The drivers do allow multiple instances. As you mentioned, this is how you set different poll rates.
The one thing to keep in mind is that each driver instance optimizes only its own subscriptions. Let's say you have 1 driver instances with subscriptions to 40001, 40002, 40050, and 40051. The driver will perform this in 2 read packets.
Now let's say you have 2 driver instances. The first one has subscriptions to 40001 and 40050. The second instance has subscriptions to 40002 and 40051. This configuration will require 4 packets to read all of the data, therefore no optimization occurs. Ideally you want 40001 and 40002 on one driver instance then 40050 and 40051 on the other.
In other words try to keep addresses that are close together on the same driver instance.