Traffic is very sparse on our interstate roads.
Service stations are no longer 24 hours some even closed.
The impacts could be much greater than any of us think.
Has fuel become so expensive we only use it if we have to?
Will tourists flock to the north this year?
falling oil prices are in part being swallowed up by our falling dollar.
In truth the idea that 5 cents a liter of fuel tax can fix the problem is a joke.
If fuel fell 40 cents many would continue to use only the fuel they must.
A good outcome? for some but tourism?

can't explain it but it's the total opposite here in FNQ [Daintree] where I actually live in a Caravan Park [OK I know, just Trailer Trash!] and I took a photo yesterday outside my door of 5 huge Victorian Rigs ie Tooak Taxi with $500,000 monster caravan all lined up [spewing out choking fumes] bidding for the one spot left in the park

Double the tourists of last year

Must be the effect of Costello taking our money to pay public servants from the Future Fund - they certainly have money to burn and could not care if fuel was $3/l

anyone left in Victoria, or did last bloke turn lights out?

Divorce Doctor,
Say hello to my daughter up there(She's the hippy one). :-)

I think that the fuel cost issue is adversely effecting the overseas tourists (the ones that spend a lot) Pt Douglas hotels are bleeding.

Belly is right 5cents off petrol is not worth the effort except to the poor, disadvantaged, who drive older cars less efficient vehicles because they're cheaper to buy. But their fuel is 10Cent per ltr more expensive. Many if not most of these folks are on a fixed income and because of available housing live some ways from reliable or any public transport.

Then there's the polution etc do we need it? tragically its impact isn't counted as a cost by governments.

The reason for the price being so high is clearly because of those who profit from the sale of oil and products. Excluding of course the poor indepentent Service station. Who relies on in shop trade to make a profit. The petrol discount vouchers by the big super markets are hitting that too.
Examinator's second law of Corporate Capitalism "He who IS the biggest p...k get to the s...w whoever, when ever they want". And all the rest of us can do is learn to run fast :-(

I live in Brisbane and usually commute daily from the suburbs to my practice in the city. Over the past 6 months I've actually noticed an increase in traffic congestion.

I think petrol prices would need to get a fair bit higher for there to be a truly noticeable and permanent impact on road usage. People will do without other things, before they do without their cars.

Traffic in Canberra is pretty much the same and the public transport system is so woeful that most that would use buses in a larger city don't use them here.

I have noticed that traffic on country roads is less, even when travelling to the coast (and even if you factor in that it is Winter). Rising costs of fuel, rents and groceries as well as high levels of debt all play a part I would think.

This is a timely thread for me Belly as I’m just about to embark on a trip across the top of the country. You’ve reminded me that I should regularly inquire as to whether all the roadhouses as marked on the maps are still functional.

Last year I travelled across the country via the Nullarbor. I thought that it could well have been my last opportunity. A couple of months ago it was looking as though it was the last opportunity and that my planned Kimberleys and Pilbara trip this year wouldn’t happen due to rapidly rising fuel prices.

But then fuel suddenly stopped increasing in price and actually went down a little, which was impossible to foresee…and a very pleasant surprise indeed. So I’m off. But I reckon that this will definitely be the last opportunity to do a big road trip.

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Divorce Doctor, there are plenty of tourists passing through Townsville at present, lots in Port Douglas and Cairns, but very few in Mission Beach and Magnetic Island, and numbers are down in Airlie Beach as well.

So it is a strange sort of mix. But I don’t think fuel prices have had much of an effect…yet. No doubt there are lots of people who foresee the prospects of long-distance road travel to be very limited in the near future and are grabbing what they see as probably being the last opportunity.