Dallas-area motorists running out of gas as prices make fill-ups prohibitive

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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/060208dnmetoutofgas.3758d57.html

As if rising gas prices weren't enough, some motorists are encountering a frustrating trend: They're putting less fuel in their tanks, then coming up empty on the highway.

National statistics on out-of-gas motorists don't exist, but there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that drivers are gambling by keeping their tanks extremely low on fuel.

In the Philadelphia area, where the average price for a gallon of regular broke $4 on Friday, calls from out-of-gas AAA members doubled between May 2007 and May 2008, from 81 to 161, the auto club reported. Transportation officials in Oregon and Tennessee also have reported increasing numbers of gas-stranded motorists.

Meanwhile, AAA Mid-Atlantic, which has nearly 4 million members in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia, reported a 15 percent year-over-year increase in calls from members with empty tanks.

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1. related story: "Soaring gas prices fuel auto maintenance neglect"

As gas prices take a bigger bite out of their budgets, motorists neglect routine car maintenance, and that could mean lots of breakdowns and massive repair bills, said Linda Gorman, spokeswoman for AAA Arizona.

“We’re rescuing more stranded motorists,” Gorman said. “We set a record in May. But you don’t really start to see failures till it gets really hot.”

AAA Arizona has noticed a recent increase in the numbers of calls for assistance requiring a tow, Gorman said, and a slight uptick in the number of calls from people who simply ran out of gas.

Whether it’s because cash-strapped motorists are trying to eke the most miles out of a tank of fuel before facing the increasingly painful pump prices, or it’s just a matter of forgetting to fill up, running out of gas can damage other car parts, said Mike Lauricella, AAA Arizona fleet supervisor.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/117876