Commute <2.5 miles each way, on a 75-80mpg TW200 with ethanol-free fuel. I couldn't care less about gas prices.
As for small bikes on city freeways, try 45,000 miles in 2 years around DFW on a TW200. Wear a high-visibility jacket so people can see you, and they'll go out of your way for the purely selfish reason of not having themselves be involved in a crash, which would make the kid late for cello lesson. Nobody intentionally crashes for the fun of it. Duh.
Those who suffer a long commute or inefficient vehicle will justify and rationalize to support their complaints of the expense. Just stop annoying the rest of us with the whining about the expense or stress of doing so, or not.
Those with long commutes can move or change jobs, but they choose not to do so, and that is entirely okay with me. There are plenty of good reasons for a long commute. Pay your money and choose your choices, but put your big boy panties on and man up to the consequences of those choices. Same goes for those who choose gashog vehicles, GSX-Rs as economy commuters, etc. Man up to the consequences of whatever you choose. It ain't rocket science.
Those who face a long commute and can't afford to trade for a higher mpg vehicle, it's their own fault. Shoulda bought something with better mpg in the first place, or bought a cheaper vehicle so you're not upside down over the first 5 years of a 6-year note. They musta had some stupid math teachers. 240 working days and per year and a, for instance, 50 mile commute each way, is 24,000 miles per year. Multiply that times the 6 years of your note, you get 144,000 miles on your vehicle. Not counting any other use, like taking the kid to soccer practice or going on vacation. Therefore, once the gashog is paid off, it won't be worth a significant down payment on a replacement. Sounds to me like cost of fuel isn't their problem for a lot of folks, but maybe entrapment by debt?
Come to think of it, debt is likely the reason many people with long commutes can't unload their rural homes, too. Seems rural real estate prices nosedive every time fuel prices rise, wiping out any recent gains and often putting owners upside down on their mortgages, even without considering the effects of the mortgage fiasco. Surprise, surprise, of a rather nasty variety. Good time to buy retirement property in the country for those with the cash to do so. Just remember that the three most important considerations of value of real estate are location, location, and location.
$5/gallon gas is way overdue in the U. S. of A. Obama stated high energy costs as a political goal way back when?
Those who claim a political cause for high fuel prices are therefore right. They are also wrong.
The expansion of personal wealth of massive numbers of Indians and Chinese due to the recent economic booms in those countries has greatly increased the demand for fuel for the millions of people, who for the first time in history, are wealthy enough to afford scooters and econo-cars as well as western-style food choices, such as beef and pork, the production of which directly competes with bio-fuels for available agricultural production, which drives up the demand for conventional agricultural and transport fuels. Dern those greedy capitalistic communists! May the fleas of a thousand pandas infest their armpits. Those who claim a capitalist cause for fuel prices are therefore right. They are also wrong.
Sorry if this steps on toes, just describing the situation as it really is rather than as I want it to be. I could wish everbody's wishes would come true, but it ain't gonna happen.