When driving in stop&go traffic, I try to maintain constant speed rather than a constant separation between me and the car in front of me. When traffic speeds up, I speed up more slowly allowing a gap in front of me so when traffic slows down, I can coast towards the car in front of me, closing the gap. This always doesn’t work if cars keep cutting in front of me. If the car in front of me is creating this gap, I will try to stay close behind it, instead.

When driving on the highway, I drive a little bit slower than traffic, staying in the right lane, so I can try to maintain a steady speed.

My hypermiling consists of coasting (I don’t have cruise control on my car) and turning off my engine when there is a long stop. I do not turn off my engine for red lights, but I do shift to neutral.
I turn off my engine when I get blocked by the train (small town and our trains run at crazy hours).

Wow, I must really be weird. Although I have a heavy foot, and the income to support it, I’ve lived by the hypermiling playbook for at least ten years if not longer. It was always a matter of conserving money for me, even when gas was cheap. I started doing a lot of this stuff as soon as I received my driver’s license.

The commenters have left some good tips. Cruise control is your friend on level surfaces. I tend to use car lengths of judge the distance but braking is the enemy. I don’t even get why that has to be explained to anyone! I’ve been known to let my car coast a quarter mile or more; I know I’ve managed to coast a half mile on more than 1 occasion.

Basically, stopping is the enemy. It doesn’t mean you have to be moving FAST, but the car should always be moving if the engine is running. It really becomes a big Newtonian mechanics problem, if you think about it. I liked Physics I, so maybe that had something to do with it. I am known for learning backstreets and taking any way out of traffic possible; sometimes I win and beat the other guys in getting to a certain point. Sometimes I don’t. Rarely will I just let the car burn fuel without making some forward progress.

(We can talk about how macroeconomics and basic Newtonian physics should be high school graduation requirements in all 50 states, but considering how critical I’ve found their application to saving money, that’s my firm belief.)

Anyway, just thought I’d chime in. Later!

A few other strategies: change your air filter; use the lowest weight oil recommended for your vehicle; turn off your engine if idling more than 20 or 30 seconds; park heading out,so as to avoid backing and filling to get out of a parking space. When driving on level highways and level steadily moving surface streets, engage your cruise control and use its accelerate & coast functions to control speed (within reason, of course). Don’t use cruise control on a grade. Approaching an uphill grade, speed up a little to gain momentum and then let you car slow as it climbs; use the downhill grade to coast back your desired speed before re-engaging the cruise control. Don’t exceed 55 or 60 mph on urban freeways; accelerate gently and drive slowly.

I have yet to change the oil and air filter, or to fill my tires to their maximum inflation. And I had no practice with these driving techniques–by temperament I’m an aggressive driver. So I was surprised and pleased to extract almost 26 mpg from a car that in the past has managed about 18 mph for me. It’ll be interesting to see if this improves with practice and a couple of additional strategies.

Most of my changes are what you describe… Slow starts, coasting where possible/necessary, etc. We’ll see…