Look out: Gasoline prices are rising

For most Americans, the current Great Recession began in 2008 when gasoline prices threatened to hit $4 a gallon. The government and economists caught on later when the housing crisis hit full force.

Now gasoline prices are on the rise again. Regular gas, which had dipped below $2 a gallon at one point, is now pushing $3 a gallon. The price of crude oil is rising, demand for petroleum is recovering as the global economic upturn begins, and Americans are still driving big, gas-guzzling SUVs. I sat at a stoplight earlier this week on my way to work and watched the vehicles passing in front of me. The drivers, all looking like they were on their way to work, were all traveling alone. Seven of the eight vehicles that passed in that light cycle were eight-passenger carriers; the eighth was a five-passenger sedan. Only one person was in each vehicle. It's hard to think of a more inefficient way of commuting to work.

Many families believe they "need" their big trucks with their 25- or 40-gallon gas tanks. Sometimes they haul as many as three children, and they like to stretch out. But most of the time, one person is traveling alone in these eight-passenger, 5,000 pound monsters rolling on tires as big as oil pipelines. Government safety-seat regulations, which keep children in space-hogging safety seats until they're 8 years old, also contribute to the problem. Two car seats take up the entire width of most vehicles, forcing three-child families into vans or SUVs. Getting Americans out of these big vehicles into a more sensible commuting car would save billions of barrels of oil, reduce the price of gasoline and, maybe, stave off the next down cycle of the economy.