Dr. Mike Walden, North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, responds:

"Well, I can certainly say, 'yes,' and hopefully this will make our drivers feel somewhat better because gas prices are much, much higher in many other countries. Try $6 a gallon in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Try $5.70 a gallon in Germany, Belgium and Italy. And $5.50 in France. Now the difference is not due to the raw price of gasoline. In fact, that is very similar in all countries. The big difference between our prices and those prices I just cited comes from differences in taxes. Taxes on gasoline are much, much higher in those European countries. In fact national taxes make up 60 to 70 percent of the retail price of gasoline in Western European countries compared to only 16 percent here in the U.S. That's the reason when you go to Europe you see a lot of people riding motor bikes, even adults. You see mass transit much more heavily developed. That's simply because driving your car is a lot more expensive."