AAA: Gas might be reaching summer plateau

After rising for the much of the spring and summer, gas prices may finally be leveling in time for the long Independence Day weekend, says a spokesman for AAA. The local average price for a gallon of regular unleaded is $2.52, up 13 cents from a month ago. But that’s down 5 cents a gallon from a week ago and down $1.44 from what the price was during Independence Day 2007. Michael Right, a spokesman for AAA, says the prices seem to be stabilizing, now that crude oil prices are hovering around $70 a barrel and demand remains down because of the recession. “It’s almost impossible to predict gasoline prices, but we may be reaching a plateau in terms of prices for the rest of the summer,” Right says. Overall vehicle traffic is expected to be down 1.9% nationwide this weekend from what it was during last year’s Fourth of July weekend. That fits with the ongoing trend. Since late 2007 the number of vehicle miles driven in a month has steadily decreased. That trend turned around in April, when the most recent figures show that the number of miles driven in the month was up a modest 0.6% over April 2008.—Timothy Boone