Rising fuel costs have dampened gasoline demand from private motorists in the United States, leaving the market relying on continued economic and freight expansion to boost oil use. U.S. traffic volumes were up by just 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in the three months from April to June compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Traffic growth has slowed from an annual rate of between 2 percent and 3 percent through most of 2015 and 2016, when gasoline prices were low and falling (“Traffic Volume Trends,” FHA, August 2018). Traffic growth has been correlated with changes in gasoline prices for the past quarter century and recent fuel price increases have resulted in a predictable slowdown ( […]