Relief At The Pump? 
Twenty-eight million Americans are expected to hit the road Memorial Day weekend the official start of the summer driving season and the the vice president has an encouraging prediction. 
"I think the price is going to come down this summer on gasoline," said Dick Cheney. 
But the prices at the pump are still historically high, and at this point any drop is welcome. 
"It's making my pocketbook hurt," said one motorist. 
That's what drivers have been saying, but truth is, reports CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers, high prices haven't slowed traffic a bit or dimmed America's love affair with gas guzzling mini-vans, sport utilities and pick-ups. According to the government, fuel economy for the average new car or truck is at its lowest level in 20 years. Energy efficient vehicles are out there, customers aren't. 
"Carmakers have discovered through some very sophisticated research that their customers aren't going to change their buying habits until gasoline gets to four or five dollars a gallon," said Keith Crain of Automotive News. 
That's three bucks more than we're paying now, but gas prices nationwide appear to have leveled off, ending a series of increases that sent prices up 29 cents a gallon over a two-month period. 
The average price of gas, including all grades and taxes, rose only about three-quarters of a cent between May 4 and May 18, to $1.76 per gallon, according to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations nationwide. 
Click here for state by state gas prices. 
While prices remain at an all-time unadjusted high, increased supplies have at least temporarily put an end to the big price hikes that alarmed motorists, said analyst Trilby Lundberg. 
"The refiners and marketers have stepped up to the plate to meet the challenge of splintering supplies of the many types of gasoline required around the country to prevent smog," Lundberg said, "and supplies are no longer so critical." 
Even as demand rises with Memorial Day weekend, prices should remain steady and could fall a couple of cents in many cities, Lundberg said. 
She said recent price jumps were due to strain on the market caused by the difficulty of manufacturing the different gas formulas used around the country, and were not connected to production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). 
The average weighted prices on Friday were $1.72 per gallon for self-serve regular, $1.82 for self-serve midgrade and $1.90 for self-serve premium. For full-service, the prices were $2.05 for regular, $2.14 for midgrade and $2.22 for premium. 
A sanguine vice president said this weekend there were reasons to be optimistic that the summer driving season wouldn't see even more pain at the pump. 
Dick Cheney pointed to inventories, which he said have begun "to build a bit and if you look at the futures prices with respect to gasoline, they appear to be headed down." 
"The expectation is that sometime, hopefully not too long after Memorial Day, we will begin to see those inventories reflected at the prices at the pump and the pressure will leave," he said. 
The 1973-74 OPEC oil embargo, imposed on Western nations who aided Israel in the October 1973 hostilities between the Jewish state and Arab countries, caused gasoline prices to more than triple in the United States. 
The embargo sparked a global economic recession caused by inflated energy prices, lasting almost 10 years.