LA traffic lighter thanks to high gas prices, Americans driving less
In Los Angeles for a short visit, I heard that area highways - famous 'round the world for bad traffic - have actually been making headlines because of high gas prices. Seems that the era of $4+/gallon fuel here in the
This isn't just news here in LA; USAToday has a story, well, today, about how gas prices are "rattling" Americans and are forcing many to change their/our habits. And why not? Some people are saving up to $400 a month by not commuting by car. Others are working longer hours just to pay for gas. In the entire country, we're driving fewer miles today than we did last year - the first time the number has gone down in three decades. As we all know, driving less is the single easiest way to reduce fuel usage and green up your car. Looks like some of us are finally getting the message.
[Source: AFP, USAToday, h/t to Simin]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
A Lynch 11:43AM (5/09/2008)
The gas prices are a wake up call. A friend of mine lives in a small town and commutes to work every day. She was driving a Dodge Durango but recently switched to a Honda Pilot. They need an AWD car for the winter time and even the modest fuel savings will save her $250/month.
How long should I wait to trade in my van for something more fuel efficient? I have to imagine that at some point the value of my van will take a nose dive.
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floridian 12:06PM (5/09/2008)
Florida is The Sunshine State. California is The Golden State.
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Dave 12:07PM (5/09/2008)
This could end up like the current housing crises. Gas prices continue to rise and there will be almost no demand for low gas mileage vehicle, in that case some people that owe money on these vehicles may stop paying and let them get repo'd. This may seem outrages but IMO it could very easily happen.
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Lou Grinzo 12:35PM (5/09/2008)
Dave: It doesn't seem outrageous at all. I've seen mainstream news reports of many car dealers no longer accepting SUVs for trade-ins, and the value of used light trucks (SUVs, minivans, and pickups) is plummeting.
A lot of truck owners are about to find out the hard way that they're "upside down" in their car loan (they owe more than the vehicle is worth), so they can't (or think they can't) afford to switch to a more efficient vehicle.
I expect to see a second wave of this phenomenon if/when there's an easing of gasoline prices later this year. A lot of people will hang on to their trucks now and wait for the resale prices to rebound, only to find out that the supply of used trucks is still higher than the demand, thanks to other drivers trying to beat the system in the same way.
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armmat 12:39PM (5/09/2008)
Excellent!!!
Even more dumb people with even more credit and money issues...serves them right. That's what happens when the furthest anyone looks down the road of the future is to their favorite 6PM "Everybody Love's Raymond" episode.
Instead of rolling down the road in their stupid pickups and SUV's on 19 inch rims, let them eat shit.
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Whopper 1:05PM (5/09/2008)
Armmat, do you ever look beyond your inane post to see what others have said? Your juvenile posts are soundly criticzed and yet you continue to expose your boundless ignorance.
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Matthijs 1:07PM (5/09/2008)
I really do not understand why Americans finds $4.00 a gallon expensive and are even driving less. I live in Holland where gas is $9.40 a gallon and the roads are packed...everyday and mid sized SUV's sell like hotcakes for allot more money (+ allot off taxes)then you would pay in the US for the same car. If gas was the same in Holland then the US, GM could sell Hummers like crazy.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/01/news/international/usgas_price/index.htm?cnn=yes
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Ping 1:42PM (5/09/2008)
@ Matthijs
"I live in Holland where gas is $9.40 a gallon and the roads are packed..."
you have not seen truly packed roads, until you experience rush hour in a major city in the US. That picture in this post is misleading, there are still plenty of drivers in the US.
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Wave54 2:10PM (5/09/2008)
@ Matthijs
You can't directly compare the US to Europe without considering all the factors: wages, cost-of-living, government policies, etc.
Your minimum wage is double ours ($11.75 v.s. $5.85) and average wages in Holland are roughly 50% greater. You pay far more in taxes, but also receive far more in social benefits. Health care alone is a huge factor where Europeans are all covered throughout their lives, but Americans either pay privately, get coverage through employers or, for millions like me, have no medical coverage at all and pay out-of-pocket.
Our fuel may be cheap by comparison, yet if our government added on $4/gallon in taxes, we'd be right up there with Europe.
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Matthijs 3:59PM (5/09/2008)
@Ping Well we live in a small country but every morning when I need to commute to Amsterdam I am in traffic 100% change with a minimum of 6 miles.
@Wave54 Our min. Wages may be double that of the US but we really need that trust me. Health care here means a commercial insurance policy of 75 euro. And thats a crappy one. (500 euro own risk) Tax on food: 7% Tax on Cars: 63% Tax on luxury items: 19%. Lets say I earn 2000 euro's a month. 1450,- euro will be in my account and then all these taxes. I really would like to find out if living in the US with such a salary will give me a better quality of life.
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Charles S 4:54PM (5/09/2008)
Insurance is not uniform in US. Some for lower premium will have high deductible, too. Instead of "money in the bank" = "better quality of life", the flip side can be: maybe US system will promote those who are lucky, but those who fall through the cracks would probably like a socialize system better. (Sorry, I really don't want us to deviate from ABG topics.)
Here's what I'll say about cars: I think owning a car is not really an issue of wealth (taxes or otherwise). For many in US, without a car = no job = no insurance. So gas prices is a necessary expense for many.
