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Ya know what I love doing? This is not an exact science but if you know the traffic lights around your town well enough, you should be able to do it pretty well. It works surprisingly often, but you have to know when to do it and when it won't work.
When the light turns yellow or red, if you're really far from it, SLOW DOWN (using your brakes) to a slower speed and stay there... don't keep going at the same speed (or coasting) and slow down only when you must to avoid an accident or running the light. The slower speed you pick will vary due to the circumstances. The point is... if you slow down right then and keep rolling at a slower speed, you may still be rolling when the light turns green and then you can accelerate from like 30 mph back up to 55, which takes a lot less gas than accelerating from a stop up to 55.
That works with coasting, too. If you start coasting at 35 mph, you'll still be moving at a good clip for a long way. And like you, I try to time it so that I don't have to stop. If I'm even going only 5 mph when the light turns green, I've saved quite a bit of energy. Getting a stopped vehicle moving again is a big energy-eater.
Obviously neither of you live in a town like I do where the lights appear deliberately timed to maximize the amount of time wasted by drivers. I swear it's a ploy to get more gas tax revenue.
Also, turn off your engine while you're waiting in line at the drive-through or at the stop light. If you're engine is going to be off for even a half minute you'll save gas. (A friend of mine calls this doing a redneck hybrid.
You probably use more gas starting it back up than you do idling. Not to mention the wear and tear on the starter by doing repeat start-ups.
Obviously neither of you live in a town like I do where the lights appear deliberately timed to maximize the amount of time wasted by drivers. I swear it's a ploy to get more gas tax revenue.
Drover, you'd be surprised. Let me fill you in on a little story... I call it The Story Of The Most Awful Traffic Light I Have Ever Seen, Which Is Only One Mile From My House.
This light serves the main thoroughfare in the area... PA Route 6. Most of the time, it is green... which is fairly helpful given how 95% of the cars that travel through that area are using route 6. (Those drivers know better than to stop and look around... BORRRRRRRRIIIIINNNNG!) The cross street at this traffic light has a sign which says "No Turn On Red".
As soon as a car pulls up to the cross street, the light turns yellow for the main highway. I can live with a traffic light being a sensor light... they're usually more efficient anyway. However, this light will stay red on the main highway for the greater of: 1) 20 seconds, 2) However long it takes for all of the vehicles on the cross street to get out of the intersection. Now... correct me if I'm wrong... but it doesn't take 20 seconds for one vehicle to get through an intersection... even if its driver is 98 years old.
On top of that, though Route 6 carries a lot of traffic, it's never so much that a right turn on red would be unsafe for anyone or require them to wait very long. So, rather than allow people to make a right on red onto route 6, the powers that be decided that they would stop all traffic on route 6 every time one single vehicle approached that intersection. (Oh, of course, if the light had just turned red for the main highway and then went back to green, despite the approach of other vehicles on the cross street it will stay green for a while... but not a LONG while.)
It is categorically the most evil traffic light in the history of traffic lights... and it probably wastes more gas per vehicle, unnecessarily, than any other light I've ever known... and I came from JERSEY, so that says a lot. In all honesty, this light doesn't even have to be a light... it could be a blinker and accomplish the same goal.
I've gotten to the point where I try to look as far ahead as I can, to see if I can detect a vehicle approaching that light from the cross street as I am approaching it. If someone is approaching, I don't even look for cops. I just nail the gas... because I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that a red light is imminent. I've probably "run the red light" on that one a good half dozen times... just because I hate it so much. You ALWAYS have to stop at the cross street intersection, and figure on being stopped for at least a few seconds. If you're on the main highway, you have to slow down (from 45-50 mph) and stop whenever someone is on the cross street. I call that awful. It's like the crossing guard from hell.
Drover, you'd be surprised. Let me fill you in on a little story... I call it The Story Of The Most Awful Traffic Light I Have Ever Seen, Which Is Only One Mile From My House.
This light serves the main thoroughfare in the area... PA Route 6. Most of the time, it is green... which is fairly helpful given how 95% of the cars that travel through that area are using route 6. (Those drivers know better than to stop and look around... BORRRRRRRRIIIIINNNNG!) The cross street at this traffic light has a sign which says "No Turn On Red".
As soon as a car pulls up to the cross street, the light turns yellow for the main highway. I can live with a traffic light being a sensor light... they're usually more efficient anyway. However, this light will stay red on the main highway for the greater of: 1) 20 seconds, 2) However long it takes for all of the vehicles on the cross street to get out of the intersection. Now... correct me if I'm wrong... but it doesn't take 20 seconds for one vehicle to get through an intersection... even if its driver is 98 years old.
On top of that, though Route 6 carries a lot of traffic, it's never so much that a right turn on red would be unsafe for anyone or require them to wait very long. So, rather than allow people to make a right on red onto route 6, the powers that be decided that they would stop all traffic on route 6 every time one single vehicle approached that intersection. (Oh, of course, if the light had just turned red for the main highway and then went back to green, despite the approach of other vehicles on the cross street it will stay green for a while... but not a LONG while.)
It is categorically the most evil traffic light in the history of traffic lights... and it probably wastes more gas per vehicle, unnecessarily, than any other light I've ever known... and I came from JERSEY, so that says a lot. In all honesty, this light doesn't even have to be a light... it could be a blinker and accomplish the same goal.
I've gotten to the point where I try to look as far ahead as I can, to see if I can detect a vehicle approaching that light from the cross street as I am approaching it. If someone is approaching, I don't even look for cops. I just nail the gas... because I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that a red light is imminent. I've probably "run the red light" on that one a good half dozen times... just because I hate it so much. You ALWAYS have to stop at the cross street intersection, and figure on being stopped for at least a few seconds. If you're on the main highway, you have to slow down (from 45-50 mph) and stop whenever someone is on the cross street. I call that awful. It's like the crossing guard from hell.
Buddy, when it comes to driving, I wish I had your problems. Try driving around here at 4:30pm where driving one mile can take over 10 minutes.
Yeah, Chicago is one car-hostile town. Do they still have that toll gate that hits you up for 15 cents?!
PAin general not too far behind. Sometimes I think of PA as the "pothole state" - and I have only driven a rental car there a couple of times.
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I swear it's a ploy to get more gas tax revenue.
Not to mention the wear and tear on the starter by doing repeat start-ups. 
