The US automotive market is one of the few in the world which currently laughs in the face of economic recession. Sales are up, as is production, so you would imagine that there would be more vehicles on the road than ever, and that people would be driving their rides for longer, thanks to ever-improving efficiency and (still) relatively low fuel prices.
However, it seems that reality doesn’t come to compliment any of the above, and in fact, two recent studies pokes some serious holes into that kind of thinking…
According to a University of Michigan researcher by the name of Michael Sivak (a name we have heard before…) the American public’s priorities are shifting (towards walking, public transport, apparently). He correlates many different aspects into his studies, and surprisingly, they all add up and confirm that 2004 or four years before to the global economic nosedive, was actually the year when US drivers covered the greatest combined distance.
Sure, sales may have peaked in 2008, but apparently, these new vehicles have been driven less than they would have half a decade ago – the total number of light-duty vehicles also incidentally peaked that year.
Between 2006 and 2011, the number of absolute miles driven by light-duty vehicles went down by 5 percent; while the discrepancy between the latter and levels recorded seven years prior is even greater, standing at 8.9 percent – “the distance per licensed driver fell to 12,492 miles in 2011 from 13,711 in 2004, an 8.9% decline. Households as a whole were driving 9.4% fewer miles in 2011 as compared with 2004.”
This just puts “going green” into perspective, and shows that the American people have been doing so for almost a decade, without even being aware of it – it was the natural trend they all followed… It doesn’t simply resort to buying a hybrid and having a mildly-smug attitude; it’s a real commitment to changing your life, using whatever vehicle you have less, taking the bus and never leaving the light on in a room where it is not absolutely needed.
By Andrei Nedelea
Story References: QZ
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