Dr. Mike Walden, North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, responds:

"Actually, yes. The available data we have through last year show that North Carolina drivers actually are doing their part. For example, when people were driving more between the years 2002 and 2006, vehicle miles traveled per person in the nation went up 2 percent a year. In North Carolina they went up 4 percent a year, so we were actually driving more at a faster rate - if you will - than the nation. But interestingly, recently as U.S. drivers have backed off and are driving less, North Carolina drivers have actually done that to a greater degree. For example, vehicle miles driven per person in North Carolina fell 6 percent a year between 2006 and 2008, and that was the seventh fastest drop among all states. So I think the message here is that we go through more of an up and down regarding driving. When the economy is good and gas prices are low, we're driving a lot more than other folks. But when the economy gets bad and specifically when gas prices go up, we pull back more here in North Carolina than folks elsewhere do."