TULSA, Okla. — As we’ve all seen, gas prices are on the rise, and one study shows the higher gas prices may be contributing to road rage.
As the world gradually returns to a sense of normalcy, drivers are once again hitting the roads. One gas expert said more cars on the road are driving up demand for gas.
“It’s been a pretty interesting last few months, really since the start of the last year gas prices have started to go up,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “It all really culminates to the fact that Americans are starting to get out more, the vaccines are starting to allow states to reopen, and gasoline demand is going up."
In Tulsa, gas prices stand at $2.66 per gallon on average. That’s over a dollar higher than last year. DeHaan said the low prices and low demand for oil during the shutdown caused a slowdown in oil production. He said even a year later, oil producers have not been able to rebound fully.
“So far, oil producers have not really increased production meaningfully enough to match the increase in demand, and so that has pushed prices up,” DeHaan said.
DeHaan said the GasBuddy app has a feature called drive that tracks drivers' habits using the smartphone accelerometer metrics to measure if they are driving efficiently. He said their metrics show a significant increase in road rage among drivers.
“When you break hard, and when you accelerate hard, those are things that can drive up what you’re paying at the pump even more," DeHaan said.
He highly advises drivers to shop around before fueling up. He said if they do their homework, it could significantly save them on gas expenses.
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