Congress is on recess this week. American Commuters Ditching The Car, Government Says

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Americans drove nearly 10 billion fewer miles in May
compared with miles driven a year earlier, according to a report from the Federal
Highway Administration. 

"We have seen the longest decline in vehicular miles
traveled since we started collecting this data," said
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters.

Peters said that in the first four months of this year,
Americans traveled 40.5 billion miles less compared with the same period in
2007.

Many of these commuters turned to mass transit or
teleworking from home.

Rising
gas prices are a principle cause of the driving decline, and the use of
public transportation is soaring, said Virginia Miller, spokeswoman for the
American Public Transit Association.