The Federal Highway Administration estimates that Americans drove 1.6 percent fewer miles in December 2008 than in December of the previous year. That makes 14 consecutive months of driving declines. The biggest drops were in Oregon and Washington, due “in part, to unusually large snowfall.”

Curiously, auto traffic went up in Massachusetts last December by 3.0 percent Only Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas registered bigger increases.

Was our counter-trend due to falling gas prices? Was it frustration with the MBTA? (Ridership did go down in December; see the fourth paragraph.) Or were Bay Staters doing all their Christmas shopping in New Hampshire?