94 million saved? Thanks to the speed limit reduction?

So far, in the midst of the controversial speed reduction measure on Spanish roads, Spain has managed to save 94 million euros in oil imports. The news was announced by Miguel Sebastián, and the minister could not be happier, since one of the goals he pursued by forcing us to drive at 110 km/h had apparently been achieved.

Technically, the figures tell us they represent a saving of 177,000 tonnes of fuel, equivalent to 1.1 million barrels of oil in one month that Spain would no longer be importing. But isn’t it possible that the credit (or, in any case, the benefit) for these figures is due to the high fuel prices?

Sebastián says that it is difficult to tell to what extent the drop in consumption is due to rising prices or to the lower speed, and that he cannot guarantee we will ever return to the speed limits we had before, let alone raise the limit. Even worse, fuel prices are likely to keep rising, depending on the situation of international oil markets.

The reality is that surely neither you nor I are using the car as often as we did one, two or three years ago. Hasn’t the minister considered that the 94 million may mean lower fuel demand at service stations because of high prices?