What is your opinion on the oil/ gas prices in this country?

I was watching the same program and it was pretty frustrating that Venezuela only pays $.11 a gallon and that in Saudi Arabia they only pay $.61. They showed a lot of people in Saudi Arabia driving in SUVs. In Cincinnati we are paying $2.75. Luckily I filled up at $2.56 knowing the price would go up. After watching the news program last night and thinking about it some more, in Venezuela, the average income is a lot less than in the U.S. I don't know if the percentage of income spent on gasoline is as high as what we spend here though. The program said that Hugo Chavez wants to spend the excess money on the citizens such as education and health care. Though I don't like the idea of us being so dependent on foreign oil, it at least gives me a little bit of comfort knowing that we are somewhat helping those in poorer countries have a better lifestyle.

Regular unleaded is $2.659 in Omaha,NE and $2.589 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Dont believe what they say on the news. Gasoline costs alot more than 11 cents to produce. Do oil companies make alot of money? Sure, but since when is making a profit Evil? Heck, I want to make a profit in My Business too! I bet your local Electric company made a big profit too. And Look at how much profit the contractor made building that street you are driving on...In '91 when I was driving during the first Gulf War gas cost me $1.60/gallon. A whopper combo was $2.49 at BK and a 20oz bottle of Coke was 59Cents. Now the BK meal is $5.00, the Bottle of Coke is $1.19 and the Gas is $2.65...Do I like inflation? NO, but is it out of line with other increases in consumer prices over my lifetime? Absolutely not. I am 33.

the U. S. of usa isn't taking Iraqi oil. That replace into not the rationalization at the back of the invasion. Heck, if the U. S. of usa wanted their oil, it would have only lifted the oil embargo. Iraq may be oil wealthy, yet getting that oil isn't consumer-friendly. most of the fields have been set afire while the invasion began, there are few human beings to be depended on with those wells, and Iraq is a shattered u . s . a .. The infrastructure must be enhanced notably till now oil manufacturing on an quite great scale ought to start. Our oil comes from our very own fields and from Venzuela. Mexico additionally exports oil.

Relax you guys... The rest of the world nowadays pays at least $5 per gallon, in some countries even $7. Gas in the US is cheap, cheap, cheap, cheeeeeap!!!

No Government in the western world could possible exist without the income from the gas tax. It will finance every armed conflict for many years to come.

So don't complain, pay!

I don't like paying for gas, I think in St. Louis it is under $3.00 a gallon.

New Jersey 2.90 a gallon in most places

i leave in the u.s.a the prices here range in the$3.oo range well in the city of sanjose they do im not sure about the rest of U.S.A. my oppinion the prices suck but i dont care youll come across things in the world you dont like but best deal with them.

$2.89 - Houston. I think we're paying for Bush's election since he had to promise our future to the oil companies to finance his campaign.

I think they suck compared to what they were. The Institute of Transportation Engineers released the results of a nationwide study about a year ago on the management of our traffic signals giving over 300 cities a combined score of D- . The study stated that if the problems with traffic signals were resolved our fuel consumption would be reduced by 10 percent and that emmisions would be reduced by over 20%. This is based on the fact that the majority of driving is done in major cities with congestion problems that could also be relieved by resolving traffic signal issues. Driving times would also be reduced. What I don't understand is that the only time I have ever heard anything about this was in a USA Today article in April 2005. I haven't heard anything about it here in Oklahoma. Our traffic signals suck the gas out of my tank. I'm trying hard to get better mileage and drive less. I would appreciate it if our elected officials would do something with the information that they already have rather than pointing fingers at the automotive and petroleum industries. It seems as though political games are more important. World News Tonight should be doing a story on traffic signals.

Nation's traffic signals get a D-minus for delays

By Larry Copeland, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The nation's traffic lights are woefully inefficient and outdated, forcing frustrated commuters to sit in congestion, waste gasoline and pollute the air, a traffic engineering group said Wednesday.

Two-thirds of 378 traffic agencies in 49 states don't actively monitor traffic lights, or they simply respond to problems as they occur, the Washington-based Institute of Transportation Engineers reported. Overall, the nation's traffic signals earned a D-minus, the group said in a report card on its Web site.

"While traffic signals do turn green, yellow and red, they are not operating as efficiently as they should," says Shelley Row, the group's associate executive director. "The traffic changes during the day. (Agencies) need to be able to time the signals differently at different points during the day. "

A study by a Maryland researcher last year found that 35% of the nation's traffic agencies had not retimed their traffic signals in 10 years. That means they haven't responded to business and residential growth that affects traffic patterns, says Philip Tarnoff, director of the Center for Advanced Transportation Technology at the University of Maryland. "The costs (of traffic signal management) compared to building a highway are trivial," he says. "The question is why isn't it being done more often?"

The stakes are high. Ideal management of traffic lights would cut delays by 15%-20%, reduce travel time by up to 25%, cut emissions by up to 22% and reduce gas consumption by up to 10%, according to the transportation engineers, who conducted their survey with the Federal Highway Administration and other groups. The survey estimates that improving traffic signal operations would cost about $965 million a year.

Two cities that get stellar marks for managing traffic lights are Bellevue, Wash., and Springfield, Mo.

Bellevue (population 120,000) connects 90% of 172 traffic lights to a centralized network that includes 20 cameras, traffic engineering manager Mark Poch says. "That allows us to make adjustments for events that are happening right now," he says.

An example: About 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, construction on northwest Fourth Street forced the closure of one westbound lane on the six-lane road. Engineers adjusted the timing of traffic lights on Fourth Street to take time away from drivers on intersecting streets to compensate for the closed lane, Poch says.

In Springfield, engineers use cameras to monitor 28 miles of roads and 100 traffic lights and alert drivers to problems, says Earl Newman, assistant public works director. Voters in the city of 156,000 have approved eight local sales tax initiatives to reduce congestion, which ranks as the public's top concern, he says.

"It's higher than crime," he says. "We don't have the congestion of a major city, and the citizens don't want it to become like that."