Also, safety issues aside, are there considerations for when actually turning off the engine is a detriment to mileage (i.e.,do you turn it off at every light or do you turn it off when it’s reasoanbly certain that a certain amount of time elapse willoccur). i’ve always heard that engines burn a lot of gas during ignition, so I’m wondering whether there’s a breaking point as to when shut off of the engine is beneficial.

I’d appreciate your comments.

On the ignition issue — I know that most hybrids actually shut the engine off at stops, but they’re very small engines and designed to do so. Still, I’d imagine that modern cars probably start very efficiently. Unless there’s some info out there on the matter, I’d say give it a try and see how your mileage does.