US gasoline demand surges as cheaper prices spur record driving
2/22/2016 12:00:00 AM
NEW YORK, Feb 22 (Reuters) -- The US road renaissance continued into December as motorists logged 4% more miles than a year earlier and helped shatter the previous annual record, government data released on Monday showed.
Motorists traveled 264.2 billion miles on US roads and highways in December, the most ever for the month, according to the US Department of Transportation.
For the full year, US drivers traveled 3.15 trillion miles, 3.9% more than the previous record set in 2007.
Steadily sliding gasoline prices and a growing number of jobs have encouraged more driving. The average US pump price for gasoline was $1.71/gal on Monday, compared with $2.29 a year ago, according to motorists' advocacy group AAA.
Driving activity in the United States is closely watched since the country accounts for about 10% of global gasoline demand.
(Reporting by Josephine Mason and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Lisa Von Ahn)
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