Cost of Fuel Saves Miles

Have you noticed that less people are driving around these days in the Inland Empire? The freeway traffic is much lighter as well as the surface street traffic. With school starting, the traffic will definitely be increasing, but overall, the traffic is down. People are eating out less, they are taking that leisure trip to the mall less and just generally not driving if it isn't necessary. I personally believe that it is the cost of fuel that has caused this reduction. I am not happy about the cost of fuel, but I can see that it definitely impacts the behavior of people. I enjoy the reduction in traffic.

As supporting evidence, I present this release from the Department of Transportation: American Driving Reaches Eighth Month of Steady Decline

New data released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation show that, since last November, Americans have driven 53.2 billion miles less than they did over the same period a year earlier – topping the 1970s' total decline of 49.3 billion miles.

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Americans drove 4.7 percent less, or 12.2 billion miles fewer, in June 2008 than June 2007. The decline is most evident in rural travel, which has fallen by 4 percent – compared to the 1.2 percent decline in urban miles traveled – since the trend began last November.