Do you turn your engine off, rather than let the engine idle, at a stop light?

I think people have to be very careful about the things they do pertaining to saving gas. I think you should be ready for anything whether you are at a stoplight or not. Turning your vehicle off disables systems that you will need if something happens that requires you to react. I use some of the hypermiling suggestions like coasting (with the engine on) and accelerating slowly. I went from 23 mpg in my Nissan Altima (2001) to 31 mpg by changing my driving habits. Now I am the one looking at everyone speeding and wasting their money by going fast and being over-zealous at accelerating.

At idle, you car is getting 0 mpg. You aren’t moving, you are just burning fuel. And sitting at idle for long periods of time can actually do bad things for your car. Cars were designed to move, not to just sit and run.

You may hear people say that turning off you car at idle won’t actually save any gas. But with fuel injection technology, if you are going to have your car idling for more than 10 seconds, you will save fuel by turning it off.

Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself. Just remember – you are not the only car on the road. I don’t recommend doing this if there is a good chance you will have trouble restarting your car, or if it will impede traffic in any way. I try to do this in intersections I am familiar with, so that I can be ready to go when the light turns green.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this. And remember – be safe!