Count of actual accidents caused by ecomodding, eco-driving or hypermiling
 

I've gotten way too many emails in the past couple days / heard way too much bad press on the radio regarding hypermiling. This AAA release has everyone in a fuss, since apparently AAA is the same as God when it comes to cars.

Could we get an actual count of accidents / near accidents caused by anyone on here's hypermiling mods or techniques? I'll keep a tally on this post as long as anyone replies to it. You may share stories of yours or trustworthy acquaintances who actually know a little of what they're doing behind the wheel.
If anyone's lost control due to power steering loss, almost run over a kid because of no power brakes (like if you EOC'd for more than 2 minutes!!???), had a blowout after inflating tires above factory specs, let me know!

Ecomodder.com member accidents: None so far!!

Ecomodder.com member safety-comprimised incidents: None so far!!

Hmm, I wonder if a post here could be subpoenaed in the case of a criminal or civil trial. Someone admitting driving "unusually" could leave themselves very wide open to much doo-doo.

does the speed limit non-observers almost running you off the road count? then ill have a few

I haven't had any instances of almost getting in an accident since starting hypermiling, I have however had a lot of instances before I started (when I was one of the speeders) and yesterday I had a guy pass me and the 2 cars behind me on an exit ramp then almost kill another guy that was merging into the right hand lane. Three lane road, guy in the middle lane merges right, guy in the off ramp merges back into the right hand lane, me putting along at 55mph watching it all transpire.

I have to add i have not been in any accidents from other drivers bu they can be quite careless..

My car has no power steering, and braking force is only marginally decreased once I run out of vacuum.
If I do happen to lose vacuum (after 3 _FULL_ depressions of the pedal!!), I still have plenty of braking ability, in addition to a very good parking brake.

I need the engine on so often anyway that I realistically never run out of booster vacuum. It's all little hills around here and I need to restart every time I go up one. EOCing down the rocky mountains, I could see as dangerous and I would never do that. (You'd need to engine brake anyway!) Besides, that's what DWBing is for. You shouldn't have to touch your brakes - if you do, you're emergency stopping anyway, and your booster will hold out for that unless you have a catastrophic vacuum leak, in which case you shouldn't be driving it anyway!

I NEVER do more than 5 over.
I rarely fall more than 5 under unless there is no one behind me for as far as I can see or it's a slow (35 or less) road with two full lanes.

All the above said, if people are tailgating or overtaking me, I will get the hell out of their way or drive "normal" to appease their sense of urgency without risking my life.

If I do any drafting at all, it's at least 5 car lengths back. Kissing a trailer's bumper for an extra 2mpg just isn't worth it!

One of my other cars is downright crippled without the engine on. The steering effort goes up a lot, and you just can't stop properly once the booster runs out. (You could use the parking brake though) Which is more dangerous, a car in which everything still works fine with the engine off, or one that turns into a railroad car??

Modern technology be damned.

I've gotten 3 speeding tickets (before hypermiling), and had a car totaled by a sun-blinded driver who went right through a red light. If you can't see the light, just assume it's green!!??!!

My personal take on this is that, in general, ecomodders/hypermilers are not the ones that are causing the problems/accidents. It's the impatient people that do stupid/irresponsible/irrational/immature things in reaction to someone doing say...o, the SPEED LIMIT...heaven forbid we should try that once in a while. The only thing I see when hypermiling could even be considered marginally dangerous or annoying to other drivers is when I'm turning my engine off and they act erratically/unpredictable to an extent (which as of yet I have not seen) that would cause me to not be able to react in time...which is so unlikely that it's almost not even worth counting.

My take on it is this:

These articles about hypermiling being bad... they sell attention, they are a big part of feeding the "news" machinery.

I also think it's a passive aggressive attack by people unwilling to adapt -- on people who are adapting.

I saw one of the prominent hypermiles in his red Honda Insight -- this was in a TV segment -- when asked if people had a problem with his hypermiling, he said it went both ways. But when someone gave him negative feedback, his response was, I'm hypermiling, deal with it.

Yeah, deal with it.

Good question. I would assume that it could, but I'd assume the fault and risk of suit would be no different from someone who got in an accident as they failed to pay attention to a stopped car or were speeding and didn't have enough distance to stop.

Even though this isn't scientific data, it does suggest something about the type of people on here and the level of safety in eco driving. I agree with akcapeco; sensationalism to feed the news machinery.

I would also note that an inexperienced driver shouldn't try any advanced techniques, such as EOC. I've been driving for 10 years, 150k+ miles, with no accidents, so I feel very comfortable behind the wheel doing this stuff. I also feel comfortable doing lots of crazy stuff with my mustang (low speed, low danger stuff).
When I was 16, however, I would not have been safe. I almost wrecked my car 3 times when I was learning to drive.
1st time: rear wheel drive oversteer in rain (quick learning curve I could have avoided had I tried to stomp on the gas in an empty wet parking lot)
2nd time: speeding, almost didn't have enough time to stop as I came over a crest upon stopped cars
3rd time: rolling resistance - sliding resistance trying to make a turn after brakes locked up because of a chemical slick on the road = you keep going in a straight line until you release the brakes!:thumbup:

ebacherville -

:thumbup:, I think there should be a comparison of the "relative threat" that a hypermiler poses. The number of accidents due to high speed, cabin distractions, exhaustion, and DUI have to be exponentially higher.

I would stress that one of the basic tenets of hypermiling is to drive the road ahead. This is also a fundamental rule of safe driving. As a Hypermiler, I need to *increase* my driving awareness to maintain good MPG.

CarloSW2