Less driving forces gas prices down

This year’s record-shredding spike in gasoline prices has finally ended, with prices throughout the country falling by more than a penny per day.

And American drivers can thank themselves for the drop.

Shocked by prices that reached $4.11 per gallon nationwide and $4.61 in California, drivers stopped buying as much fuel. That cut the demand for gasoline’s raw material, crude oil. Crude prices dropped as a result, taking gasoline prices with them.

Now the nationwide average for a gallon of regular gas is $3.96, 11 cents less than a week ago, according to the AAA auto club. California’s average remains substantially higher, at $4.32, but it fell 12 cents in the last week.

San Francisco Chronicle