Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

MORE AND and more Jamaican motorists are driving less as they struggle to deal with rising gas prices.

A Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson poll found that more than six out of every 10 Jamaicans have decided to cut down on their driving because of increasing prices.

That is consistent with what is happening in the United States where a recent USA TODAY/Gallup poll found that seven out of 10 Americans are combining trips and taking other steps to reduce driving.

Driving fewer miles

According to the Gallup poll, the average American motorist is driving substantially fewer miles for the first time in 26 years because of high gas prices and demographic shifts.

Back home, Johnson found that 65 per cent of motorists are driving less, 10 per cent are driving slower, while two in every 10 motorists are continuing as if there has been no change in gas prices.

The decision by motorists to reduce driving has already started to affect gas station operators, who are almost uniformly reporting a fall-off in gasolene sales. The Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Association (JGRA) says its members have reported a decline in volume sales of between 10 and 25 per cent.

However, an official of petroleum marketing company, Total Jamaica, on Friday said it had not seen a decline and, in fact, enjoyed an increase in sales last month.

But first vice-president of the JGRA, Trevor Barnes, says that is not the reality, and that the majority of its members are selling less gas.

"What is happening is that, if our customers usually buy $2,000 gas, they are still buying the same $2,000 as the prices go up," Barnes tells The Sunday Gleaner.

He accepts that there is nothing that gas station operators or any one else in Jamaica can do about the rising prices, and expresses concern about the impact the fall-off will have on operations.

Most motorists appear to share the position that the increase in gas prices is a worldwide phenomenon, with Jamaica sliding down a slippery slope.

Not much can be done

The Johnson poll, which was conducted on May 31 and June 1 across 84 communities islandwide, found that 76 per cent of Jamaicans accept there is not much the Bruce Golding administration can do about the prices, while 19 per cent claim the administration can do much more. The poll has an error margin of minus or plus three per cent.

However, the majority of those who say the adminis-tration can do much more are supporters of the Opposition People's National Party.