Since mass transit in Europe is most likely better than US, regardless if someone can afford gas or not, I'd think more Europeans would at least have a CHOICE in giving up driving.
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1985 Gripen 6:10PM (5/09/2008)
I remember reading a couple years ago an economist state that $4 a gallon gas is the "tipping point" where drivers start conserving more, therefore lowering demand, which leads to lower prices. The price won't rise much more than $4 a gallon.
California, which leads most of the rest of the country in fuel prices and miles-driven per-day is already seeing close to $4 a gallon gas. It's about that much up in the Bay Area (San Francisco) and close to it here in L.A.
So first you're going to notice a decrease in traffic congestion in San Francisco (which has previously been noted, with BART ridership up 7% so far this year and hybrid sales up 40%) then L.A., and then everywhere else as the price rises to $4 a gallon. The national average today according to AAA is $3.67/gal. I don't think the price will rise much more than $4 on average.
I've even noted that several of the gas stations around my house have been selling regular unleaded for $3.999 per-gallon for a couple of weeks now. It has never teetered-over the psychologically-important $4 a gallon. One ARCO station with the lowest price in my neighborhood is selling regular for $3.81, plus for $3.91 and premium for... $3.99. They won't cross that important $4 mark.
Oil companies know what the point of diminishing returns is. They don't sell gasoline for the cheapest they can get away with selling it for, they sell it for the most they can get away with selling it for. They know more people will buy it at $3.999 a gallon than will buy it for $4.00.
I have come to believe that if the state and federal gas taxes are increased the governments would get more money for road construction/maintenance but it really wouldn't affect fuel prices. The oil companies still sell fuel for the most they can get for it regardless of how much tax there is. A greater tax would simply eat more into their sizable profits, not be able to be passed-onto the consumer as they're already charging the consumer as much as they can without customer conserving and demand dropping.
The 18.4 cent federal gas tax (and equivalent California state gas tax) was enacted when gasoline cost A LOT less than it does now. The percentage of tax goes down as the price of gas, cost of labor & materials, and inflation goes up. How stupid is that? Who wrote those laws?
I just saw some clown down the street got a new extended-length Cadillac Escalade. Some people will be stupid no matter what the price of fuel is.
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1985 Gripen 6:10PM (5/09/2008)
I just read that the price of gasoline in Hawaii is now $3.88/gal. The average price in California is $3.92. Is this the first time ever that Hawaii hasn't led the nation in gasoline prices (the highest average price is currently in Alaska)? People in Hawaii don't drive as far on average as Californians, either.
http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2008/05/05/daily59.html
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Mathieu 6:27PM (5/09/2008)
@11
You're spot on regarding mass transit and that's one point where overnight change isn't possible. I remember when I was living in Montreal how painful it was to use public transport because of decades of poor planning and lousy service (hub-n-spoke systems, underinvestment, last-mile problems, etc).
Now that I live in Europe, a car is more of a hassle than anything, a bit like if you live on Manhattan island. Parking is always a problem, highway tolls are insanely high (in France, rule of thumb is you match the gas budget for tolls on highway trips), roads are clogged, etc. But there is a choice, you can take high speed trains city to city, to the airport (try public transport with luggage to go to Newark or JFK, I did), metros and trams everywhere, it actually works pretty well in many places.
Unfortuntely for US & Canada, this could mean a lot more pain as our car-centered way of life cannot be changed overnight. Combining errands and inflating tires feels a little desperate to me.
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jpm100 10:36PM (5/09/2008)
This type of behavior hurts the economy.
If it hurts bad enough and all those investment dollars for alternatives start to dry up.
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s10 12:56PM (5/11/2008)
@ Lou Grinzo... You cannot compare the loans on houses and cars since the prices of houses can go up and down (like now) but car prices always go down, from the day you buy the car you always owe more on the car than it's worth.
@Ping, You have never seen truly packed roads. Traffic in the US ( I live in L.A.) is absolutely nothing compared to the daily traffic in many parts of Europe, especially the Netherlands and the north of Italy. I lived in both places and I can guarantee that it is far worse there.
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rick 10:40AM (5/12/2008)
That 'psychologically-important $4 a gallon' mark has already been passed at many locations. Even if it's not in your neighborhood, you will likely pass by one that is and the effect is the same. It sticks inside your brain like superglue. Throw in a pseudo-avalanche effect, and there you go.
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UH2L 5:57PM (5/16/2008)
The other plus of less traffic is that those who are driving will be driving on less congested roads and will get better fuel economy with the vehicles they already. It's another way that higher gas prices indirectly lead to less fuel use.
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StolenGas 4:36PM (5/17/2008)
The only thing that pisses me off more then the ridiculous gas prices is the fact that someone kept stealing gas right out of my car!
People "siphoned" (it means sucking gas out of my gas tank) multiple times in the middle of the night in front of my house, in parking garages near my office, etc.
It made me SOOO MAD that a $60+ tank of gas was stolen multiple times.
I found a website where I bought a *locking gas cap*. Now people can't take my gas cap off to steal my gas. I wish I would have found this locking gas cap before I got multiple tanks of gas stolen. But whatever, at least now my gas is safe.
I'd suggest you protect your gas with www.StolenGas.com
Get a locking gas cap before someone steals your $60+ tank of gas!
www.StolenGas.com
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