AAA Reports Road Trips on the Rise Due to Low Gas Prices
Karla SanchezWriter
AAA Reports Road Trips on the Rise Due to Low Gas Prices
Karla SanchezWriter
If you've been longing to go on a road trip, now might be the time to do it. AAA released a report on falling gas prices and their effect on our driving habits, revealing that more Americans are planning on hitting the road.
The insurance agency conducted a telephone interview of 1,007 adults in the U.S. early last month and found that the decreasing gas prices are encouraging more people to get in their cars and drive far. Overall, 6 in 10 Americans said they're more likely to take a road trip of 50 miles or more away from home if gas prices stay at the same affordable level, with younger Americans more willing to do so. Breaking it down by age, AAA found that 68 percent of Americans between 18-34 years old would embark on a 50-plus-mile trip, while only 57 percent of people over 35 years old would do the same.
Although the surveyed drivers claim they're more likely to take a road trip, only 13 percent of them reported on driving more because of the lower gas prices. The majority of these people (19 percent) were between 18-34 years of age, while only 10 percent were over 35. AAA says this finding shows that drivers aren't very likely to change their driving habits even with more affordable gas prices.
Even with the national average price of gas at $2.58 per gallon, 39 percent of Americans think that's too high. According to the report, a large chunk of people think gas is affordable only when it's well below $2.00 per gallon. A whopping 99 percent of Americans believe gas is cheap at $1.00, while just 58 percent define $1.50 per gallon as cheap. Most Americans agreed $3.00 is way too much to pay for a gallon of gas, but that doesn't compare to how much drivers were paying at the pump years prior. In March 2013, the national average was $3.64 a gallon, but it has continued to fall, with that number dropping down to $3.49 in March 2014 and to $2.39 in April 2015.
With the price per gallon down to a more favorable number, are you more likely to pack up the car and hit the road? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: AAA
