[AgentR]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KillTheHumans', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR', 'W')asn't really expecting that sort of effect for quite a while; disturbing to see it already having an effect on the macro scale.

[phaeryen]

Everyone already knows it but just a reminder: any drop in US consumption is immediately absorbed by the growth of demand in china+india and others, so from a global peak oil perspective america driving less is a non-event.

Many of you guys are north american though, and less driving might indicate that some adaptation to the problem is taking place. Or it just might be, for the most part, brutal demand destruction resulting in restless angry sheeple.

[KillTheHumans]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR', '
')
Its kinda like; you prepare yourself to be able to work a few acres of garden and a dozen or so acre-feet of fish pond, but you really, Really, REALLY, hope that its all just for fun... a diversion for the mind.. a peculiar fantasy of doomer-porn...

Not, O crud, next year's potatoes could go from entertainment spuds.. to subsistence spuds.

[DantesPeak]

Weekly figures from the US energy adminstration don't indicate anything more than a minor fall off in gasoline demand.

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/wgfupus2w.htm

Final monthly revisions for March are not yet available, but at most, I think March gasoline use per the DOE would be down only 1%.

[pup55]

If not lost in one of the other threads, we did a calculation the other day that pointed out that there were 22 commuting days in March of 07, but 21 commuting days in March of 08, a decrease of 4.3%

January and February of '08 were up versus last year.

DP is right. The actual products supplied numbers are pretty consistently within a percentage or so, and the "calculated demand" which we do, has been equal out to the second decimal place the last few weeks.

[AgentR]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KillTheHumans', 'P')eople driving less isn't a precursion to Doom, its a precursor to people demanding the replacement for ICE powered transport.

[JohnDenver]

Biggest drop in miles traveled since 1942

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')mericans Driving At Historic Lows
Eleven Billion Fewer Vehicle Miles Traveled in March 2008 Over Previous March

WASHINGTON -- Americans drove less in March 2008, continuing a trend that began last November, according to estimates released today from the Federal Highway Administration.

“That Americans are driving less underscores the challenges facing the Highway Trust Fund and its reliance on the federal gasoline excise tax,” said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Jim Ray.

The FHWA’s “Traffic Volume Trends” report, produced monthly since 1942, shows that estimated vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on all U.S. public roads for March 2008 fell 4.3 percent as compared with March 2007 travel. This is the first time estimated March travel on public roads fell since 1979. At 11 billion miles less in March 2008 than in the previous March, this is the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history.

[joeltrout]

I am looking forward to the Memorial Day driving numbers.

That too should show us how much people are being affected.

joeltrout

[joewp]

Yep, and as VMT keeps declining, the country will slip a little deeper into recession and eventually into depression. By the way, since about 10% of the fuel in our gas tanks is now ethanol, you won't see a corresponding decline in gasoline usage, since there's less energy in your tank and you need more fuel to go the same mileage.

Are you becoming a doomer or something, JD?

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joewp', '.')..
Are you becoming a doomer or something, JD?

[Impervius]

What makes me laugh is AAA's prediction that Memorial Day weekend driving would be down by 1%.

[DantesPeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnDenver', 'B')iggest drop in miles traveled since 1942

[Blacksmith]

Wishfull thinking.

Tell that to the guy who passed me ( going 95 mph) in the bus sized motor home, pulling a Lexus SUV.

[jbeckton]

Not long ago there are more than a few people here who would have said $130 oil would have us ALREADY well into a great depression let alone a recession.

We shall see just how inelastic oil is in the comming years.

Me, I see SUV's rusting on the lot while hybrids and compacts begin to fill the roads.

[frankthetank]

Say bye bye to the tourism industry.

[Byron100]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Blacksmith', 'W')ishfull thinking.

Tell that to the guy who passed me ( going 95 mph) in the bus sized motor home, pulling a Lexus SUV.

[DantesPeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jbeckton', 'N')ot long ago there are more than a few people here who would have said $130 oil would have us ALREADY well into a great depression let alone a recession.

We shall see just how inelastic oil is in the comming years.

Me, I see SUV's rusting on the lot while hybrids and compacts begin to fill the roads.