WASHINGTON — High gasoline prices and an economy slowing down are causing drivers to decrease their automobile trips significantly, which could contribute to fuel price declines this spring and summer, USA Today reports.

U.S. drivers purchased 1 percent fewer gallons on average during January compared with the same period in 2007, according to the Energy Information Administration. This is the second-consecutive week of year-over-year declines; during the past decade, weekly gasoline purchase has advanced an average of 1.6 percent.

“It’s prices and the economy,” EIA senior oil market analyst Douglas MacIntyre said. “We’ve had several months of $3 or so gasoline. People are probably thinking it’s more lasting than a price spike. (And) the slowing down of the economy means people are buying less, going to the store less…people are just changing their driving patterns.”

Bill Douglass, owner of Douglass Distributing in Sherman, Texas, told the newspaper that fuel sales have fallen 3.5 percent during the past few months at stations open at least a year. He attributes the decline to consumers consolidating trips to conserve fuel. “People are becoming more concerned about the economy,” he said.

On Thursday, the U.S. average price for a gallon of regular was $2.97, a drop of 13 cents from a month ago, but still 79 cents higher than last year, according to motorist club AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.

NACS examines the basic conditions that affect the industry and how consumers say they are affected by high gasoline prices in the recently released 2008 gas price kit.