New habits die hard: Lower gas prices don’t equal more driving
Photo
Doug Reinke fills his truck's tank with gas on Staurday afternoon. Lower prices means less pain at the pump and Reinke was able to top off his 26 gallon tank for under $30.
JANESVILLE — Phil Walker, Beloit, has a unique way of dealing with fluctuating gas prices.
“I put $20 in the gas tank each week and that’s as far as I drive,” Walker said. “That’s it.”
Walker drives a 1994 Olds 98, and recently that $20 has taken the Olds a long way.
But just a few short months ago, when gas was teetering around $4 a gallon, that $20 would have hardly made a splash in the bottom of the tank.
Between July 17 and Saturday, a gallon of regular in the Janesville-Beloit area went from a record price of $4.06 to $1.75, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. A year ago, the price of gas was $3.16
Even with lower gas prices, AAA reported Thanksgiving travel was down slightly for the first time since 2002. More than 33.2 million Americans, or 81 percent of all holiday travelers, were expected to travel by automobile, a 1.2 percent decrease from the 33.6 million people a year ago.
On Saturday, local residents filling up at the Lions Quick Mart on Milton Avenue said their habits had not changed: those who had cut back on driving when gas was expensive, still drive less.
Others who took the $4 gas in painful stride aren’t driving any more either.
“I’ve just gotten into the habit of driving less,” said Coralee Anderson. “For a while, the only place I went was work and home.”
Recently, her work eliminated a shift and she is working less, so the lower prices have helped her overall financial situation.
Her family owns a small farm in Dane County, and they have made permanent changes, too.
“They used to have three cars, now they’re using one,” Anderson said.
Doug Reinke, also of Janesville, was filling up his GMC Sierra.
“It’s nice,” Reinke said. “Instead of $100, it’s more like $50,” he said.
His habits did not change when prices went up—he still had to get places, after all.
Walker has seen the impact of gas prices both at home and on the Interstate.
He’s a truck driver who frequents the Chicago and Milwaukee routes.
“There’s a lot fewer people on the road,” Walker said. “Other truckers have said it, too.”
Sure, a lot of that has to do with gas prices, but Walker thinks there are other reasons, too: in a down economy, job losses mean fewer commuters on the Interstate.
Dec 1, 2008 at 3:03 a.m.
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sat4u, you are the perfect example of what I was talking about. pathetic. In case you didnt know, oil prices were at record highs in MOST of the world. Not just here. SO the whole "in bed with the oil companies" thing really shows your ignorance.
Dec 1, 2008 at 12:12 a.m.
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Don't worry people the oil companies are still gonna make their money, just wait till you get your heating bill in January now that the cold and snow is here, they have us right where they want us! Natural gas and heating oil will still cost an arm and yes even A leg this winter.......
Nov 30, 2008 at 6:18 p.m.
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Hopefully now that a new President is coming into office, one that is not in bed with the oil companies, our gas prices will stay low.
Nov 30, 2008 at 3:15 p.m.
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Im not a Bush supporter per-se. I think hes a bad president, but most of them are. anyway, where are all those people who said it was Bushs fault the gas prices were so high? I dont see any of them thanking him for prices going back below $2 a gallon. Oh but let me guess, he has nothing to do with the price drop. But it was ALL his fault the price went up. Hypocrites.
Nov 30, 2008 at 2:37 p.m.
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I just filled my tank. I'm giddy. I'm going to drive around for awhile so I can put more gas in.
Nov 30, 2008 at 1:08 p.m.
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From Wikapedia:
Astroturfing in American English is a neologism for formal public relations campaigns in politics and advertising which seek to create the impression of being spontaneous "grassroots" behavior, hence the reference to the artificial grass, AstroTurf.
The goal of such a campaign is to disguise the efforts of a political or commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some political entity—a politician, political group, product, service or event. Astroturfers attempt to orchestrate the actions of apparently diverse and geographically distributed individuals, by both overt ("outreach", "awareness", etc.) and covert (disinformation) means. Astroturfing may be undertaken by an individual pushing a personal agenda or highly organized professional groups with financial backing from large corporations, non-profits, or activist organizations. Very often the efforts are conducted by political consultants who also specialize in opposition research.
Nov 30, 2008 at 9:54 a.m.
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janesvillian Can you educate me on astroturfing?
Nov 30, 2008 at 9 a.m.
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Hey Gazette:
How come I can't open the possible loss of retirees benefits link in the Gazette today. This is very important and it won't let me open it. What's the deal?
Nov 30, 2008 at 2:06 a.m.
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No posting history, two posts about this book? Sounds like astroturfing to me.
Nov 30, 2008 at 1:08 a.m.
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Not enough credit is being given to the high gas prices this past year and it's serious damage on our economy. The price of every consumer product rose sharply as increased production and shipping costs were passed on to us. Electric companies asked for and were granted record price hikes as well. Record numbers of jobs and homes have been lost as a direct result of the high cost of gas this past year. We cut back, tightened out belts so to speak. We went out eat less or at all, quit buying new clothing as often, some even forced to quit taking necessary medicines. That sadly resulted in even more jobs being lost. We are strained to the max. Even now that gas prices have come back down most are so far behind they will never get caught up. The price of groceries have not gone back down. Most are in smaller packaging and still cost almost twice as much. The electric bill is still the highest it has ever been. Lower prices at the pumps really mean little right now as the residual effects of last year are still pummeling us. And, while we are doing the happy dance around the lower prices at the pumps OPEC is announcing cuts to manipulate the prices upward again.We can't take another year like this past. There is a wonderful new book out about the energy crisis and what it would take for America to become energy independent.This book is profoundly informative and our country needs to become more informed and move forward with becoming energy independent. Green technology would not only provide clean cheap energy it would create millions of badly needed new jobs. The Book is called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence NOW. www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com I highly recommend this book if you are distressed about our economy, would like to see new jobs created and see our country become energy independent.
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