A learning experience behind the wheel

As he drives, Senior Eliyahu Zuares keeps his eyes trained on the display prices posted high in the air. He pulls into a Shell gas station and slowly pumps fuel into his Ford Mustang. When the familiar ritual is done, he looks wearily at the gas receipt - $38. A full tank for $24 is now a thing of the past.

Like many student drivers at Blair, Zuares is now struggling to cope with post-Katrina and post-Rita gas prices. In addition to the flooding of New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina damaged two major pipelines that provide gasoline to the Washington, D.C. area, according to a Sept. 2 report in The Washington Post. Although Rita caused light damage to Texas oil refineries, in conjunction with Katrina, it made an impressionable impact. It may take weeks to restart all the closed refineries in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, according to a Sept. 26 report in the The Washington Post. Gas prices in Maryland averaged $3.30 per gallon as of Sept 26, 2005, compared with the pre-Katrina and pre-Rita average of $2.59, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). This high expense of driving has forced some Blazers to change their old habits and others to surrender their car keys.

Handicapped at the wheel

Junior Rosaura West drove to school until the gas prices pinched her wallet. "Right now, because of gas prices, I'm not driving. The car stays in the
garage," West says. Before Katrina hit, West paid $35 to $40 to fill the tank of her Acura MDX, but now for the same tank of gasoline, the prices have nearly doubled. West's mother refuses to cover the jump in cost.

Some students who still drive are handicapped by the gas prices and must seek assistance from their parents. Now, with $40 receipts from the gas station, Senior Chris McNair splits the cost of his gas for his Mercury Sable with his parents. His parents pay for him to drive to school, but he has to cover the gas for any non-school related activities. This agreement has forced him to cut down on everyday luxuries like driving to the mall.

Zuares has to go to further extremes to cope with higher gas prices. Zuares and his girlfriend work on Mondays through Thursdays as waiters at an independent nursing facility in Rockville. To save gas money on the seven-mile commute they carpool in alternate cars every week.

When he can, Zuares buys a bus pass for $8 and catches the bus to work, cutting his weekly transportation expenses in half. He further economizes by taking only the necessary trips, planning them out in advance and taking note of his mileage.

A learning experience

Senior Jackson Vassighi says that providing gas for his Toyota Tercell has become a lifestyle for him. He has developed self-dependency from working everyday after school at the Noodles & Company in downtown Silver Spring. Having a paycheck allows him to be more flexible with his funds and not depend on his parents. "I mean, I don't want to keep on asking my mother for $20," Vassighi says.

When Zuares first got his car and started to pay for gas, he admits that he did not take money management into consideration. He would excessively spend money on frivolous things because he was not used to having the responsibilities of a car. At one point, he had to make his sister hold his credit card to prevent him from wasting his entire paycheck. This past summer, he realized that he could no longer be so reckless with his money. "That was a kick in the reel for me," he says.

Now, Zuares has to balance school with work. On a typical day, he leaves school and drops his younger sister at home. Next, he picks up his girlfriend and goes to work. After he returns home from work at night, he stays up until 1:00 a.m. or 2:00 a.m. doing homework. Often, he arrives at school tired and fights the urge to sleep in the classroom. He spends his lunchtime in Academic Support to finish any homework.

Zuares has realized that he uses more gas by pumping hard on the gas pedal than by accelerating slowly in his car. He says that he has been re-teaching himself to slowly push the gas pedal. Also, he tries to coast at a constant speed because it consumes less gas than fluctuating speeds while driving.

Because he has had to adjust to the inconvenient gas prices, Zuares says that he feels closer to being an adult. "I still have a lot of learning to do," Zuares says, but he wishes to share what he has learned so far. He encourages drivers to limit their trips to necessities, to carpool and to use public transportation. His mother has taken this advice "religiously," Zuares says. Now, she only drives on Sundays and actually enjoys riding the bus to work during the week.

Fighting alleged price gouging

Although he understands that the hurricanes devastated gas refineries, Zuares says, "I hate the fact that [gas companies] are raising prices." He is in favor of the idea of a future anti-price gouging law.

During the week of Sept. 12, Maryland had the second highest gas price in the nation, says John Townsend, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. Townsend says that unlike in 19 other states, Maryland has no laws preventing price gouging by oil companies and gas stations. To improve the situation, Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan, Maryland senators and members of the Maryland General Assembly are planning to pass an anti-price gouging law in the state legislature next year.