TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

When it comes to gas prices and consumer driving habits, is there a tipping point? At least one survey says yes.

And with California per-gallon averages whizzing past the $4 mark this week, we may have hit it.

"It seems like $4 is the winner," said Automobile Club of Southern California spokesman Jeffrey Spring.

According to AAA's most recent quarterly travel and spending poll, most respondents, 27 percent, said that was the magic number -- the point at which they'd change their driving habits because of high fuel prices.

"About 24 percent said something lower than $4," Spring explained. Those respondents said they'd change their driving habits at one of three lower price points: $2.50, $3 or $3.50.

Another 25 percent, Spring said, chose either $4.50 or $5 as their tipping points in the survey.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration put California's average regular gas price per gallon at $4.03 on Monday, jumping 20 cents from the week before and 48 cents from last year.

AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report listed $4.13 as Bakersfield's average Thursday, up by about eight cents since Wednesday and gaining on the area's highest recorded average. That was $4.59 in June 2008.

The only California metro area to post an average less than $4 Thursday was Yuba City, coming in with an average at about $3.99.

As of Thursday afternoon, BakersfieldGasPrices.com, a local comparison website based on user reports, showed a range from $3.79 for a gallon of regular gas at an ARCO station on Lerdo Highway to $4.39 at a Texaco station on Highway 46.

In other words, more and more drivers are reaching their limits this week -- on principle, anyway.

While many acknowledged that they're unhappy with skyrocketing gas prices, most said their hands are tied from making major changes.

"It's already too much," said 20-year-old Junior Fernandez as he filled up his shiny silver Chevy Silverado Wednesday at a Shell Station on Rosedale Highway. The truck, which he said he got recently, sported a "Flex Fuel" logo in back.

Fernandez said he might be alarmed if prices hit $5, but he doesn't plan to do anything differently.

"Nothing's changed but the prices," he said.

Still, some drivers said they're doing what they can to take the sting off.

At another pump, Rodger Petre, 68, loaded up his Harley-Davidson.

Asked when gas prices would prompt a serious look at his driving practices, he responded, "It's getting there -- right around $4 a gallon."

He said he's already started trying to use his motorcycle more often than his Ford F-150.

The bike, he said, "will get about 45 (miles per gallon) in the city, 51 on the highway," versus "20 to 21 (miles per gallon)" driving the truck.

Now, he said, he takes the truck out only if he'll be hauling more than will fit in the motorcycle's small back compartment.

"Oh yeah, we've been changing," said Ernie Baeza, 43. "My wife and I carpool ... I ran three errands today and now I'm going to work."

Nevertheless, he said, gas is "something we all need and we're going to keep buying it."

Tim Hamilton, head of Washington state's Automotive United Trades Organization, which represents gasoline retailers, said that's why it's tough for drivers to make a real dent in gas prices just by buying less.

He said a friend of his, who worked for AAA, once put the problem this way: "The problem with ... typical consumers is that they can't change very easily. They already bought the house, the pick-up truck. What do you do if gas goes up to $50 a gallon? Consumers have a hard time adjusting and it's taken a long time."

Hamilton said that when the economy first soured, people stopped using disposable income on gas by cutting back on discretionary activities that required driving.

Recently, he said, as the economy improves, "as the public starts to have a little more disposable income and starts to drive a little more again, it drives the price of petroleum up."

That definitely rang true for Amanda Diaz, 30, who filled up her Toyota 4Runner Thursday. She said she doesn't drive much, except to work and her commute isn't bad.

So to save money, Diaz said she recently made some changes to her insurance policy that lowered her monthly payment.

But at the pump, she said, "I really don't pay that much attention because I have to get gas."

Instead, Diaz said her gas-buying habits are more driven by her income.

"I get paid on Thursday," she said, "I get gas on Thursday."