[COMMENTARY] I’ve discovered a way to greatly improve my car’s gas mileage.

It’s something all of us can do to conserve energy while we’re waiting for the development of alternatives to oil, and meanwhile we don’t need more offshore drilling.

What I do is drive MUCH more slowly, and turn off the engine at red lights.

When I say I drive more slowly, I mean 25 mph for most of my six-mile commute into work in Ann Arbor. Surprisingly, not many drivers honk at me. I think they’re driving slower, too. Driving slower is actually more enjoyable and less stressful.

And when I get to a red light, instead of idling (which gets you zero miles per gallon), I turn off the engine. Since there are at least ten traffic lights on my commute, and at least five are red when I get to them, and often the wait time is a full minute at a red light, I’m saving about five minutes of idling each way, or ten minutes a day.

Restarting my engine doesn’t use up much gas, because ignition systems are efficient.

The result? Gas may be $4.14 a gallon in Ann Arbor, but my gauge needle is still hovering near FULL two days after filling up. That’s a beautiful sight.

So conserving energy is feasible, and makes a lot more sense than the proposals of Bush and McCain. More offshore oil drilling wouldn’t have much effect on gas prices for many years. Instead of more drilling — and more risk of violating the environment, not to mention keeping us more dependent on oil — we should do two things: 1) immediately reduce our oil consumption and 2) put much greater public pressure on policy makers to make a much bigger, more urgent effort to develop alternative energy.

If we learn to do that, $4 a gallon might turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Tony Collings is a Lecturer in Communication Studies at the University of Michigan and a former CNN Washington correspondent and Newsweek London bureau chief. He is the journalism mentor of Michigan Messenger.