I must be losing my mind. Some people need to grow up!

[PaleMelanesian]

I agree. As a law-abiding, safe, courteous driver who happens to be a hypermiler, I get tired of being painted with that brush.

[theunchosen]

I don't know if you're police force does this but the one in Washington county will always defer an accident to a traffic officer rather than a patrolman. Traffic cops have to spend alot of time taking courses on what to look for to determine speed of impact and things like that.

In my experience (one wreck my fault, riding with two other people) they don't even talk to anyone first before they take a look at the damage and any other evidence. They are pretty good about it.

The lady I hit accused me of speeding recklessly(*) while she was crawling up a hill behind a dump truck. Officer let me off as light as possible as it was apparent I barely hit her. He laughed when she said it, because if I had been doing even 20 when I hit her it would have injured both right-side passengers, she insisted still that I had been doing 50 when I hit her.

[Christ]

There are a few stop signs that I run, but never on open roads.

When I lived in the trailer park, there were 4 intersections that had stop signs, and each of them was more openly visible than a public voyeur. I mean, imagine coming to a crossing in a parking lot, where you have to come to a complete stop, but there has never been another car parked there, ever. You can see all four positions of the intersection clearly, and for about 750 feet in either direction (at the least). I don't bother stopping at these.

The other form of "running a stop sign" that I do is when there is a stop sign on a hill that is actually on the hill. I will pull up past the sign so I don't have to accelerate from a stop on the steeper part of the hill, but I do come to a full stop.

Inversely, when there is a stop sign on a down hill, if it's possible to do so, I stop on the hill, so that I need only let off the brakes to begin accelerating at a fair rate. I believe this helps with taking off from a dead stop... I know it helps time, and I'm sure it helps efficiency as well.

I do believe that there are extremes and limits to everything, and obviously, there are people who wish to push them. I don't see it as being any more beneficial to break the law than to just abide by it.

I just abide by it, and see myself still getting better mileage (subjectively) than most of the other people on the road.

[Christ]

As far as using methodology of a practice to teach others about that practice, it basically boils down to asking questions.

This particular method, you have to know how to talk to people to get their interest and attention:

You walk into a bar, and some guy is sitting at the bar, bickering to the bartender about his afternoon drive from work.. "Some jerk off was doing 45 in the 55, and I couldn't pass him at all until the next passing zone."

Bartender says: "Sorry about your day, Joe, have a brew!"

You sit down, a seat away from Joe. Overhearing the conversation, you toss in a nickel: "With gas prices the way they are, lots of people are driving slower these days. They know that it only takes another 5 minutes to get somewhere going 5 or 10 MPH slower, but they get 2-4 MPG more on their weekly fill up."

Joe takes a swig, and relishes the thought of getting 14MPG in his 1979 King Cab w/ the 440 6-pack and dual fuel tanks (that he has to fill to go to the grocery store and back.)

"So you mean that guy was getting better mileage just by... slowing down a bit? What happens if I just do the speed limit instead of 10-15 over?"

You reply: "Sure, you can get better mileage too! Gas mileage isn't limited by the EPA - it's estimated.When's the last time you ever saw an estimate from a contractor or a butcher shop that wasn't lower than the actual cost!? (Jokingly, in case Joe is a Contractor or Butcher.)

Joe, on his drive home, now does the speed limit (partially to avoid unwanted attention, and partially to see what the result is.) He realizes that he only got home 1 minute later than usual - so it's not so bad. He enjoyed his drive much more, feeling less in a hurry, and relaxing more. Joe now thinks he might try this for a week or two, 'till the next fill up, and see what happens.

On his next fill up, Joe sees you at the bar again, for his Friday afternoon brew.

"Hey, buddy, I meant to say thank you - last fill up, I got 12 MPG instead of my average 10 or so. I felt better about driving to work and driving home too... not so much stress and anxiety. Anyway - thanks alot. I appreciate a good piece of advice when I get it."

