Here's a chart that shows the historical average price of gas
http://gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx. Click on the 6 year view once there. It was the rise over $4 that helped trigger the recession in June 2008 - and prices were about what they are today till the end of summer. Boat traffic was way down that year. Prices fell to 1.61 by December 2008 as the financial panic caught steam and then quickly returned to the mid $2's and went above $3 in early 2011.