Gasoline prices have been falling steadily since their June peak, but that may not change the habits of motorists who have been driving less.

When gasoline prices approached $4 a gallon this spring, something unusual happened: people starting driving less.

For years, Americans' thirst for gasoline seemed unaffected by price, and consumption continued to rise along with the steady price increases.

That changed this year when the price of gasoline set record highs week after week. Government figures show that consumption is down significantly from last year, the first decline in demand since 1991. And a report released last week said that the number of vehicle miles traveled fell by 3.7 percent in May, compared with the same month last year. The decline was even more dramatic in Rhode Island. Motorists here drove 5.4 percent fewer miles in May.

"I ride a bike around a lot more," Jonpaul Guinn, of Providence, said yesterday as he filled up at a gas station near his work in Warwick. "It definitely changed my plans for the summer." He put the brakes on drives to Baltimore and Cooperstown, N.Y., going to Cape Cod and Boston instead. "I think more before I take a road trip now."

The price of gasoline has receded from its all-time high of $4.119 a gallon, set on June 16. On Monday, the state's Office of Energy Resources reported that the average price of regular self- serve gasoline had dropped to $3.869 a gallon, a decline of 25 cents over the past three weeks. The price is now at the same level it was in mid-May.

With that reprieve, will drivers revert to their old gas- guzzling ways? Is the 25-cent drop enough to turn back the dramatic move toward energy conservation?

Several experts said that's not likely.

"I don't see this reversion back to the way it was before the significant price increases," said Lloyd Albert, senior vice president of public and government affairs for AAA Southern New England.

"People are really thinking differently about how they're spending their energy dollars now," he said. "There's really a sea change in the way they're thinking."

People are looking at their gasoline purchases in the context of other expenses that have risen, such as the cost of heating oil and food, he said.

But drivers gassing up in Warwick yesterday aren't so sure.

"Are people's habits going to change so [prices] stay $3.85?" wondered Rebecca Ebeling, of Providence. She already is anticipating the need to resist the urge to burn more gasoline. "I don't want to start driving more because gas prices are less when I should drive less because it impacts the environment."

Guinn shared Ebeling's environmental take, but said the trips to Baltimore and Cooperstown might be back on the table. "I can afford it now."

Not that he's celebrating gasoline prices in the mid-$3.80s.