Gas Prices Starting to Ease

Gas prices are starting to ease just as the traditional driving season begins in earnest. Unofficially, the season begins on Memorial Day weekend.

According to Automobile Association of America (AAA), gas prices have fallen from historic highs in April, where the average cost of a gallon of gas in the fuel-thirsty Los Angeles area peaked at just over $2.62 per gallon.
The lower price trend shows every sign of continuing through the rest of May, according to AAA.

"There is ample crude oil in the nation's inventories to meet our needs and those levels are having a calming effect on international crude markets, where prices had been fluctuating," said Auto Club spokesperson Carol Thorp. "The downward trend appears to be accelerating and motorists can expect to see further declines at the gas pumps for several weeks to come."

The decrease comes as good news to travellers and commuters who rely on their cars to get to work. However, from an evironmental perspective, one of the upsides of the high gas prices has been a spike in the interest in and sales of hybrid vehicles.

Historically, spikes in gas prices have prompted consumers to seek out cars with higher gas mileage. After the oil shock in the early 1970s doubled the price of a gallon of gas, American drivers began seeking more economical cars. At the time, most were Japanese or European models, prompting American car makers to race to develop higher-mileage cars.

The late 1990s, however, saw historic lows in the price of a gallon of gas. In Austin, Texas, regular unleaded gasoline fell to below 80 cents per gallon in 1998. When the 38-cent gas tax is factored out, the actual market price for a gallon had fallen to about 40 cents -- the lowest in US history in inflation-adjusted dollars.

The popularity of pickup trucks and SUVs soared during that time, lowering the average gas mileage of the entire fleet of cars on the road in the US, down from the 1987 record of about 26 miles per gallon.