High gas prices are never fun and have been forcing drivers to drive less. And to further support this trend, MasterCard has just released a new study through its SpendingPulse program that us Americans purchased 62.3 million barrels of gasoline last week, an overall decline of 2.7% from last year.

To further add, the U.S. Transportation Department noted that Americans drove 1.453 trillion miles up to June 30th this year, about 1.1% less than the same time period in 2010.

Additionally, gas prices are still hovering around a $3.87/gallon price range with the highest being $3.94 in California.

The MasterCard SpendingPulse study program is based on a report of hourly traffic at 4,000 locations around the country.

- By: Chris Chin

Source: Detroit News