rising petrol prices in america

[brandy]

the news is full of how much the petrol prices are rising in america.. at teh moment the national average is $3.936 per gallon.
which i think is still a lot lower than over here?
i know americans drive a lot more that the brits do.. a lot more space to travel!
but if you could offer advice on how to cut down on fuel consumption from a land that has been dealing with this problem for years.. what would your advice be? remember this is a country that dosent have great public transport, lots and lots of rural areas where you have to drive just to get to a shop.

[Boozeburglar]

I don't think the rural versus urban is that significant, somewhere near 80% of US folk live in urban areas.

I think the public transport issue is very significant, and the reliance on the auto historically has led to very poor public transport. This will not be easy to overcome, especially whilst motoring remains relatively cheap.

Personally I feel the US government won't make any major changes until after the election, but at that point I hope change arrives.

Fuel taxation will never be popular, but with US folks using their cars as much for non essential purposes as not, something has to be done to get them out of their cars. Make sure the taxes are going to obvious causes, such as public transport and you might be able to sell it to the liberals at least.

I think overcoming that sense of 'entitlement' US folks seem to have will be the major challenge.

Yes, I know they single handedly saved the world from Hitler, Stalin, Castro and Cobain, as well as a couple of near misses with asteroids and such. But does this really mean they need to have drive through shops?

:)

[joxville]

But does this really mean they need to have drive through shops?

:)

Drive through shops are brilliant-especially at the end of the aisle's where you can do hand-brake turns. Although it may be a tad tight getting the car through the checkout:D

[AfternoonDelight]

Let's concentrate on our own country and how the UK Governemnt is screwing us blind...

"New Government Figures Show Brown's £4 billion oil windfall

The Scottish Government has published new figures which show that the UK Treasury would now get at least £4 billion in extra revenues from oil and gas this year, given the rise in oil price since the Budget.
In Budget 2008, HM Treasury forecast that North Sea revenues would contribute £9.9 billion to the UK Exchequer in 2008/09. These figures were based on an oil price of $83.8 per barrel. The current oil price is over $130 per barrel for North Sea Brent crude. Based on average oil and gas prices in 2008/09 to date, the Scottish Government estimate that North Sea revenue are set to be over £4 billion higher than the Treasury forecast.
Since the start of April 2008, Brent Crude has averaged $114/barrel whilst Natural Gas has averaged 60p/therm. If prices remained at this level for the whole of 2008/09 this is estimated to yield an additional £4.3 billion in revenue for the UK Exchequer compared to the forecasts made at Budget 2008."

How does this man look at himself in the mirror?

Although I suppose someone has to pay for their £86m worth of expenses they claim every year...

[George Brims]

Drive through shops are brilliant-especially at the end of the aisle's where you can do hand-brake turns. Although it may be a tad tight getting the car through the checkout:D
Phillipe Massa this weekend described racing at Monaco as being like driving a go-kart in your house.

[George Brims]

On a more serious note, Americans are starting to modify their habits:

http://www.dot.gov/affairs/fhwa1108.htm

The big question is whether this decrease in driving will trigger a recession, or if the recession has already started and is causing the decrease in driving.