Driving Lessons

I took my 16-year old niece out to practice her driving over the weekend. She noted that it was much easier to drive my Mini Cooper then her mother’s big SUV. I said, “Don’t get too used to Mommy’s car---it’s about to go the way of the dinosaur and become extinct!” To demonstrate the difference between the two, we headed to the gas station for an experiment. When we were through filling up the Mini and the SUV, Emily was clear: “Why would anyone buy the big car?”

Ah, youth…if only it were so easy. I explained that most of the people who purchased the big guzzlers did so when gas prices were lower—she could not believe how quickly the price at the pump went from $1 per gallon to this week’s average of $4 per gallon and she is not alone. As prices reached a national average of $4 a gallon for the first time over the weekend, many families are forced to make some difficult choices. But the spike is not felt uniformly across the nation.

Gasoline prices have increased by 26% over the past year, but the spike is not equal in its pain quotient. According to the Oil Price Information Service, certain parts of the country are harder hit than others. The percentage of income that is being spent on gasoline is highest in rural areas of the south, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming and North and South Dakota. It is pretty simple to understand why the disparity exists: those areas where drivers earn more money and drive shorter distances or have access to more robust public transportation – basically most of the northeast -- are not feeling the pain as much as those in the other areas of the country.

Tell that to the woman whose conversation I overheard last week. She commutes 45 minutes to her workplace in Massachusetts and there is no reliable public transportation that she can take. She drives an old Ford Explorer, which costs over $80 to fill up. “I can’t afford to buy a new car, so I am stuck with this darned thing!” To offset her increased costs at the pump, she no longer takes the family out for dinner on Friday nights.

And that is just one story of pain at the pumps. There are so many others, which you have probably read about. Until we develop a true energy policy in this country, you are likely to hear many more tough stories that highlight difficult choices that people are forced to make. And of course my niece is absolutely right about anyone looking to buy a car today: why in the world would you buy a big car/truck knowing what we know now?