One of the things killing my ability to Pulse and Glide around town is sudden Stop lights - I'll have all green and have just pulsed to 41mph when the light a short way in front of me turns Yellow, forcing me to kill my Glide - and my mileage.

Use the Walk signals to determine when there's a Yellow light coming up. These are easiest to spot at night - check the next green light for a white light underneath - you don't need to be able to read "Walk," just see the proper color. If you see blinking orange or solid orange, consider avoiding pulsing or stopping your current pulse, because you're about to get a yellow light.

With this trick I was able to do over 100mpg on the drive home tonight! (not cumulative average, just the drive home).

It just so happens that watching for these signals has helped me drive a little safer too - because I have a little more warning before someone stops hard in front of me, or a Pedestrian decides to walk a little bit before the light turns red.

 

Great tip, though as you might imagine many of us don't have walk/don't walk signals.

Among the techniques to avoid sudden red light-induced stops, I've found myself doing something recently that I learned in driver's ed (thirty something years ago) and haven't practiced since: decelerate when approaching a "stale" green light, expecting it to turn. If I'm gliding, I'll continue to below my normal glide-to-pulse transition speed, as long as I can do so safely and without impeding traffic flow. If the light stays green, so much the better.

There's a psychological benefit too: I get less upset with sudden red lights when I expect them instead of curse them, and when I'm decelerating instead of flooring it.

 

That's interesting - so then you only pulse when you see a red turn to green? Do you have a lot of distance between lights?

The distance between lights here is relatively tight and the timing varies widely - 10 seconds, 10 minutes, anything is possible. But I'm lucky to have bright walk lights at each and no foliage or turns obstructing their view, which was certainly not true of Boston.

If I waited here to pulse only on red>green, I'd probably drop below 30mph which isn't appropriate given the speeds people drive on these streets. I try to stay tightly within 41 and 30mph... and make sure no one's behind me to get irritated with all the speed variation.

 

It's actually widely variable. I drive a lot of changing road conditions.

Maybe describing a trip I made last night might help. I turn out of my subdivision onto a major suburban 4-lane highway with a 45 MPH speed limit. The first half mile is uphill with no lights. As I accelerate, I strike a balance between avoiding opening the throttle and impeding traffic flow. There is no P&G here because of the hill. I just slowly accelerate up to about 40 or so and hold it. There is a light at a busy intersection just past the top of the hill, more often red than not. Unless I see it turn green within, say, 1/4 mile or so ahead, I start backing off the pedal as I approach - not really gliding (because of the hill), but still slowing. Good thing is that just prior to the light, the road becomes six lanes, and I have a new right-hand lane I can slide into without impeding anyone. The road flattens at that point, and then I glide until either it turns green or I have to brake for the red.

The next mile or so is pretty congested, with about a half dozen lights. Because it's six lanes, I can stay in the right lane and P&G without impeding traffic at most times of the day. Last night was no problem. I time my pulses so I can begin gliding well ahead of the next light(s). As I approach a green light, if no one's behind me, I may glide to as low as 20 MPH. After I realize I'll make it through the green, I begin the pulse. How fast the pulse is depends on the next light(s), again timing the beginning of the glide well ahead of it/them. Through this stretch it may be only 30, or it could get as high as 40.

After that is about a 2 mile segment where the speed limit increases to 55. First is a long downhill segment with a light at the bottom. I warp-stealth as much as possible, with max speed again being dictated by traffic behind me. Normally I may get up to 45 or 50. It's a killer to catch a red light at the last minute there, even if I anticipate it, because of all the momentum I lose and the the need to regain it going up the next hill, which is long.

There follows after that another segment of congestion and 45 MPH limit. I drive that the same as the first one.

The road then gradually enters a more urbanized area, with the speed dropping incrementally to 35 and then 25. It also narrows back down to 4 lanes. The driving style is pretty much the same: anticipating reds and greens and trying to time pulses and glides accordingly. The difference of course is the speed. In that 25 MPH section, I may glide down to 15, and I'll pulse to a max of about 33-34 (to avoid tickets!).

Part of all this is knowing the route. For lights that I know stay green longer, I'll run a little faster - pulsing to a higher speed and not gliding as slowly. For the busier intersections with the longer reds and shorter greens, it will be slower.

In all of this, if traffic's heavy enough for me to be a safety hazard or incite road rage, I stay pretty much with the flow. But I still slow sooner for stale greens and more gradually than others for red lights.

The results speak for themselves. Last night, my incremental mileage on that trip was about 85 MPG per my ScanGauge. (About 15 miles total.) The return trip two hours later was about 60. Most of the difference can be attributed to a net elevation change, especially on the last segment. I could glide the entire last 2-3 miles if the lights stayed green.

Good luck. Enjoying the discussion!