On Tuesday, gas prices in the U.S. hit an average of just over $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022.
Amid the Iran War, the cost of crude oil — the main ingredient in gasoline — has soared around the globe. In North Carolina, the average in the Piedmont Triad is about $3.90 a gallon, and some Triad commuters are feeling the pinch.
Tasha Shaw is a facility manager who lives in Winston-Salem. She says she's trying to stay positive. She hopes that gas prices will come down before the heavy travel season of summer.
"I have to drive my car and I have to get gas anyway, so I just cry at the pump and still get my gas, " says Shaw.
Joe Amann says the ripple effects from higher energy costs will make many things more expensive, from groceries to building materials. He says $4 gas is already impacting his bottom line.
"Oh, it's gonna kill us," he says. "It's gonna affect everything. I'm driving from Knoxville, Tennessee, come up here to have some cancer work done. So you're talking extra 50, 60 bucks a trip."
Retired Winston-Salem resident Deborah Streeter says she's not too concerned about higher gasoline prices because the vast majority of her travel is local.
"I don't care what the price is," she says. "I have to go to the Y for my therapy and stuff like that, and I'll just have to cut back maybe some social events."
Jafar Parker lives in Winston-Salem but he commutes 40 minutes to work in a warehouse distribution center in Salisbury.
"It [gas price] didn't impact me," says Parker. "Got to pay it to get where I need to go. Shoot, as long as it don't go to $6 I'll be alright. I got a Corolla, so I'm straight."
The last time U.S. drivers were collectively paying this much at the pump was nearly four years ago, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.