It has been a long journey over the past year in regard to the price at the pump. Over the summer, many states were hovering just above or below the $4 mark. People began to carpool more and fill up less. The cars have gotten smaller, and the MPG has gotten larger. Families held off vacations. The cost of fuel made its way into everything we did, and everything we bought. It was no different in Austin.
The most recent gas prices in the Austin and Round Rock area are now right around $2 per gallon. It is a far cry from July, and it is going in the right direction. A barrel of gas over the summer was well above $100, which in turn increased the price at the pumps. Today, a barrel is about $60. This difference could mean a savings of about $125 billion, but for many it is still not enough to make them feel secure.
While gas is going in the right direction, the overall economy is on very shaky legs. The job market in much of the country has become stressed. Many people are concerned for their jobs, and even more are concerned about their retirement. Saving money at the pump is a welcome change, but it has not as of yet changed many people’s outlook. A few years ago, we may have used the money saved to really splurge on the holidays. Today, we are putting it away for later. The price per barrel is expected to decline, and the gas pump signs should continue to go down.
Austin may be the go to city for green building and innovations in alternative energy and energy saving construction, but it is not so great when it comes to saving on gasoline. A new study from Men’s Health magazine ranks Austinites 43rd out of a hundred major US cities when it comes to consumption of gasoline, subsequent quality of the city’s air, miles per gallon for their personal vehicles and the city’s mass transit system – both in quality and usage.
That’s still better than other cities in the state of Texas. Arlington hit the bottom of the list at 100th, and El Paso wasn’t much better, ranking 98th. Other cities in Texas that hovered near the bottom were Fort Worth at 95, San Antonio at 94, and Houston which came in at 86. Dallas fared a little better, showing up at 67th.
The best showing for cities in Texas were Lubbock, who came in at 32, and Corpus Christi, who was 34th.
According to the article in Men�s Health magazine, the poisonous emissions from the tailpipes of personal vehicles are responsible for 17 percent of the country’s greenhouse gases on an annual basis. Using data from such sources as the National Transit Database, the American Lung Association, Texas A&M’s Texas Transportation Institute and others, Men’s Health compiled the report, focusing on consumption, annual miles driven, the size, age, and tune-up schedule of personal vehicles, adding ozone and particulate matter in the city’s air plus the quality and usage of regional mass transit systems.
According to Allstate Insurance Company, drivers in Austin are 35 percent more likely to have a vehicular accident when compared to the nation as a whole. The report looks at insurance claims in the country’s 200 largest cities and concludes at Austin drivers are, for whatever reason, quite possibly the worse drivers in the nation.
In fact, Texans as a whole are fairly accident prone when they get behind the wheel. In the twenty cities the report examines, Houston drivers were 23 percent more likely to have an accident while in Dallas the probability is 27 percent and, in San Antonio, it’s 25 percent. Austinites also have more frequent accidents, with an average of less than seven and a half years between accidents. In Houston, it’s slightly over eight years, and about the same in Dallas – 7.8 years – and San Antonio – 8 years between accidents.
Sioux Falls, Iowa, checks in as the safest city for drivers in the national. Drivers there are 31 percent less likely to have a vehicular accident when compared with the rest of the US.
This report suggests that Texans aren’t as laid back as their stereotypical reputation might suggest. Maybe it’s the influx of new residents or the new popular trend to talk or text message while driving. It’s been proven in studies that using ones cell phone or other device while behind the wheel impairs ones driving ability to nearly the same degree as someone who is driving while intoxicated. So listen up, Austinites! Slow down, take it easy, and get off that cell phone!
