just in case the person that comes up behind me wants to turn right. Keep people moving forward.
One note about driving on the shoulder, I normally won't do this because I don't want to kick up any rocks for the people passing. I don't have mud flaps for obvious reasons, and my RAV is high enough to cause a possible costly problem for someone.
When I got started hypermiling a year and a half ago, I wanted to make sure people knew I wasn't driving this way because I wanted to bother them in any way. So after months of thinking about it, last year in March I decided to plainly tell them what they could expect.
Unfortunately "hypermiling" is still a new word that many people don't have a clue what it means. We need to get the word out there!!!