WASHINGTON (Jan. 23, 2009)—U.S. motorists drove 12.9 billion miles less in November 2008 than they did for the same month in 2007, according to the latest figures from the Federal Highway Administration.
Travel on U.S. roads and streets in November 2008 totaled 230.4 billion miles, a 5.3-percent drop from the 243.3 billion miles recorded in November 2007, said the FHWA's latest “Travel Trends” release.
This is the 13th consecutive month that vehicle travel has declined in the U.S., the FHWA said in a press release. The total decline in miles driven between November 2007 and November 2008 now exceeds 112 billion miles, dwarfing the 49.9-billion-mile reduction during the energy crisis of the 1970s, the agency said.