So now, instead of passing that guy doing 45 in the 55 thinking he's a dumbass, Joe passes him in the next passing zone, calmly, and understands why he's doing it that way. Joe knows that guy is just another person trying to get better mileage, although he might be doing it to a further extent than Joe is interested in. He's no longer upset about having to slow down for this person - rather he just accepts that others are going to drive slower than him, and they have a good reason for doing it.

[theunchosen]

Can we have another story! please please please!

Lol

Definitely one of the only ways to convey this kind of thing is through a conversation. Most people are hardly paying attention to their own driving letalone why you are driving the way you are.

[cfg83]

Christ -

I agree with theunchosen. That could have been a public safety commercial too.

CarloSW2

[Christ]

Well, it never happened. :P

That was a spur of the moment kinda story... that's how the fictional ones usually happen. I've never had that conversation with anyone, except kinda maybe my dad, in a round-about way. (I was Joe... at age 16.)

That's honestly how I feel about the situation though. When you do something that's not considered "the norm", people ask questions. It just pays to know the answers.

[Chuck.]

Just a general undirected statement.

Hypermiling has been in the news for about two years - I have been doing it about three years. The coverage reminds me of the early hybrid reviews of automotive writers that - let's face it: tended to be gearheads, complained they could not get up to the pre 2008 EPA, which is at least 20% better than the typical American driver. Because they really did not know what they were talking about, they did not report it very well - just like hypermiling coverage.

The first couple of hypermiling articles were a bit edgy and interviewees on future articles attempted to avoid that as well as stress hypermilers DO NOT condone drafting semis or rolling stops. There is a tendacy unfortunately of copycating the first story on a topic such as this and not a lot of honest journalism. There was a 2007 episode of Mythbusters dedicated to drafting, and reports insisted on purporting drafting is a common techinque well after hypermilers denounced it. I'm aware that getting a story often involves being in a hurry and not driving like us, so it's only logical many reporters find hypermiling different and even hostile in some cases.

One Channel 5 reporter in Seattle did a shoot on Wayne Gerdes, and that part was neutral to positive, but after it aired, turned out he added at least as much time to the "hazards"....it was not the only story to do this. It was common place to have some quote by a patrolman on the print articles. Quite a number of articles did not even both to contact hypermilers. Then there was the AAA's public release. Regardless to whatever their adjenda was, they have a solid anti-environmental and anti-safety record...they basically are a lobbying arm for Detroit.

Just as the early hybrid reviews were bad because those reporting did not understand or appreciated them, the hypermiling-bashers have rarely tried it and in many instances do not understand what it really is. At best, they have done a little hypermiling but most have not.

I drive a 2000 5-speed Honda Insight. My morning work communte was typically 50-55mpg doing 70-75mph....today I might be about to get 65mpg at those same speeds. On a warm day, I can get 95-105mpg at 50mpg or a bit slower during pre-rush hour. It was just as much technique as being psylogically tougher. Dallas has more than their fair share of aggressive drivers, but at least 95% will leave me alone if I'm on the rightmost lane and give 1-2 flashes with the emergency flashers when they can easily pass. It's not often when I honestly am in the way of someone behind me, but I get highbeams and honks. Interestingly enough, most of them are drivers passing to the left of me fast enough they could not have possibly been tailgating. I strongly suspect that driving an Insight or Prius promotes even more venting by hybrid haters. Interestingly, no more than 30% of these are in cars - lots of pickups. It's not that unusual some of those that pass nearly close enough to peel paint will be in a bottleneck 1-2 miles down the road behind me. Probably above the curve on DUI or anger management issues.

Conclusions: the ones most vehemently againt hypermiling either don't understand it or hate it, probably because they think it will reduce their ability to speed with impunity. 110 Americans die on the roads each day from speeding, distraction, DUI, recklessness, but as of yet none from hypermiling.

[Christ]

On another forum that I go to, we can thank people for their posts.. in their general info (to the left of the post), it has specs on how many times you've thanked someone, and how many thanks you've gotten yourself.

We need this. I'd like to thank Delta Flyer for the above post.

[TestDrive]

That's a great suggestion.
I hope it gets implemented.