More than half of Canadians are either changing their driving habits or thinking about it, as oil prices continue to soar, according to a new poll released Friday.
About a quarter of respondents said the soaring price of gasoline has led them to cut down on gasoline consumption and another 28 percent said they are starting to look for ways to do so, according to the survey done by the Harris Decima polling company.
About 15 percent said they will start to change their habits if pump prices push higher, while a quarter of respondents said they were unlikely to change the amount of gas they use no matter what the price.
"The recent run-up in price has motivated one in four people to change their behavior, but as people think more pain is yet to come, more behavior will likely change, too," said Bruce Anderson, the president of Harris-Decima.
The poll also suggested that Canadians fear oil prices will soar even higher in the next five years and most of them blame gouging by oil companies.
The average price prediction by respondents was 203 Canadian dollars (203 U.S. dollars) a barrel in five years.
Only 11 percent of survey respondents said they thought the price of oil will be lower in five years.
The telephone survey of just over 1,000 people was conducted May 15-18, at the request of Canadian Press, and is considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Source: Xinhua
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