Do higher gas prices really affect how you drive?

Decent article.

People like to complain. Gas goes up $0.05 a liter and people cry but they don't change anything. That their usage doesn't change shows that they still value gas higher than what they are paying (if they didn't they obviously would stop buying it). Therefore if they are complaining because it is too high but still use the same amount it shows how hypocritical they truly are.

Personally I drive an SUV in Alberta (I know, big surprise). I figure I drive about 20K a year. I get about 600km a tank on about 65 litres. An extra $0.05 (what the raise was) is about $9 a month to me. If you have a car you can probably cut that down to $4-5. If $5 a month is an issue to you I suggest working more and reading blogs less.

I do believe that thehigh cost of gas is hurting us all. Apparently the reason for it is because the gas companies want to make a larger profit. I have read all kinds of stories from this msn. page and it claims that although we complain we do nothing to change our habits, I say that they are totally wrong.
Everyone walks unless they have to drive to work. they have bought motor bikes run by electricy to get away with out buying gas for a $1.50 a litre, approximately $7.00 a gallon.

it is the cost of food and other things that we as the public cannot control that is also going up because of the price of gas

you people who write these stories should doyour homework, before you put into print such bull shit
transportation charges affect everyone, and just because Europe has been paying a high prices for gas for years is not excuse to raise the price of gas in this country or province. after all Europe is bankrupt because of it and the other ways that they have ran their country, so unless you want to keep heading in the same direction as Europe then somebody had better get these gas prices down to a reasonable rate, after all some people actually have to drive their cars to work, and keep in mind that when youhave forced all of us off the road withyour greed and no one did anything about it, there isthe auto indrustry who will not be selling any cars and they will be all laid off.
this reminds me of the way we were forced into using plastic and charged thirty percent interest, so most people quit using credit cards, but what are we going to do about buying groceries, and the other high cost of things that we canèt do without

@ western guy

Quote: "People like to complain. Gas goes up $0.05 a liter and people cry but they don't change anything. That their usage doesn't change shows that they still value gas higher than what they are paying (if they didn't they obviously would stop buying it).

Ya, I guess the same can be said about food, because food and gas are pure luxuries in this world, right? You obviously don't really need them to get by in todays North American society. So, then...

"people like to complain. Food goes up by $0.05 a calorie and people cry but they don't change anything. That their usage doesn't change shows that they still value food higher than what they are paying (if they didn't they obviously would stop buying it, correct??)

What a dunce you are western guy. Your stupid post would make sense if people were frivolously burning gas on bonfires, but that is not the case. People burn gas because they are forced to, because the powers that be will never let out any technology that surpasses the internal combustion engine, until every drop of oil is gone.

That is why the price of gas goes up, because they know you have no other choice, and that you are too mentally incapacitated to see it. And that is why stupid articles like this are written, so they can get all the simpletons who don't understand economics to get behind them... like you have done... like an idiot.

The second law of thermodynamics is a lie, meant to make fools (like you) think that the internal combustion engine is the pinnacle of technology, and that over-unity efficiency is impossible... and it is all lies.

If over-unity efficiency were impossible, then the universe would grind to a halt (an would have billions of years ago). Our entire universe runs on the fact that there is an over abundance of energy. But unfortunately we give equal air-time to plutocratic liars and woefully uninformed dunces like yourself.

What is it that you do out in Alberta? Most likely nothing that involves thinking... because that is where we send all of the Canadians who don't mind getting paid from the neck down.

You deserve to be forced into driving that stupid SUV of yours until the end of your days. What is in the water out west anyway??

I have every bloody right to complain about fuel prices, I just started a new job and the rise in fuel, that extra 10 dollars A TANK makes a big difference when you drive 150km a day to your WORKPLACE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOW-WHERE and fill up on a weekly basis, so Im stuck actually having to drive out of the city to get to my workplace, there is no transit there, so I have to bite the bullet and sqeeze every last ounce of my paycheck, as well as trying to afford a mortage I can no longer afford due to my job change (getting paid less now, going to school while working, will get paid more down the road once I have all my tickets) makes it very difficult to NOT complain about gas companies gouging us for an extra 5-10 dollars a tank a fuel, think about how many people drive, these greedy bastards make enough money, on top of that, why the hell are you driving an SUV? Yes, I drive a truck, but I need my truck for work (and its a V6, which I bought for fuel saving purposes), do you NEED an SUV to justify your existence? probably not, if you have kids, get a 4 or 6 cylinder van and you won't need to worry about fuel prices, I drove an older 4 cylinder van around for years, and couldn't figure out why every soccer mom, and business executive needed to drive around big, stinky gas guzzling SUV or trucks... plus on top of that, everything is going up in price due to gas prices, from food, to whole goods, even that fancy SUV you bought has to be trucked in from somewhere, get inspected by someone making a shitty wage (whom probably does more work than a lazy SUV driver sitting behind a desk) and then carted to the consumer, IT EFFECTS everything, we do, and buy, but somehow prices going up has yet to increase wages, my household income has been the same for the last year, yet every month, our grocery bill, gas bill, electricity bill, water bill, and credit card bills seem to rise due to the cost of living.

