Vehicle Miles Travelled : Pulse of the Nation

Our economy depends on transport and travel. If goods and people do not move, nothing can be done. This is still true even in this era of the Internet. Vehicle miles travelled in a period of time gives the total mileage covered by vehicles. Watching highway vehicle miles travelled is like watching an electrocardiogram ... it lets us see the beating pulse of our nation.



The chart above comes from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. It shows monthly data collected on the total number of miles travelled by all vehicles on US highways.

Notice how every year tends to have a similar shaped down-spike and upper peak. The down spike seems to be in January and February, probably because of winter weather. One interesting thing to notice is that the down spike from 2010 is the lowest in 6 years. Perhaps because everyone is trying to Save on Gas.

Make sure to read tomorrow's blog post to find out what advice the Governor of California has for Detroit.