Why are we driving less?

The Question: Americans are driving less. Why?

For more the a year, the average distance that Americans drive has fallen, and we can no longer blame high fuel prices — that cost of a gallon of gas is down more than 50 percent from a year ago.

Nate Silver is among those who believes that we might be seeing the first signals that the US is moving away from our car culture:

[T]here is some evidence that more Americans are at least entertaining the idea of leading a more car-free existence. Between October 2004, when gas prices first hit two dollars a gallon, and December 2008, when they fell below this threshold, three cities with among the largest declines in housing prices were Las Vegas (-37 percent), Detroit (-34 percent), and Phoenix (-15 percent), each highly car-dependent cities. Conversely, the two markets with the largest gains in housing prices were Portland, Oregon (+19 percent), and Seattle (+18 percent), communities that are more friendly to alternate modes of transportation.