Is it justified? no its not and these greedy companies are more worried about money than ruining our economy, and wrecking peoples financial lives, hell anyone my age will probably have to work until they are 75 just to save enough money to comfortably retire...

So enjoy your SUV and just think about all the people that cant afford to live above there means, and buy fancy SUVs...

None of you have a clue what you're talkig about. We're getting raped and we just let it happen. Smart like soup.

As a Canadian, we are used to paying more for everything than our fellow Americans, including taxes. It is a paradox that our government vowes to reduce spending while at the same time they go 10 miles out of their way to develope new schemes to deprive us of more hard earned income.
As for the price of fuel, it isn't so much about 5 or 10 cents here as one person commented, but the fact that in a few years our fuel has more than doubled in price for any number of reasons that are unfounded, unbelievable and downright obnoxious. It's amazing how much our politicians and governments assume that we are all dumb, blind and stupid. We are sliding more and more toward a dictatorship as our capitalistic / socialistic governments look upon this as being all in a day's work... That is why the rich get richer and the poor poorer. In case you haven't noticed, our lower/middle income earners are quickly disappearing and joining the rest of us at the bottom of the totem pole.. learning how to do less with less money and manage to survive is more difficult than ever before in our history. Global economics be damned.. we all pay the price for it, but our Governments have options that they can use to reduce the deficite at home while easing pressure on the average Joe. But will that ever happen?? I doubt it very much.

I don't know where the figures are coming from but gas should be about 1.15 per L or less, going by the cost per barrel. For a 50L fill up that is about $12.00 more per fill up. This is hard no matter how you slice it and the governments as well as the oil companies are liable. Too high tax, and as a net exporter of oil, there is no way we should have to cow tow to the world oil prices. And OPEC is legal evil.

Do away with OPEC and cut some taxes, as only a small portion of the taxes is going to our highway and biway maintenance.

The rising price of fuel? Funny how everyone groans and moans when it shoots up another 10cents a litre. Sitting at 1.40/L now. Remember the controversy stirred when it approached $1/L a couple years ago? But notice how a slow and steady tightening of the tourniquet doesn't affect our psychology at $1/L anymore? Put yourself back in that mindset when this robbery was pulled and realize that oil baron illuminati are entering your house when you sleep at night and take the money out of your pockets when you sleep...legally! Damn shame that something needed as much as gas can be raised in price on a whim from a handful of individuals who are playing with our lives.
Now, they are putting our livelihoods at risk with the raise in price comes the need for thieves to start stealing it from our cars! It's going to get worse as people get more aggressive to survive. I already had my gas door broken open on my car and siphoned out. Too bad we have to live in a society where we have no protection from the rising price of fuel.

Unfortunately, there is an agenda here, and the layers of events occurring within the banking and financial sectors are complex and accellerated these days.
The greater agenda is a unification of corporation and state, or under simple terms, Facsicm. This new era will be unlike any other in history though, and the scale will be much larger, almost global.
Over the next few decades, rising costs will be deftly manipulated to slowly drain down private equity thus removing the middle class sector from economies all over the world. Citizens will work for the corporations directly, there will be no cash but a system of credits only. Education will be slowly removed until it's absence is barely noticed by most. The generation that would resist this de-evolution will have passed on by this time. Sporting events and Televised entertainment will be simple and devised to create nationalistic followers. Most civillians will live in corporate cities, the land and all resources will be owned by corporations. Most of you will think this is just the raving of another lunatic. Little do you know.

I Get a kick out of people like Chris who state some simplistic comment and make everyone else out to be stupid. Chris you are a moron we all know business is behind ever rising prices and we are in another cycle like pre 2008. prices will rise to the breaking point and eventually people will use less of everything. As a result the economy and big business will be in trouble again and prices will come back down as a result. greed will always rule however if no one has anything to give there is nothing to take. At some point in the distant future I would hope government and buisiness come to this realization before society crumbles.

The thing that is really upsetting about these higher fuel costs is that we are being gouged by oil producers. The extra profits are going into their bottom line only. People also tend to forget that it is not only the cost of fuel for their vehicles that is rising. All forms of energy costs are rising and are being reflected in their homes, food costs, clothing costs, construction, delivery of all goods. Do you really think that oil companies should be charging such huge prices and making such huge profits on the backs of the consumer.

I am wondering what are the hidden costs that we really do not think about when the cost of fuel rises. We live in a small town in Northern Ontario, gas is currently $1.41.8 and for the amount of driving we do that is not a big deal as we are mostly a 15 minute walk to the local mall. What we are noticing is that the price of life's essentials, food, heat, hydro, water and clothing all seem to be rising sharply. Most of these commodities are delivered using trucks and with the sharp rise in diesel are we experiencing the price hikes to compensate??? Can we expect help politically??? Probably not as the higher the proces go here in Canada the more taxes we pay which polititians love to spend. There was a movement afoot about boycotting both Esso and Petro Can in this part of the world but even though I still refuse to shop Esso, we have no Petro Can, people just do not seem to get it. The prices will not drop until one of the big suppliers are hurting because of a decline in sales... So let us go back and boycotte Esso and Petro Can and see what happens?!?

