CRANSTON –– If time travel were possible, this could easily be Rhode Island in the year 2005.

The sign on the Oaklawn Village Service Station says a gallon of regular gasoline is $1.979, a price that hasn’t appeared here for more than three years.

“It’s great,” said Joan Micheletti, 74, as she filled up her car at the Oaklawn station yesterday. “Hopefully they’ll come down a little more.”

Now that the price has dropped, will people continue their new energy-conserving habits, or will they go back to the gas-guzzling ways of the past?

It appears that, for now, Rhode Islanders have continued to conserve.

Gasoline consumption in October fell by 8.2 percent from October 2007, judging by a drop in sales tax receipts collected from service stations, according to data provided by the Rhode Island Division of Taxation. That was one of the biggest monthly year-over-year drops since at least 2002.

In the July-to-October period, consumption was down 2.7 percent from the same four-month period last year, which was down 3.8 percent from the year before that.

Gasoline prices have dropped in concert with a steep decline in the cost of crude oil, from which gasoline is made. Economists have blamed that decline on lower demand, brought about by high prices and slowing or stagnating economic growth in the United States and other countries.

Rhode Island’s poor economic situation may play into the decline in gas consumption. The state’s unemployment rate is the highest in the country, at 8.8 percent as of September. The state lost close to 16,000 payroll jobs since the first quarter of last year.

Crude oil dropped again yesterday on reports that Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, officially slipped into a recession. Light, sweet crude oil for January delivery dropped $2.11 to settle at $55.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the Associated Press reported. Gasoline futures fell 5 percent, or 6.45 cents, to $1.1746 a gallon after earlier touching a 52-week low of $1.168, the AP said.

Mike Ciacciarelli, who works for the Rhode Island National Guard, said high gasoline prices pushed him to commute to work three days a week on a motorcycle. The switch saved him $40 to $50.

He’s back to commuting in a big Chevy truck, which he was filling up at the Oaklawn station yesterday. It’s become too cold to ride the motorcycle to work, he said. When the weather warms next spring, he said he’ll be back to two-wheel commuting. He said he hopes that others will continue conserving.

“We need to not get distracted by low prices,” he said. “We still need to move forward with alternative fuels and renewable resources.”

The last time gasoline was this cheap was in March 2005. By April of that year, the average price surpassed $2 a gallon, a price many drivers never expected to see again.

The average price of gasoline in Rhode Island yesterday was $2.089 a gallon, down 13 cents from last week and 99 cents from a year ago, according to the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources. The agency bases its average on a survey it conducts of local gas stations.

But many stations in Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts yesterday offered sub-$2 gasoline. Only four months ago, gasoline hit $4.109 a gallon, prompting many people to cut back on unnecessary trips, take the bus, or begin carpooling.

At the Oaklawn station, several motorists said that while they were happy to see the price drop below $2, they were skeptical that prices will remain low.

“It’s exciting,” said Dina Marques of Cranston, as she filled up her car. “…while it lasts,” she added. She said she doesn’t expect gas price to remain at these levels. “I really don’t see that happening. I hope I’m wrong.”

“You have to be conservative because you never know when it’s going to go up,” said Lisa Rignanese of Cranston.

She said she “absolutely” cut back on her driving since the summer, making only necessary trips to bring her daughter to school or to her extracurricular activities.

Micheletti, of Warwick, said she thinks that cheaper gas will let people spend their money on other things. “They’ll do a little more shopping, travel a little more,” she said. “They’ll have at least a few more dollars to spend.”

She plans to put some of the savings toward Christmas presents, she said.

Others plan to hold onto their money. Ciacciarelli and Marques both said they’ll put money they would have spent on gas into the bank.

Rignanese said their family will put some of the savings toward credit card bills. She said she’s not planning to spend the extra money she’s saving on gasoline.

“Just because I’m not spending it on gas doesn’t mean I’m spending money on shoes.”

tbarmann@projo.com