[instarx]

Why is everyone getting so upset about the AAA article - they're right... about the average driver, their audience.

AAA isn't saying that hypermilers cause accidents, but that hypermiling techniques used by the average driver can cause accidents. To hypermile you have to be constantly aware of your surroundings and what every car in front of you and behind you is doing. While a hypermiler's attention may extend blocks ahead, the average driver's attention will be on the car in front of them (or on their cellphone conversation). The average driver has very low situational awareness while the average hypermiler has very high situational awareness. That makes all the difference in whether a particular technique is safe or unsafe.

As Jeremy Clarkson said on Top Gear once when hypermiling: "The amount of concentration required to drive like this is huge. If everyone drove like this there would never be a crash."