Gas prices are lowest since last Halloween

Gas prices are falling faster than Isaac Newton's apple, and even faster than the Dow Jones average.

Times are bad, but this is good.

Triangle drivers paid $42.51 for a 15-gallon fill-up Monday (at an average $2.834 a gallon for self-service regular). That's the cheapest gas we've seen since last Halloween.

It's a drop of $16 per tankful in the past month, and $5.35 in the past week. At this rate, that price will lose another $2 or $3 by Friday, when Halloween rolls around again.

We're talking real money here.

Sure, we know that what comes down must go up again. But not yet -- given the stunning decline in oil prices to $63 a barrel Monday. Not yet.

Cheaper gas is not the only good news to spring from the continuing global economic shrinkage.

We Americans began cutting back on our driving last fall -- and we turned more to public transit -- when gas prices were shooting toward the $4 mark. In August alone, Americans drove 15 billion miles less, or 5.6 percent, than during the same month in 2007, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

Gas prices have fallen by more than $1 since then, but our overall financial problems are worse. So economists say we're still driving less.

Until prosperity returns, we can take cheer in the benefits of reduced driving: cleaner air, fewer traffic jams on Interstate 40, and fewer deadly crashes on our streets and highways.

State troopers report a 17 percent decline in North Carolina highway fatalities so far this year -- 190 fewer crash deaths than during the same period in 2007.

Meanwhile, as long as pump prices keep falling three to five cents a day, filling your tank looks like a dumb investment.

If you're just tootling around town, there's no need to splurge on more than a few gallons. Each gallon will be cheaper tomorrow.

If you're leaving town, don't waste your precious gas money in the high-price Triangle. AAA says gas is cheaper everywhere else in North Carolina, and across most of the Southeast.

In recent years, North Carolina prices usually have stayed below the national average. Gas usually has been cheaper in the Triangle than in Asheville and some other parts of the state. But we've been out of kilter since the September unpleasantness known as Hurricane Ike, which pinched the Gulf of Mexico refineries that supply most of North Carolina's gas. Prices have stayed higher here than in the rest of the state.

Not just the gas tax

Triangle drivers are still griping.

"It seems to be more expensive in Raleigh than everywhere else in North Carolina," said Dave Davidson, 66, of Raleigh. "And I was amazed at how quickly the prices dropped even further when we crossed the state line into Virginia."

No, it's not simply about the gas tax.

Drivers pay 10.2 cents per gallon more in gas taxes here than in Virginia. But our statewide average price Monday ($2.759 for regular) was 22 cents higher than Virginia's ($2.536).

Compared with South Carolina, we pay 13.4 cents more in gas taxes. But our average price Monday was 23 cents higher.

Until things get better, let's hang onto good habits we picked up when the pump price hit $4.

I'm keeping my I-40 cruise control at 62 mph. And I only bought five gallons this weekend.