Most of you complainers out there ,do just that,complain. If every one stood up to the Gas companies and the Cable amd phone companies we could get back on solid grounds. Canadian Tire Mr Gas all over the news how they price fixed the gas .I cancelled Canadian Tire Mastercard forI got rid of it ,just for that reason.I don't trust Canadian Tire for their sneaky tactics they use to steal from their customers. Every one get real and see the light, it is shinning bright . If every one came together

The price gouging by the the oil barons is an international crime.Our gutless corrupt politicians are complicit in this disgusting practice.I call on every person in every country to inform their elected representatives to take their self serving heads out of their asses and show some long unseen backbone and legislate controls against these greedy moraly bankrupt oil baron scumbags.

One way for governments to react would be to tax away oil companies excess profits.

I work within the oilfield. i drive a minimum of 1000Km a week. the slightest change in gas prices have a huge effect on everything for thousands of people within the same field as myself. one has to worker longer hours to make up for the loss just through fuel alone. those who work in the oilfield see the massive waste of money these companies go through. their philosophy seems to be spen spend spend more money will come. sure enough i agree with several of the comments. all we do is complain. but what is there that we can really do. for most people fuel is a means to surviving. and as for the western guy must be nice living close to your work place and such. on average just in cities one tends to have a half hour comute one way per day. let alone lunch breaks and the trips home, groceries, picking children up. dropping kids off. i know the rise in fuel costs have made me very close to having to quit a job i quite enjoy for something more local. oh and then we have no work local. for our jobs get handed out to gov't programs brining in foreigners. don't get me wrong they deserve a chance at a better life and belong here in canada with the rest of us. but its hard for anyone to make a living unless in a large city center. fuel cost essential rule alot of peoples everday lives. from avg joes- truckers- business's everyone feels the effect. even the oil field truckers feel it. ironic. their hike in prices ends up costing the companies more money themselves. vicious cirlce i'd say.

For over one hundred years, the world has been polluted by industrial air pollutants and water polluters and people throwing garbage all over the place instead of putting this garbage in trash bins right beside them. Lazy bastards. And nothing much has been done about any ot these things. People are lazy and think that somebody else will always clean up their mess. Bullshit. So what makes anyone think that people will drive less just because gas is getting ridiculously expensive. It is no secret that oil and gas companies could give a rat's ass about anybody but themselves and their profits. Why should they care if they are causing hardship for anybody. There are seven billion people on this earth, most too stupid to figure out what is actually going on in the business world, so they will just do what everybody else does, like the sheep that they are, and pay whatever they are told to pay for gas or anything else they think is a necessity. So either people get together as a huge group and take over the oil and gas companies and all the other greedy pricks out there, or stop whining and put up with it. Nothing else will change anything, so stop complaining.

What I do not understand is that there are at least some alternatives for transportation. Such as ethanol, propane and nat gas. But as soon as someone wants to invest money and build these things, these same complainers of higher fuel prices quickly run out with their picket signs and yell not in my back yard! When the source of anything is consentrated to only a few then of course there will be an monopoly. BUILD the refinery and ethanol plants and allow the expansion of propane and nat gas! That will stick it to them!

@Clear & focused

For the record:
I am a chartered accountant with a speciality in corporate tax planning. I have 9 years of post secondary (including a minor in macro economic theory). I own my own business and also have a farm I manage on the side (both do very well). Growing up on a farm I am also very mechanically minded so I'm not a peer theorist either. Also I have traveled to over 20+ countries in the world (1st-3rd world) so I can say I am also reasonably worldly as well. So no, I'm not really considered to be a dunce.

Civlized people can disagree but still respect one another. You, on the other hand, show yourself to be truly without class as you don't debate my comments, you attack me. Also it is a truly narrow mind that engages in sterotyping (the whole Aberta thing). My only other comment on that is its tough to argue with success when compared to it you have..............?

Now on to your actual comments. Yes, vehicles are a luxury. If you can't afford one too bad, walk or ride the bus. If you can't afford that you are doing something wrong. Too bad for you, change or starve.

Now on to the conspiracy theory. Is it more likely that millions of people (many fighting among themselves) have all banded together without any leaks to fool the world for no gain or is it more likely that we as humans just haven't come up with a better answer yet? If you believe the former is true you have never tried to get 5 people to keep a secret have you? Now think on the millions your "theories" would require to keep a secret.

Lastly very convincing on thermodynamics. Hundreds of years of independent scientific experiment must be wrong because of your unsupported claims are correct.

My last question to you clea@focusedr is do you wear the tinfoil that covers your head from government mind probes shiny side in or out?

I couldn't give a rat's behind about the price of gas. It wouldn't change my driving habits even if the price went to $5 per litre. Whining about it is a waste of time. If you can't afford it, get a horse or donkey :-)