Traffic Volume Reaches 21-Month High in June
The Federal Highway Administration reported today that travel on all roads and streets in the U.S. increased by +1.3% in June 2010 compared to the same month last year. Total travel for the month of June was an estimated 263.9 billion vehicle miles, the highest travel volume for the month of June since 2007. On a moving 12-month total basis, the annual vehicle-distance traveled through June was 2,981 billion miles, the highest 12-month total since September 2008, 21 months ago (see chart above).
Following a sharp decline in traffic volume that coincided almost perfectly with the recession that started in December 2007 and most likely ended in June 2009 (see shaded area in chart), the economic recovery that started sometime last summer has been accompanied by a gradual increase in traffic volume as both personal and commercial travel on U.S. roads and highways have rebounded.
4 Comments:
are all those cars carrying citizens of the United States to the greener pastures of Mexico?
Mexico has a strict - and enforced - immigration policy. Don't mess with them.
overlay this on an inverted scale chart of oil prices with about a 6 moth lag, and i think you'll see quite a strong correlation.
Yes, there's a correlation between gas prices and miles driven during the 2006-2010 period, but it's positive, not negative.
In 2006 and 2007, both gas prices and miles driven were increasing. Then in 2008, both gas prices and miles driven were falling, and in 2009-2010 both gas prices and miles driven have been rising. So there is a significantly significant positive relationship between gas prices and miles driven during this period (using OLS).
Lagging gas prices by six months makes the correlation and statistical significance (positive) even stronger.
Post a Comment
<< Home