Economic factors to keep driving down
If the price of oil continues to drop and gas becomes more affordable, will drivers spend more time burning fuel again? Ashley Milne-Tyte reports drivers will likely continue to hold back due to other economic concerns.
Driver behind the wheel. (iStockPhoto)
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TEXT OF STORY
Stacey Vanek-Smith: Of course, oil has fallen a bit recently. It's down about 15 percent from its high earlier this month. So if prices keep falling, will we pile back into our gas-guzzling SUVs and go on long, air-conditioned road trips again? Ashley Milne-Tyte takes a look.
Ashley Milne-Tyte: Roger Harms is a school counselor in Wichita, Kansas. He says he used to drive a lot. He'd make various runs around town and take long trips to visit friends and family out of state. This spring, he cut back.
Roger Harms: Far fewer impulse trips to go shopping, and far more likely to bunch the trips. If it's a rainy day, you know, then maybe wait till later, so I can bicycle.
Harms has no plans to drive more now gas prices are dropping. He says he's saving money and doing his bit to stem demand for foreign oil.
Geoff Sundstrom is a fuel price analyst with the Triple A. He says most drivers will continue to hold back.
Geoff Sundstrom: They still have significant worries about their long-term economic prospects in terms of what's happening in the housing market.
Not to mention the cost of food. Sundstrom says all that will have to go away -- and prices drop to three dollars a gallon or less -- before drivers will guzzle again.
I'm Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.
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