It is just possible that the sudden spike in oil prices helped tip the economy into recession. Now that overall global economic activity has slowed, demand is not going to pick up again because of lower prices. The low prices are due to low demand.
Understand that there is a lot more to it than the gasoline used for personal automobiles. What about the distillates (jet, diesel, fuel oil) used for shipping, railroads and airlines? Air, rail and ship cargo shipments are down worldwide.
Some of this is even "structural", that is, permanent due to improvements in efficiency made during the last cycle. Example, five LCD televisions, including packaging, fit in the same amount of space as one of the CRT type. 20 Ipods = one "boom box". This has been called the "Ipod effect" in the shipping business.