by Calculated Risk on 8/21/2009 12:56:00 PM
Friday, August 21, 2009
DOT: Vehicle Miles Increased in June
Although vehicle miles increased in June 2009 compared to June 2008, miles driven are still 3.3% below the peak for the month of June in 2007.
The Dept of Transportation reports on U.S. Traffic Volume Trends:
Travel on all roads and streets changed by +2.0% (4.9 billion vehicle miles) for June 2009 as compared with June 2008. Travel for the month is estimated to be 256.7 billion vehicle miles.
Cumulative Travel for 2009 changed by -0.4% (-6.1 billion vehicle miles).
![Vehicle Miles Driven](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwwZvXhhyVtFE4kqeN3NuAZG-YojNqMOlGlV7QOttEEKV431R6Iimi7usJgm7AwDKzEV77X7-qNRaZotkQEpNCKESc-p-rNpBELZU_SSS1ug40gMTbDvOdDeRUvuBrWBs0-ncBnw/s320/VehicleMilesJuneRolling.jpg)
The first graph shows the rolling 12 month of U.S. vehicles miles driven.
By this measure (used to remove seasonality) vehicle miles declined sharply and are now moving sideways.
![Vehicle Miles YoY](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg2gRj6w798NqUFx48r-T6akxplBTITGp4C-hTWINKQv1gJkEa851gMwK5nvql6i5mbl02-4LfU4374xkoFP0mC0GHABBRIHj1NzSrtO_EN-_pay_CCS8mczfhfnwHLLV3GCpH7A/s320/VehicleMilesJuneYoY.jpg)
As the DOT noted, miles driven in June 2009 were 2.0% greater than in June 2008.
Year-over-year miles driven started to decline in December 2007, and really fell off a cliff in March 2008. This makes for an easier comparison for June 2009.