Smug hypermilers

Count me as one of the many who isn’t impressed by the self-righteous “hypermilers” profiled in Sunday’s Work & Money section (“Hypermilers in DFW area get 100 mpg; you can, too”).

Their selfish, dangerous driving methods are wholly unsuited to the Metroplex’s heavy traffic.

My guess is that they probably save a few hundredths of a cent every time they sit at a red light (often in the left lane), power down their engines and then crawl across the intersection at a ridiculously slow speed when the light turns green.

The result? Five or 10 cars behind them stuck at the light for another unnecessary two or three minutes with engines idling, polluting the air and collectively wasting far more gas than the smug hypermiler saved by his or her selfish actions.

Sure, they save a few pennies for themselves, but at what cost to the rest of us and to the environment?

— Dean Fikar, Fort Worth