By Joseph D. Younger
What can you do about the high price of gas, besides grouse about it? You can squeeze more miles out of every gallon. Of course, your fuel economy depends primarily on the kind of vehicle you drive and how well you maintain it. Everyday driving technique also matters.

Move your eyes more than your foot. Driving gently really works. Hard acceleration, sudden braking and other aggressive maneuvers can reduce fuel economy up to 33 percent, effectively adding more than a buck a gallon to the price of a fill-up.

Use your eyes to stay out of trouble. “You should always scan 30 seconds ahead of your car,” says Steve Phillips, manager of AAA Carolina’s Traffic Safety Department.

In the city, that is a block or so; on the highway, it is a third to a half-mile. You can plan actions that don’t involve gas-wasting heel-and-toe work. See that red light up ahead? Ease off the accelerator to give it time to turn green. As a bonus, your fuel economy goes up and you improve your safety, too.

Slow down. Observe the speed limit—again, boring but unbeatable advice. Most cars reach optimum fuel efficiency between 45 and 60 mph. After that, the engine has to work much harder (and burn more fuel) to overcome aerodynamic drag. Studies show that every 5-mph increment over 60 mph adds about 20 cents to the price you pay for gas (and that’s only based upon $3.22 per gallon!).

Keep a steady speed. Cruise control, used properly, can improve fuel economy by up to 14 percent on the highway. Cruise control improves fuel economy because any movement of the accelerator—even those too small to noticeably affect speed—wastes gas. If you are in traffic conditions that require braking and resetting the speed frequently, you won’t save any gas.

Turn off the car when you can. You’re about to pull out of your driveway when you realize you’ve forgotten your wallet. Don’t leave the engine running while you dash back into the house—that kills your fuel economy. Idling for one minute consumes more gas than shutting off and restarting the car.

Leave the overdrive button alone. Most automatic transmissions with four or five speeds have overdrive as their highest gear, allowing the vehicle to maintain highway speeds without forcing the engine to work as hard. Overdrive saves gas whenever you go faster than 45 mph. You should lock out overdrive only under rare circumstances—when towing requires extra torque, for instance. Leave it alone for the best highway fuel economy.

Build up speed before hills. To maintain speed while climbing a hill, accelerate gradually on approach. This prevents the least-fuel-efficient kind of acceleration — full-throttle or near-full-throttle.

Use AC wisely. Air conditioning does affect gas mileage, but probably not as much as you think. Today’s AC systems are surprisingly efficient, usually cutting highway fuel economy only about 1 mpg (but more around town). Independent tests show no appreciable difference between running the AC and opening the windows at highway speeds.

Drive as straight as possible. The shortest—and most fuel-efficient—distance between two points is a straight line. Constant lane switching costs gas. When you must change lanes, do it smoothly and gradually.