High gas prices to keep 10 million cars off the roads
Photo by Cyfer13. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
Before gas prices began soaring skyward, it had often been suggested that an artificial increase to the price of gas could have the effect of forcing consumers to purchase more fuel efficient vehicles and could keep people from making frivolous trips. It's now safe to say those projections were likely true. Now that fuel prices are what they are, more people are choosing hybrids and other fuel efficient models, and some are even choosing two wheels over four. Additionally, Jeff Rubin, chief economist at CIBC World Markets, projects that $7.00 per gallon of gas could potentially remove ten-million vehicles from roadways in the United States alone. What's more, Rubin predicts that by 2012, the average miles driven will drop by as much as fifteen-percent.
Interestingly, Rubin compares U.S. driving habits with those of individuals living in Britain. Statistics show that ninety-percent of American drivers commute every day to work in an automobile, while only sixty-percent of British workers do the same. Fuel prices in America, though rising, have yet to match those that many European countries have seen for years.
[Source: The Detroit Free Press]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
prescott 8:19PM (6/27/2008)
Swell. $7/gallon will save petro and reduce traffic, but it will exact a painful toll on Americans who structured their life around $2/gallon gas. Trading in an SUV for a more fuel-efficient car is one thing. Trying to sell your home to move closer to work, likely in a less-family-friendly area, is entirely another.
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armmat 9:44PM (6/27/2008)
That's truly excellent news to me. It's about time idiots stopped doing useless crap and waste resources. It's truly sad to see people not having food and heat to survive while douchebags in America go around with their huge SUV's cruising and listening to lowlife music thinking it's their right to do so.
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GoodCheer 9:45PM (6/27/2008)
Yep, it's gonna suck for a lot of people. Better start planning for it now.
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Sasparilla 3:27PM (6/28/2008)
I think with Gasoline up above $4.00 a gallon we're into former European (a couple of years ago) gasoline price territory.
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DanMan 4:39PM (6/28/2008)
I'm shopping motorcycles right now and parking the truck. I'll keep the truck for trips to the home depot and such but it doesn't make any sense as a daily driver. Thank god my wife drives a tiny 34mpg hwy station wagon.
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Henry Reed 11:10PM (6/28/2008)
i think gas stations should start having memberships, where you pay $100/month and pay a lower flat rate for gas.
i really like that fewer cars are on the road.
go OPEC
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James 2:02PM (6/29/2008)
The bad part of all of this, it will hurt the rual poor that can't afford to move and have to drive 60 miles to get to a poor paying job because thats all there is. So I hope all of you that like the idea of $ 7.00 a gallon will like paying out more of your pay check to feed the people who can no longer afford to drive to work.
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netcaretaker 9:58AM (6/30/2008)
Come on, to compare with the British? So, they live on what could be considered a small state in the US, and they have pretty good public transportation nation wide. We have a large country with what I would consider the worst public transportation system as a whole, in the entire world. Would you expect everyone to move to citiew? And even then who is going to grow and pick the crops? Huge gas prices are going to hurt everything everyone buys. A new form of fuel is needed to help prevent this from happening.
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007baf 10:05AM (6/30/2008)
It is a complete non-sequitur to compare the US to the UK or Europe. In England mass transit is and has been widely available. The nearest bus stop to me is 2 miles away. It actually costs more than the driving my car, even at $4.00 per gallon.
So to make snide remarks about US infrastructure and Americans driving big cars, etc... people need to understand the simple fact that this nation is not prepared for this and our citizens will do what it takes to get gas prices back down to a much lower level, but they are cognizant that we need to free ourselves of reliance on foreign oil AND using technologies that either use domestic alternatives or possibly pure electric/hydrogen.
So, if you feel great that gas prices are taking vehicles off the road, remember the millions of rural and poorer Americans who will lose their jobs and not be able to support their families before you bask in environmental glee. (That's you @armmat)
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Chad 10:39AM (6/30/2008)
"7. The bad part of all of this, it will hurt the rual poor that can't afford to move and have to drive 60 miles to get to a poor paying job because thats all there is."
It's sad to say but the only profession I see for the rural poor in a future of very high petroleum prices is low pesticide/fertilizer/mechanized farming.
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Foxtrot 7:14PM (6/30/2008)
You people make me sick. As posters before me have said, I hope you are all happy with predictions of even higher gas and suffering for those of us who live in rural areas with no reasonable alternatives. This isnt like the city, I had a bicycle, but other than a trip down the road that isnt going to get me or my family to work, sure if I lived in the city, walking or riding a bike would work but that just isnt how it is out here. A small bus may come out here which is good, but it only goes to the nearby town IIRC, which might work for me if I get a job in that town but not for me or anyone that gets a job elsewhere. We dont plan on moving and dont want to move. I am 17 and currently in the process of studying for a certification in the IT field and obtaining driver's license. Unlike some other people I see getting free handouts (The ones who are capable of working and dont need it) I plan to work for a living, and these gas prices are something that will affect me. What do you expect? Everyone move to the cities and/or suburbs just over gas prices? Somehow come up with thousands of dollars for a new vehicle that doesent use gasoline? It just isnt possible for some of us. And we dont live in a McMansion, we dont have a brand new car in our driveway or carport, we didnt burn through credit cards and take out loans we never intended to pay, and we are working people. Yet I get to read the arrogant comments of people like "armmat".
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