AMERICANS LOVE TO DRIVE

* American drivers pay less for gasoline than people in any country in Europe and spend almost twice as much time on the road as European drivers, according to the World Resource Institute.

Americans use motor vehicles for 82 percent of their trips, compared with 48 percent for Germans, 47 percent for French, 45 percent for British, and 42 percent for Danes. An average US motorist drives the equivalent of two round trips a year between Los Angeles and New York.