Question of the Day: Are You Driving Less?

Jonny Lieberman
by Jonny Lieberman

Gas tax holiday, shocking pain at the pumps, trucker strikes protests, all time record oil prices. You flip through a newspaper, and despite a presidential election, immigrant rights marches, people getting sent home from American Idol and oh yeah, a war on two fronts, there is little talk of anything but our (possibly) imploding economy and the fact that it costs Mrs. Johnson $120 to fill up the soccer team's Sequoia. One conclusion to be drawn: the media likes scaring people. Remember last week's the oddball reports on a possible American food shortage ('Sam's Club would only let customers purchase four 50-pound bags of gourmet rice at a time')? The other conclusion is that American's don't have a lot of money, $4 a gallon stings and they're driving less. I'm not. In fact, due to my passive aggressive approach to personal finances, I'm driving more. But, I did notice today that traffic on the 5 near downtown Los Angeles was particularly light. Maybe others are driving less? Are you?

Jonny Lieberman
Jonny Lieberman

Cleanup driver for Team Black Metal V8olvo.

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  • GS650G GS650G on May 02, 2008

    I'm taking the motorcycle everywhere and combining trips.

  • NeonCat93 NeonCat93 on May 02, 2008

    Jonny, Part of it yesterday may have been the May Day work stoppage by the ILWU at ALL the ports on the West Coast to protest the war. As for me, I still drive to work, drive home. I still get passed by people driving large, thirsty vehicles, so here in ATL I guess people aren't feeling the pain or just don't care.

  • Oldyak Oldyak on May 02, 2008

    I go to work in the middle of thenight and now I drive at a slower speed....and I`ve noticed that I am getting passed less and less as the fuel prices go up. I also used to get home..put the kayak on top and make a 20 min drive to a nice little lake down the road.Now I use the crappy little lake thats on my way home from work. but I guess water is water...and i still get the exercise value...just not the scenery...

  • Eh_political Eh_political on May 02, 2008

    oldyak: last year i bought a bic yakka. it folds in half and has an inflatable perimiter above the waterline that makes it a bit more versatile than a traditional sit on top. its about 40lbs and less than 5 feet long when folded, so you can tuck it inside practically any vehicle, and create more opportunities to paddle. check it out.

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