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"It's the numbers. I love crunching numbers," explains Leerberg. "That's what's fun about it. It's trying to get your numbers up. I was just getting 25, which is 100-percent EPA for a long time. Now, I'm up to, like, 160-percent EPA because I've been getting, like, 42 or 43 mpg."
Speculating, he continues, "I think some of the guys are doing it ostensively because they want to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, and they're showing their support or they want to save money. But I think the people who are really fanatic about it are doing it because it's a game. I think that's a big part of it."
Both Leerberg and Turner track their mileage daily on CleanMPG.com. Most hypermilers easily access this mileage data by transferring the results from an electronic device that links into a car's computer and generates real-time information on fuel consumption, RPMs and a host of other things. Turner uses a device called a SuperMID because of the age of his car, but Leerberg invested $150 in his gadget, which is called a Scan Gauge (both have to be purchased online). CleanMPG.com is also important because it provides a supportive, environmentally conscious neighborhood of like-minded individuals; as many novice hypermilers rapidly discover, some of their practices are not well received by nonhypermiling motorists.
Case in point: Leerberg is still learning to balance his technique with the possible agitation level of other drivers.
"If I'm on a single-lane country road -- and, I use a lot of those to get to work -- I definitely don't drop below 35 miles per hour because the speed limit is 45 miles per hour and that makes people furious, especially in the morning commute," he says with a laugh. "They're not thrilled with me when I'm putt-putting around.
"I think the funniest thing that happened to me is that, one day, I got passed by a Toyota Prius," Leerberg recalls. "It just zoomed around me. I'm sure the people were like: 'Why is that young guy with the red sports car going 30 miles per hour? There must be something wrong with his car.'"
Like Turner, Leerberg is fairly nonchalant about the reactions of other drivers, "I've had people curse at me, but it's OK," states Leerberg. "If you're driving aggressively, you have people curse at you, too, because you're cutting them off. Sometimes, I have my kids in the car, so if people are going to be pissed, I'd rather people be mad about me going too slow than for driving aggressively and driving unsafely."
Dr. Leon James, a professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii who has spent more than a decade studying driving patterns and road rage, is not quite as dismissive about the varying attitudes between hypermilers and nonhypermilers.
"The nonhypermiler usually is focused on getting somewhere. Hypermilers are motivated by fuel efficiency and saving money. There's a conflicting goal," he continues. "Now, the road is divided basically into two communities that may be at war with each other because of their differing driving styles and psychologies."
James elaborates that one of the areas the two driving cultures could clash revolves around the emotional use of the gas pedal. This is because, he explains, motorists use the gas pedal to relieve negative traffic emotions.
"If someone is blocking the lane -- what we call the 'left lane bandit' -- and you're tailgating a person that just won't move over, well you have to move over to the right, pass them and then move over to the left again," says James, whose Web site is www.drdriving.com. "A lot of drivers do this maneuver emotionally so that they floor the gas pedal when they pass on the right and then often look at the driver as they go by and give them what we call a 'stink eye,' showing their disapproval," he continues. "It's kind of a retaliation. And so as they execute this, they accelerate much faster than is necessary to pass, creating perhaps an unsafe situation.
"The emotional use of the gas pedal is something that hypermilers learn to overcome," says James. "That's one of the chief ways that they can save gas. They do not accelerate fast. And, when they approach traffic lights, they decelerate and start coasting. But, the person behind them, who is a nonhypermiler, does not appreciate this."
According to James, nonhypermilers often feel that their human rights are being violated because hypermilers are not driving the way that is most convenient and fast for them. But, he says hypermilers also have a responsibility to adjust their techniques in any given situation to the drivers around them -- because, not all hypermiling techniques are created equal. A few have even been labeled as controversial and/or unsafe. James points to "pulse and glide," a technique used by Turner, as an example of a hypermiling technique that is very obnoxious to other drivers.
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