Dear Editor,
    A great way to improve your gas mileage and extend the life of your break pads is to swear off tailgating. Everyone knows that pushing on the gas pedal uses gas. Anytime you push the break pedal, even the lightest tap, you have to use the gas pedal to recover to your previous speed. Both pedals increase your carbon footprint.
    So what does this have to do with tailgating? There is a natural ebb and flow of traffic, a moderate slowing followed by return to the original speed. Tailgaters are constantly hitting their breaks. Courteous drivers leaving respectable distances allow this space to close slightly when the person in front slows, allow the distance to absorb the normal ebbs and flows of traffic. Their brake lights are not constantly coming on and going off like Christmas tree lights. They manage space between vehicles with only the gas pedal virtually all the time.
    Watch for it on the road. Watch for those cars with constantly blinking brake lights. They are causing more drilling, more oil dependency, environmental damage, plus an occasionally case of road rage.
    If you are guilty of tailgating, for the sake of the planet, please get off my ass.