New Mexicans drove less in May
New Mexicans drove less in May of 2008 than the same month in 2007.
John Fleck in the ABQNews blog noted the U.S. Department of Transportation's monthly Traffic Volume Trends report (pdf) showed a 2.6-percent drop in miles driven compared to the same month last year. Nationwide the drop was more significant, 3.7 percent or nearly 255 billion miles.
In May of 2007, New Mexicans drove 777 million miles, according to the report. The preliminary numbers showed 257 million miles driven in May of this year.
Other Southwestern states also drove less in May. Colorado had a 2.2-percent drop, while Arizona had a 3.1-percent drop. Nevada had a 4.8-percent drop, leading the pack of Western states.
Out of all the states and the District of Columbia, only North Dakota increased its driving miles -- by 0.7 percent.
Gas prices reached their 2007 peak in May, topping out at nearly $3.50 per gallon.
According to the report:
Traffic Volume Trends is a monthly report based on hourly traffic count data. These data, collected at approximately 4,000 continuous traffic counting locations nationwide, are used to determine the percent change in traffic for the current month compared to the same month in the previous year.
Comments:
Posted 08/03/2008 02:44 with
NM show a big enough drop they will all be walking, riding horses or bikes by next May 2/3 less is alot less, ie 520 million miles NET less is the diff from 777 down to 257.
On the rest of the States…those 2 to 4.8% drops are not much considering the price increase from last year. Evidently money is not an object to most regarding gas consumption.