High cost in car fuel can’t stop US highway travelers

This situation has been on-going in spite of the increase of the regular car fuel cost which is pegged at $2.85 per gallon this April with an observed increase of 80 cents as compared to the same month last year, the Energy Department said.

It was also believed that the increase of the number of miles Americans travelled occurred following a two-month decline brought about by the period that was experienced during the winter storms experienced at the eastern part of the United States which drove drivers out their regular route.

According to Phil Flynn, senior energy analyst of PFGBest Research in Chicago, the good weather condition that appeared in April followed by the Easter holiday could have possibly account for the increase of travels in spite of the increase of pump price of regular gasoline.

Flynn indicated that the increased demand we saw in April doesn’t have the legs that people can expect.

The most number of miles drove by US drivers in April was also observed to have taken place at the US central region, from Dakota to Ohio, registering an uptrend of 2.2 percent or about 57 billion miles. It was followed by a 1.7 percent increase or 50.7 billion miles equivalent among highway travelers at South Gulf area from Texas to Tennessee and Alabama.

On the other hand, the month of May highway travel would register a decline as an aftermath of the low employment opportunities in the private sector. The report stated that the total number of miles driven this year decreased by about 0.2 percent or equivalent to 1.6 miles as compared to the same period last year.

On the overall, only 7 states in the US registered a decline in highway travels with Nevada at 1.7 percent, and Oregon at 1.2 percent which left the mark of being the greatest declines ever recorded.