Tank is half full

The current trends in gasoline prices have led many Americans to envision a world in which the price displays on gas pumps resemble slot machines along the Vegas strip, numbers spinning in constant upward motion. Already, I find myself saying, “In the good old days, I could fill up my car for less than $20!”

I got my license five years ago.

We are all feeling the economic pinch of higher gas prices right now––but there are some subtle perks.

The most obvious is that people drive less. Gas purchases were down 3 percent in early July compared to the same month last year. This obviously equals less pollution and all its accompanying misery. But there are a lot of unnoticed benefits as well.
Perhaps most importantly, studies have begun to link higher fuel prices to a reduction in auto fatalities. Professors Michael Morrissey of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and David Grabowski of Harvard Medical School found that for every 10 percent increase in gas prices, there was a 2.3 percent decline in automobile-related deaths. This effect was the most pronounced for younger drivers: the decline was 6 percent for drivers aged 16-17 and 3.2 percent for those aged 18-21.

Several factors influence this correlation: People drive slower to maximize their mileage, they are more likely to upgrade from older vehicles to newer, more fuel efficient and safer ones, and all drivers, especially teenagers who demographically have the least amount of cash and are also the most high-risk vehicle operators, will drive less to save money.

All this combines to reduce vehicular deaths by as many as 1,000 per month (which would reduce all auto fatalities by approximately one third) according to Morrissey’s estimate. For those of us aged 5 to 34 this is a significant plus to higher gas prices, as we are more likely to die in a car crash than any other way.

Besides car crashes, obesity is a leading cause of death that is poised to overtake tobacco as the top cause of preventable death in the near future. Some studies have actually linked the lowering of real gas prices to Americans’ expanding waistlines and Charles Courtemanche of Washington University in St. Louis found that for every dollar increase in the average real price of gas, overweight and obesity levels in the United States would eventually decline by 16 percent. As gas costs rise, people walk and bike more and are less likely to eat out.

These two examples are not the only benefits as people are to make behavioral shifts. Businesses are becoming more local due to rising shipping costs. Americans are rethinking our dependency on foreign oil and more people have begun seeing this as a national security threat. The sagging housing market is picking up a bit in cities as people abandon suburbia for the relief of a shorter commute. Hollywood is even boasting higher sales as people opt for the local cinema in place of a long drive.
While none of this may make your next fill-up any less painful, it is nice to know that there is a silver lining.