High gas prices cut driving for 8th month

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-14 09:21

WASHINGTON - Americans scaled back their driving during June by almost 5 percent in response to soaring fuel costs, the government said on Wednesday -- a day after announcing the biggest six-month drop in US petroleum demand in 26 years.

A cyclist crosses the 14th Street Bridge connecting Washington DC (rear) to Virginia as she leaves US capital June 11, 2008. [Agencies]

The Transportation Department said US motorists drove 12.2 billion fewer miles in June compared to a year earlier, marking the eight month in a row that travel declined in the face of record gas prices as Americans change their driving habits, buy more fuel-efficient cars and switch to public transport.

"Changes in consumer behavior have essentially erased five years of growth in gasoline demand," the American Petroleum Institute said on Wednesday in a separate report that showed gasoline use during the first seven months of 2008 fell by 2.1 percent to the lowest level for the period in five years.

The impact of driving less was also reflected in new Energy Department data released on Tuesday that said total US petroleum demand shrank by an average 800,000 barrels a day during the first half of this year, the biggest decline since 1982, because of soaring pump costs and a weak economy.

Since last November, US motorists have driven 53.2 billion fewer miles than they did over the same period a year earlier, topping the 1970s total drop in US miles traveled of 49.3 billion miles that was caused by several recessions and increases in gasoline prices over the decade.

The Transportation Department collects its highway data from more than 4,000 automatic traffic recorders operated around the clock by state agencies.

The presidential candidates have responded to voter angst over high gasoline prices by offering different solutions they claim will bring down short-term fuel costs.

Democrat Barack Obama wants to release 70 million barrels of crude from the US emergency oil stockpile that he believes will immediately cut prices as more supplies are put into the market.

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