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Americans are driving less, and here's why
Yahoo Finance ^

Posted on 07/27/2013 3:42:24 PM PDT by Red in Blue PA

It may not seem like there are fewer traffic jams, and the gas station probably looks busier than ever every time you stop to fill up. But a new study shows that Americans are in fact driving less. We're seeing a steady shift in how people get around, with more people leaving their keys at home and finding other ways to get around. "This is an important change," said Michael Sivak, who conducted the study at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. "This is the first time we've ever seen a drop like this."

According to the study, driving in the U.S. reached a peak in 2004 and has been declining steadily ever since. "When you look at the distance-driven rate, we are where we were back in the mid-90s," Sivak said. In 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, the average licensed driver racked up 12,492 miles behind the wheel. That's down 1,221 miles, or 8.9 percent, from the peak seven years earlier.

(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: carbontax; cost; energy; gasprice; kenyanbornmuzzie; oilprice; opec; transport
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People are driving less, yet the roads are crappier than ever. And it couldn't be because less people are working, could it? Love how they find every reason except that.
1 posted on 07/27/2013 3:42:24 PM PDT by Red in Blue PA
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To: Red in Blue PA

High gas prices


2 posted on 07/27/2013 3:44:16 PM PDT by Pikachu_Dad (Impeach Sen Quinn)
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To: Red in Blue PA
Kids are brainwashed in scrull not to like crude oil or cars so they ride bicycles and skateboards. They don't have jobs so they can't buy anything anyway
3 posted on 07/27/2013 3:45:04 PM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: Red in Blue PA

Could it be gas price has about doubled since Obummer came in?


4 posted on 07/27/2013 3:45:07 PM PDT by Rennes Templar (Mr. President, can you hear a special prosecutor now?)
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To: Red in Blue PA

Hellish Africa-like economy coming, that’s why. It’s mostly here and gaining momentum.


5 posted on 07/27/2013 3:45:29 PM PDT by Monty22002
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To: Red in Blue PA

Gas prices and crappy roads are probably the biggest factors. Anything to come out of UofM is tainted anyway.


6 posted on 07/27/2013 3:46:19 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Red in Blue PA
Americans are driving less, and here's why

Only 47% of the workforce is working full time, so FAR fewer people have to drive to work. Thanks to Hussein 0bama and his socialist regime.

7 posted on 07/27/2013 3:49:48 PM PDT by The Sons of Liberty (A Quiet Rage is Building All Across America!)
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To: The Sons of Liberty

It is a crowning achievement of his regime


8 posted on 07/27/2013 3:50:24 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: Red in Blue PA

Wish people around where I live drove less...Traffic is backed up everywhere, always until about 10:00 at night.


9 posted on 07/27/2013 3:50:37 PM PDT by guido911 (Islamic terrorists are members http://www.freerepublic.com/foof the "ROP", the "religion of pu*&ies")
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To: Red in Blue PA

No money, no jobs, cars and gas are saved to get to whatever passes as work these days. No “green mind set” involved. Case closed.


10 posted on 07/27/2013 3:51:37 PM PDT by Dallas59 (Obama: The first "White Black" President.)
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To: Red in Blue PA

Simple.

Gas prices, prices of cars (thus folks want to wear them out less), and when you’re unemployed, you have no where to go.

Honorable mention: live in a city like Cincinnati and the road condition sucks so bad you know it hurts your car to drive on it.


11 posted on 07/27/2013 3:52:36 PM PDT by CincyRichieRich (“To learn who rules over you, simply find out whom you are not allowed to criticize.” ~ Voltaire)
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To: Red in Blue PA
If a little bit of poverty makes us drive less, just imagine how much less we'll drive under the catastrophic poverty Ubama has planned for us!
12 posted on 07/27/2013 3:53:46 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Who knew that one day professional wrestling would be less fake than professional journalism?)
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To: mountainlion

In the debate over high speed rail and bike lanes I hear liberals from Ann Arbor proudly proclaim that bicycles are the future of transportation.

I live a 40 minute drive from Ann Arbor and 20 from Jackson and these liberal idiots only respond with talking points about how wasteful rural drivers are. That’s ass backward anyway, rural drivers tend to make single combined trips.


13 posted on 07/27/2013 3:54:02 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Red in Blue PA

Um. Barry is stealing everyone’s money. People are driving less because they can’t afford to buy gas. Who are these morons writing this garbage?


14 posted on 07/27/2013 3:54:05 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Amnesty. The DemocRATS' payback for the 2010 elections.)
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To: Red in Blue PA; All

If the article mentioned the following then i missed it. Another reason that Americans are driving less is because many of them now have no jobs to drive to.


15 posted on 07/27/2013 3:55:19 PM PDT by Amendment10
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To: Red in Blue PA

They drive less in Cuba too.


16 posted on 07/27/2013 3:55:39 PM PDT by Track9 (hey Kalid.. kalid.. bang you're dead)
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To: cripplecreek

UN Agenda 21 is their goal. Everyone lives in a commune and can walk or ride a government bicycle if needed.


17 posted on 07/27/2013 3:56:52 PM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: Red in Blue PA

It’s more whistling in the dark by the Left. Less people in the workforce, between people who are unemployed, underemployed, on disability or have give up looking the true figure given by Forbes is 14.3%. That’s a lot of folks not driving. Add in the changes caused by gas hikes. Just one more sign of the lousy economy brought to us by the “BIG Zero” not some embrace of green principal by “the plebeians”.


18 posted on 07/27/2013 4:00:08 PM PDT by JayGalt
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To: Red in Blue PA

Gas is more expensive. Fewer people in the workforce. I try to combine trips to save on fuel. I buy groceries and other sundries on the way home from work. Makes for an even longer, more tiring day, but it helps stretch the go-go juice.


19 posted on 07/27/2013 4:00:56 PM PDT by bigredkitty1 (March 5,2010. Rest in peace, sweet boy. I will miss you, Big Red.)
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To: Red in Blue PA

Also, instead of shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, I buy as much as I can online. No lines, no crowds, free shipping. I love it. No wasting gas and if need be, I can shop at 2 AM.


20 posted on 07/27/2013 4:05:28 PM PDT by bigredkitty1 (March 5,2010. Rest in peace, sweet boy. I will miss you, Big Red.)
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