Is This What It's Coming To?

(Yeah, I know. I dangled my preposition in the title. But it's Friday.)

This story just crossed on the Associated Press. How bad are things if we're looking for death stats in gas prices? Here's the story...

Researchers are seeing a silver lining in high gas prices. They say that as gas prices go up -- auto deaths decline. Their study found that for every 10 percent increase in gas prices there was a 2.3 percent decline in auto deaths. For drivers ages 15 to 17, the decline was 6 percent.
The study looked at fatalities from 1985 to 2006, when gas prices reached about $2.50 a gallon.

Professor Michael Morrisey of the University of Alabama-Birmingham says with gas now over $4 a gallon, he expects to see a drop of about 1,000 deaths a month. But co-author David Grabowski, of Harvard Medical School, cautions that the estimate could be offset somewhat by the shift to smaller, lighter, more fuel-efficient cars and an increase in motorcycle and scooter driving.

(I tried to find a font the color of gas. It's the best I can do.)