Americans Are Driving Less. So What Are They Doing Instead?

Apparently more Americans are doing
this than going out. Although at my
house family game night is never
this happy.

Due to an improved economy and low gas prices, the number of miles driven has gone up recently. For a while there though, driving rates had dropped, due to a variety of reasons including a poor economy that had many people out of work, high gas prices and other factors. Was one of those factors that people were finding other, more active, ways to commute. Part of it could be, but Citylab says the real reason there has been less driving is that people just aren't leaving the house.

A new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine says Americans (Millennials, in particular) drove an average of 600 miles less each year from 2004 to 2014. That same period saw a noticeable drop in road-related fatalities, which could be attributed to safer vehicles and better driving, or to less time spent behind the wheel. Data suggests the latter.

A report on the study says that Americans are going fewer places because technology has made it easier to work, shop and see entertainment at home; increasing debt has people staying home to save money; and people getting married and having kids later in life cut down on certain kinds of trips, such as to schools and doctors.