Fuel Prices Officially too High

I've had a set dollar amount in my mind of what would be too much to pay at the pump. Today I hit that limit. I paid $3.50/gal., filling my tank at 12 gallons for a total of $42.00. That's $2.00 more than what is acceptable in my mind.

The last few weeks I've been consciously trying to limit diving time. Planning out errands more carefully and trying to let up on the accelerator after coming to a stop.

Prices are brutal. Another dollar, maybe two per gallon, and I think we'll really start to see some noticeable effects. Prices of goods climbing even higher, maybe even less people on the road.

A lot of people keep pointing to the high prices in Europe as a way of saying "We don't have it that bad at all!" I know European fuel prices have always been higher than U.S. prices. My question is, have their prices tripled in the last few years like ours have or have European prices stayed level?

Regardless, even though Europe pays more, they also consume differently. A very large percentage of cars sold in Europe have diesel engines, which automatically doubles(or more) your fuel economy. Supposedly public transportation is also far, far more advanced than what we offer ourselves here.