8th May 2011, 10:31

We have to take responsibility for ourselves at some point, and stop just blaming everyone else for our gas price woes. Driving gas guzzlers around uses more gas period, plain and simple! If nothing else, it is worse for the environment. So yes, you are "entitled" (like every American seems to think they are) to drive whatever you like, and waste as much gas as you'd like, but should you really be wasting more gas than you need to get around? Since you have so little time to drive your short commute, why does it make such a big difference to you? Drive a Civic, or better yet a Prius, and fill up every other month.

I am tired of hearing how we deserve... and it is our right, etc. etc. Start trying to conserve and maybe things will get better. If the usage is cut in half, the price has no where to go but down. Even speculation can't fight that fact. To justify driving large vehicles by short commutes and such is a lame attempt at best to proving any valid point as to why big vehicles are better than small ones.

Sorry, but our self destructive love affair with the automobile that we have enjoyed for decades now needs to die. We need to use more common sense, and look at vehicles as a point A to point B solution. We can't sit around and wait decades for the government to regulate MPG figures and adopt new technologies. We are dying out there now paying $75 to fill up. It will be over $100 by the time summer is over this year, as gas will probably reach close to $6 per gallon. I am a car nut too, so I don't say this lightly! At some point you just have to change and evolve though, and think for the future and not for your own enjoyment today.

Also, the price surely did affect the SUV craze in 2008. Did you forget the whole car manufacturer meltdown? Much of GM, Ford and Chrysler's problems stemmed from their overabundance of full framed SUV's and other gas guzzling vehicles that they couldn't give away when gas hit $4 per gallon. They were way behind in any real advances as far as fuel efficient vehicles are concerned, and therefore they almost tanked completely... well actually they DID tank completely, but the government rescued them. Ford barely escaped on its own. We will see if this occurs yet again for GM, as they are still selling the exact same vehicles they were then outside of the Trailblazer series. They learned very little overall, and still offer very little in fuel efficient vehicles compared to their rivals.