I had never heard of this before, but there is a following of people that call themselves Hypermilers. Their goal is to use creative techniques to get EVERY last mile out of the gas in their cars. As such, they usually are drivers of hybrid vehicles. The techniques they use can get them up to 10 MPG better fuel economy. One person has even reported getting 112 MPG in a Prius.

While I do think there are certain things that people should do to conserve fuel when driving, some of the techniques these people use are a little too over the top. In fact, some of them can be considered dangerous to them and to other drivers.

One technique is to ease your acceleration and deceleration. When the light turns green, don't immediately 'punch it' to be the first away from the light. This is a huge fuel consumer and rarely does it ever save you any time. Also, coasting into a traffic light that is turning red is better than gassing it all the way to the light and then slamming on the brakes. These are good techniques for anybody to use.

Hypermilers, however take it over the top recommending that you always park your car at the top of an incline so you can 'roll out'. They also endorse drafting which is generally accepted only on the race track. Some of these things could be dangerous to themselves and other drivers on the road.

My recommendation for everyday drivers with gas-only cars is to watch your tachometer. The tachometer (if you have one) is the gauge on your dashboard that shows you the RPMs that your engine is working at. The faster your engine is spinning, the more gas you are using. Generally, cars will get better mileage at higher speeds because the use of gears means the car can go faster at lower RPMs. However, once you hit top gear, you will get no more economy out of driving faster. If you try to keep your RPMs low, you will get better mileage.

On my car, the cruise control has a tendency to kick my RPMs up to about 3500 when I hit a long hill. It does this because it's trying to keep my speed constant. I usually switch it off during these times because I'd rather stay at my 2300 RPMs and lose some speed on the hill. Maybe they should make a cruise control that could keep your RPMs steady.