Americans drive 20 billion fewer miles in 2008, gas-prices to blame

According to the Transportation Department, Americans drove 1.4 billion fewer highway miles in April 2008 than they did during the same period a year ago. Overall this year, Americans have driven 20 billion fewer miles and nearly 30 billion fewer miles since November.

Of course, gas-prices are being blamed for the monthly drops. The Transportation Department says that the April drop is three times larger than the drop from March 2007 to March of this year which was about 400 million fewer highway miles.

The department is concerned that the decline can result in fewer gas-taxes. The taxes which are given to the Federal Highway Trust Fund, gets 18.4 cents per gallon from gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon from diesel fuel.

Hey – at least it’s all good news for the environment. Fewer miles means less pollution. Not to mention consumers are shifting their interests to more compact cars that return a high fuel-economy. So don’t hate the high gas-prices too much!

Source: CNN