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New York - Drivers in the New York area wasted nearly 380 million hours stuck in rush-hour traffic in 2007 - second only to those in Los Angeles - according to a traffic study released today.

The average motorist in the New York area lost 44 hours in 2007 because of rush-hour traffic congestion, according to the Urban Mobility Report conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute.

The study found that it took the average New Yorker 37 percent longer in 2007 to get to his or her destination while driving in rush-hour traffic than during off-peak travel times.

As daunting as some of the figures appear, the situation is getting a little better, according to the study. The average New York driver spent an hour less in traffic during peak travel times in 2007 than in 2006.

Kate Slevin, executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, said the falling congestion figures can be attributed in part to the region's robust public transportation system.

"People want to be on transit. They like having options and transportation choices, and that's reflected in these numbers," Slevin said.

David Shrank, a co-author of the study, said that the reduced congestion was likely an indication of the high fuel prices in 2007 - the most recent year for which federal traffic data was available and a year in which gas prices hit a 26-year high point. Shrank said it's likely that congestion has continued to drop since then.

"If we can say in 2007 that congestion dropped just with higher fuel prices, then it's pretty easy to draw the conclusion that we're not going to see congestion increases in the 2008 or 2009 numbers with this recession that we're in," Shrank said.

The New York State Department of Transportation reported that the Long Island Expressway carried 1.98 percent fewer cars in 2008 than in 2007.

Economic constraints can cause motorists to change their driving habits, Shrank said, whether it means shifting their schedules to drive during off-peak hours, telecommuting from home or eliminating some trips altogether.

The study found that, in total, New-York-area drivers wasted $8.18 million being stuck in traffic in 2007 - again behind only Los Angeles, where drivers lost $10.32 million.