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Drivers Logging Lowest Mileage Since Carter Era

By Marty Padgett
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A new report from the Federal Highway Administration says American drivers logged fewer miles once more in May, for the seventh month in a row.

Bloomberg says the continued drops in driving could mean we're headed for the lowest total miles driven in the country since 1980--at the end of the Carter administration, which was also marked by a dramatic run-up in energy prices. The news service says May mileage for U.S. drivers dropped 3.7 percent from the year before, and that the seventh month of falling mileage beats previous stretches all the way back to 1979.

This time around, it's Iran, gas prices, and heavy consumption that have driven gas prices to historic $4 highs and have driven us to other solutions, including putting fewer miles on our vehicles. Back in 1980, the circumstances were eerily familiar: trouble in Iran, rising gas prices, and big-time gas bills from behemoth vehicles.

So far this year, American drivers have cruised 2.4 percent fewer miles than in 2007, with the north-central U.S. registering the biggest decline.

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Comments (4)

  1. David Brown Posted: 8/2/2008 6:56pm PDT

    Actually, it is the oil and car companies' faults. Can't get good mileage in US cars? Look at Europe.
    Fancy an SUV? Look at the Honda CR-V 2.2i-CTDi ES. Carbon emissions of 173g/lm, Nitrogen 0.137 and particulates only 0.023. Oh, and mileage? Over 36mpg!
    How about standard cars? Ever see the BMW 320d? Fewer carbon emissions than anything in the US and 50mpg. Available today and being driven all over Europe.
    These cars are all in production now, people all over the world are driving them, but we can't get them in the US. So who really is the bad guy?
     
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  2. JKD Posted: 8/2/2008 11:16pm PDT

    Then how come no euro diesels other than Daimler can meet our emissions standards?
     
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  3. JKD Posted: 8/4/2008 1:19am PDT

    Davis - I looked into this. First of all, you've got your gallons mixed up. The imperial gallon is about 16% more than the US one, so while still impressive, BMW's combined mileage of 43.5 is actually closer to Corolla's which runs on cleaner and cheaper fuel and is 2-3 times cheaper than this BMW. Oh, and btw, it happens to be the best-selling car in America followed by the Civic, Accord, and the Camry, so the Americans are not so dumb after all. What's really sad is the common GM answer in the form of the relatively thirsty imported Saturn Astra made in Belgium with the engine sourced in Hungary and its transmission from Japan with the total of US/Canadian content of 3%.
     
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  4. JKD Posted: 8/4/2008 1:20am PDT

    Davis = David
    ...and that's 43.5 miles on the UK gallon btw.
     
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