Unlike their American neighbours, higher gas prices do not appear to have caused an increase in British Columbians finding themselves stranded on the road, according to the BC branch of the Canadian Automobile Association.
Victoria-based towing company Totem Towing also it is not responding to more people running out of gas on the road, but told Black Press Media that higher gas prices are making it more expensive to run a towing business.
Throughout June, the average price at the pump was $2.25 per litre in Victoria, which is a 70-cent increase from a year prior, according to Statistics Canada.
Media reports across the border estimated a 32-per-cent increase in out-of-fuel calls for help in April to the American Automobile Association, compared to that month last year. However, BCAA communication manager Sara Holland said B.C. drivers are not finding themselves in the same situation.
“It is actually a Canadian thing, interestingly enough,” she said. “None of [the provincial CAA clubs] were seeing the same thing we are seeing in the States.”
The BCAA usually responds to very few out-of-fuel calls, and higher gas prices have not changed the numbers, Holland added.
