California motorists drive almost 1 billion miles every day, and in doing so consume around 40 million gallons of gasoline and 8 million gallons of diesel. Californians use their cars a bit less than the average U.S. resident but the state’s population is so large it is one of the largest driving markets in the world. State motorists account for 11 percent of all miles driven in the United States and consume more motor fuel than any individual country except China and Japan. State data on traffic and fuel sales are therefore often used as a proxy for national trends, but California’s gasoline consumption reflects a mix of local and national factors that are not always easy to separate. Like other parts of the United States, California has seen a surge in car and truck […]