SNET Internet : Features : Survey : Gas Prices

Does the rising price of gas affect your driving habits?

Not really - 1,581 (37%)
Yes, I drive a lot less - 1,060 (25%)
I cut back a little - 1,259 (29%)
I won't drive on vacation - 139 (3%)
My car doesn't use gas - 98 (2%)
I don't drive - 156 (4%)

Your comments:

"What happens to the hard working little person,who are trying to make ends meet? I'm glad I quit smoking five years ago. Now how am I going to pay for the gas if it keeps going up? My job is to far to walk to.It's a crying shame." Elsie, Groton

"I think the gas prices should stay at one price, because one week it's so much and I save just enough money for gas and the rest to bills but the next week it's a different price. Most of the time it goes up so I have less money for gas and that means I can't get to some of the places that i really need to go. They should just leave it at one price that would make life a lot easier." Keith, Lisbon

"It sucks but there is not much that we can do to change it. I'm not going to let it get in the way of my plans. Unless it gets up to like 2 or 3 dollars per gallon." Joe, Lisbon

"Sorry to say, since President Bush got in, the stocks went down, the oil prices/gas prices went up, we do not have enought oil/gas, and now they are trying to close the Smithsonian Institution and we are in a crisis. Right before the election everything was great. Something is not right. Thanks for allowing me to give my viewpoint (and people I have spoken to in this area.)" A hard working Republican and a sorry one, Southbury

"I can't really vote any of these. The price of gas CAN'T affect my driving habits, no matter what the price is I still have to get to work. What the price of gas does affect, however, is my wallet! It also affects my attitude. I'm not thrilled that I have to work so hard for so little and then have to support the Dick Cheney's of this world, who make $36 million a year from fossil fuels then they get to tell us that we will have to continue burning MORE fossil fuels as they raise prices. If we had not dumped the progress toward natural resources conservation and alternative energy research made in the late 1970s by Jimmy Carter, perhaps this situation would not exist today!" P.D., Newtown

"A lot of people say that the rising gas prices aren't affecting them now but when the gas prices get to be 3 dollars a gallon you are going to see a lot less people driving and more people walking or using other modes of transportation. I know, I will be one of them." F.M., Farmington

"My driving habits haven't really changed because they can't. I drive 60 miles a day round trip to/from work and it's disgusting. The media seems to have a 'magic wand' that they can wave and if they say "Gas is going to hit $2.00 per gallon," you can guarantee that the oil companies are going to take advantage of the hype. This is the perfect excuse for them to squeeze the wallets of the average citizen a bit more!

"Fortunately, I have two other co-workers in town and we will be planning to carpool if the prices get totally out of control this summer. However, there is a silver lining ... at least we're not shelling out an equivalent of $4-$5 per gallon like those who reside in a lot of the European contries! so, I guess we should at least look at the glass as half-full!" T.L., Winsted

"I'm sure the CEO's are not cutting back on their transportation! (jets/boats/numerous vehicles)" Brenda, Newington

"The rising cost of gas has brought back many memories from the 70's gas crisis. Although gas rationing is not the problem today, those trends of conserving gas should be applied. If we hit the oil companies in their pockets as they have us, I am sure that the prices will start to fall. Recently, I read about a movement to boycott the big oil companies, Exxon & Mobile, the end resulting in a price cut. This may work ... but if we also cut back on our driving, needing less gas, this would create a double 'whammy'.

I believe that every year we go through a price increase prior to the summer season. This year is no exception. Only now it comes at the end of an oil "shortage" created to raise prices and double 'whammy' the consumer before the summer season. Spend more time at home as a family. Plan errands accordingly, pooling them together. Good planning also saves TIME. But, that is another subject." J.S., Meriden

"I think the rising cost of gas is nothing but a brutal rip off. I'd like to see everyone in the state of Connecticut. only drive where absolutely necessary for 30 days -- use bicycles whenever possible (great health benefit too!) -- and watch the price come down. But I suspect people will do what they always seen to do -- just talk about it and not actually do anything." K., Middlebury

"I think it's time for a new technology to take place and not to worry about pollution . I believe that everybody will be affecting by the rising price. But is it for the better or for the worse." V.C., Wallingford

"Working 40 miles away, 5 days a week, it's pretty impossible to cut down on my driving -- which is why I just bought a car with a 4-cylinder that gets 37 miles per gallon on the highway. :o)" B.L., Watertown

"I think that those who are in Washington show be looking into this rather than wasting time on the water situation . This problen or condition with the water has been around over 8 years. This gas price increase has really hit in the wallet . The senators and congresspeople should be asking and seeking answers." M.O.L., Berlin

"The price of gas has affected the way I do business and I have to raise rates. This is something we do not like to do. We have no choice. We have to pass it on to our customers. It's difficult to cut back on driving this time of year." S.R.P., New Britain

"It's getting hard to function with the rising prices of energy. There is no real mass transit and in many cases no safe place to walk or bicycle. We are paying for the automobile in unimagined new ways. Gas is just the tip of the iceberg. I came to Connecticut on 35 cent gas. It went to 60 within a couple of months. Now it's almost two dollars. I still can't afford to leave. I'm still a stranded tourist after twenty three years." Jon, Glastonbury

"Re: gas crisis - there should be a category: "I already conserve as much as possible and or suggestions to conserve!" Sara, New Preston

"USA should do something about these terribly high gas prices. We are once again being held hostage by OPEC. With all our natural resources, we can't produce enough to take care of our own country? The time is right to do something for the people of this country for a change." A.B., Derby

"Because we are on a fixed income we decided not to take a vacation this year with our motor home. We have talked to many friends of ours in the same situation and they are changing the way of their vacations so as not to travel as much as they used to." Fred, Griswold

"I can't belive the rising cost of gasoline, it just makes a lot of people upset. See that the price of gas will go up during the summer month, I think more people that are going on vaction will cut back on their plans. But as far as the people are concerned it just puts a damper on things." P.G., Norwich

"If the prices keep going up I'll have to quit my present job because I can't afford to drive. Maybe get a job closer to home so I can walk!" V.P., Darien

"No, not really as I own most all energy stocks anyway. So the more I fill up my wallet ... I would like to see $5.00 a gallon, this would help offset my tobacoo stocks at about $4.00 a pack." Serge, Windsor Locks

"You come to an open door to a mobile room. The room has five places that you can sit inside of it. When you sit inside of this room you are surrounded by windows. At the tip of the room is a machine that has harnessed the power of horses. And is powered by a substance that has since been depleated. This substance was taken from a nations natural reserves. Because the substance cost to much to buy from other sources, that's why the nation had to tap into their natural reserves. Since we taped into our reserves the inhabitants of that nation revolted and forced the nation to stop the tapping of the natural resources and made them make it so that the reserves will never be disturbed again." R., Lisbon

"Some of these questions require a much wider answer base. The current one does not allow for having to drive as public transport is not readily available. Either provide a suitable answwer base or do not waste time! Place the all embracing OTHER as one of the answer selections." P.P., Seymour