WASHINGTON -- Road trip! Drivers in the United States jumped into their vehicles and hit the road in December 2014, posting the biggest increase in miles driven since 2001, Reuters reported.
The Federal Highway Administration released its latest Traffic Volume Report last week, showing a 5% year-over-year jump in travel to hit 251.4 billion miles in December 2014. This marks the highest number of miles traveled for December, and the 10th consecutive monthly increase.
The South Gulf region saw the biggest increase for the month, with a 6.4% increase vs. December 2013. That trend may continue through 2015: Reuters market analyst John Kemp noted that in Texas--which is responsible for 10% of gasoline sales in the United States--receipts of motor fuel taxes for February 2015 rose 6% compared to February 2014.
"Texas tax statistics are the fastest leading indicator of fuel sales," said Kemp. "But nationwide data in recent months has painted a similar picture of rapidly growing gasoline and diesel sales across the country as the economy strengthens and cheaper prices encourage more driving."
Miles driven rose the least in the West, up 3.3%, according to Federal Highway Administration figures.
U.S. cumulative miles driven grew 1.7%, which is the greatest increase in a decade, hitting 3.02 trillion miles, coming close to a high point reached in 2007.
Analysts told Reuters that two big factors helped drive the growth in miles--gas prices and new cars.
"Two things come to mind: huge numbers in new vehicle sales in November and December and much lower gas prices," Robert Sinclair, AAA spokesperson, told the news agency. He pointed out the fact that vehicle sales hit records for November and December last year.
"People with new cars like to drive them," Sinclair said.
Meanwhile, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 4.4% jump in gasoline consumption in December 2014, hitting a record 9.3 million barrels per day.
This past winter's mile start--relative to last year--also helped drive the traffic numbers, analysts told Reuters.
Sinclair expects that miles traveled will continue to grow throughout 2015, driven by predicted low gasoline prices for the year.
"If gasoline prices fall even further, we could be in for a brisk summer at the pump," said Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddy.com's senior petroleum analyst.
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