What's In A Statistic?
Thursday August 25, 2005
The
Detroit News, in an op-ed that opposes President Bush's proposed fuel mileage standards, asks "what happened when fuel economy improved?" Their answer: "Consumers bought bigger vehicles and drove them farther." The editors present a
chart showing ever-increasing vehicle miles -- rising at an alarming 45 degree angle.
The Detroit News fails to note that fuel economy has not improved since 1987 -- in fact, it peaked in 1987. This fact alone makes the Detroit News claim suspect.
The data? In 1975 we drove 1,326 billion miles versus 2,891 billion in 2003. Miles drive have (slightly) more than doubled, but what about cars? Drivers? Are there other factors that might have boosted number of miles driven?
According to NHTSA, the total number of registered vehicles increased from 137.9 million in 1975 to 236.8 million in 2003 -- not quite doubling - so on average cars are going more miles per year. At the same time, women entered the workforce and began driving. So the demographic of today's driver does not match that of 1975.
Also, according to US News, in 1997, suburb-to-suburb commuting accounted for 44 percent of metro traffic and only 20 percent was suburb-to-downtown. In short, we don't live close to work anymore -- and in most two-adult households, both work. Given the state of mass transit in the US, that means both probably drive.
I'm not convinced that improved fuel economy caused these changes. I won't, however, argue that government transportation policies had no impact on the growth of suburbia or business flight from urban to suburban areas.
Technorati Tags:
Energy, Gas, Politics
The Detroit News fails to note that fuel economy has not improved since 1987 -- in fact, it peaked in 1987. This fact alone makes the Detroit News claim suspect.
The data? In 1975 we drove 1,326 billion miles versus 2,891 billion in 2003. Miles drive have (slightly) more than doubled, but what about cars? Drivers? Are there other factors that might have boosted number of miles driven?
According to NHTSA, the total number of registered vehicles increased from 137.9 million in 1975 to 236.8 million in 2003 -- not quite doubling - so on average cars are going more miles per year. At the same time, women entered the workforce and began driving. So the demographic of today's driver does not match that of 1975.
Also, according to US News, in 1997, suburb-to-suburb commuting accounted for 44 percent of metro traffic and only 20 percent was suburb-to-downtown. In short, we don't live close to work anymore -- and in most two-adult households, both work. Given the state of mass transit in the US, that means both probably drive.
I'm not convinced that improved fuel economy caused these changes. I won't, however, argue that government transportation policies had no impact on the growth of suburbia or business flight from urban to suburban areas.
Technorati Tags:
Energy, Gas, Politics