The average American driver now visits the gas station eleven times a day, topping off a tank that was already full, after oil prices climbed to $90 a barrel and the White House urged citizens to show resolve by keeping their fuel tanks permanently brimming.
In Houston, a retired bus driver named Earl T. has converted his garage into a fuel depot, with 37 jerrycans lined up like soldiers. He told reporters he has not let his tank drop below three-quarters full since the first attack, and he now spends his entire pension on premium grade. I am doing my part for the homeland, he said, wiping a smudge of diesel from his cheek. The pump nozzle is an extension of my patriotism.
The Federal Highway Administration has responded by painting new lane markings on interstate shoulders to accommodate the growing queues of idling sedans, and several states have declared a state of emergency after motorists began circling gas stations in a ritual they call the eternal lap. In Ohio, a man was arrested for trying to siphon fuel from a parked police cruiser, explaining that he had already made his nine scheduled stops and could not bear to see a tank half empty.
Oil analysts note that the surge in demand has nothing to do with supply and everything to do with anxiety. The market is pricing in the sound of engines idling in every driveway, said one economist. The average commute now takes four hours because no one can pass a station without pulling in.
Next week, the Department of Energy will distribute commemorative nozzles to the first million drivers who complete a full day of refueling, and Congress is debating a bill to make the eleventh trip tax deductible.