Drivers
Getting Back on the Roads for Fourth Consecutive Month; Effects
Yet to be Seen in Auto Glass Business, Many Report
September 25, 2009
Vehicle Miles Driven by Region
(all in billions except totals)
|
|
July 2008
|
July 2009
|
Percent Change
|
Northeast |
39,537
|
40,099
|
+1.4
|
South Atlantic |
53,144
|
54,358
|
+2.3
|
North Central |
58,696
|
59,867
|
+2.0
|
South Gulf |
50,208
|
51,680
|
+2.9
|
West |
56,048
|
57,440
|
+2.5
|
Total |
257,633
|
263,447
|
+2.3
|
Source: Federal Highway
Administration
|
Travel on U.S. roads and highways continued to increase for the
month of July-for the fourth consecutive month-and was up by 2.3
percent for the same month in 2008, according to the latest report
from the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), a division of the
Department of Transportation. Miles driven during the month of July
increased by 5.8 billion miles over July 2008, and were estimated
at a total of 263.4 billion vehicle driven miles.
Cumulative travel for the month was almost identical to travel in
July 2008; in July 2009, a total of 1709.2 billion miles had been
driven since the beginning of the year, compared with 1709.8 billion
miles that were driven for the same period of 2008.
When broken down by region, all U.S. regions reported increases
in miles driven over last July, with the largest increase seen in
the South Gulf region-up 2.9 percent (1,472 million) from last year.
Travel has risen continually since April, according to reports from
FHA, which saw the first increase in a year over the previous year-of
0.6 percent. May 2009 saw a 0.1 percent increase over May 2008,
and June 2009 saw a 1.9 percent increase. (CLICK
HERE for related story.)
Despite this increase, respondents to a recent glassBYTEs.com/AGRR
magazine survey show few have seen the uptick in travel lead to
an upswing in business. Only 6.3 percent of those surveyed advised
they've seen a recent large increase in business; the majority of
those surveyed, 55.7 percent, advised business is currently very
slow. A few, 20.3 percent, reported a minor increase in business
in recent months, and 17.7 percent reported that business is steady,
but not any higher than usual.
Do you think business has increased any? Is the move into fall
causing a slowdown? Please e-mail pstacey@glass.com.
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|