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Gas Prices Drop, So Does Driving

Via Mobilizing the Region:

How times have changed. As of today, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $1.85. This may be just a temporary drop, but it’s nevertheless relatively cheap to drive again.

And yet Americans are continuing to cut back on driving. According to just released figures from the Federal Highway Administration’s Traffic Volume Trends report, Americans drove almost 13 billion fewer miles in November of 2008 than in November 2007, a decline of 5.3 percent. That is the second biggest drop in driving of any month this year, and it came even as gas prices were falling to the $2 per gallon range.

Through the first eleven months of 2008, driving has fallen an astonishing 102 billion miles, a drop of 3.5 percent over the same period in 2007. Assuming that trend holds true through the end of the year, it would represent the biggest decline in driving since World War II.

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Cars, Drivers, Etc., Gas prices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Gas Prices Drop, So Does Driving”

  1. Andy Says:
    January 30th, 2009 at 6:20 pm

    its a great time to ride a bike!

  2. Calgary Dodge Says:
    May 13th, 2011 at 3:25 am

    Might still be the result of the economic recession. Either way it is good news because it lessens carbon emissions and perhaps Americans find a better and healthier alternative to driving which is walking the extra mile or they might find public transport cheaper and more practical.

  3. Used Car Dealer Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 2:27 am

    It’s good news because it lessens carbon emissions a bit. I agree with Calgary that it might be the result of recession plus gasoline costs is climbing up. Americans having car might find it costly to maintain a car, buy gasoline and opted to take the bus or the subway.

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Traffic Tom Vanderbilt

How We Drive is the companion blog to Tom Vanderbilt’s New York Times bestselling book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), published by Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S. and Canada, Penguin in the U.K, and in languages other than English by a number of other fine publishers worldwide.

Please send tips, news, research papers, links, photos (bad road signs, outrageous bumper stickers, spectacularly awful acts of driving or parking or anything traffic-related), or ideas for my Slate.com Transport column to me at: info@howwedrive.com.

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