MADISON, Wis. -- The price at the pump could be pushing many drivers' wallets toward empty, but new information shows the pinch many are feeling now could be a punch come November.

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According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's most recent Short-Term Energy Outlook, a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline is expected to average $3.84 per gallon this year. That figure is $1 more than the 2007 price.

Energy experts are now predicting that the price will peak at $4.25 by the fall and then stay at more than $4 a gallon until the end of 2009.

This prediction scuttles many motorists' hope that gas prices would drop after the summer vacation season slows down. Instead, many drivers are re-budgeting for the rest of your year, factoring in the rising price of anything made with petroleum, WISC-TV reported.

With even short trips meaning potential pain at the pump, driver G.A. Redding said that going to the gas station is always something of a surprise.

"It's more fun to go to the gas station and find out what the guy ahead of you paid 'cause you see $95. 'I wonder what kind of a car he had?'" Redding said. "Thank God, you know, I'm only putting in $30."

The price of a barrel of oil actually fell $9 in the last two days, but the price at the pump is estimated to stay up.

Anna Bolton said that with prices this high, she'll forgo getting behind the wheel.

"It's too expensive for me to drive anymore 'cause its $4.25 a gallon in Seattle right now for gas," she said. "So, I'm bike riding everywhere now."

The soaring gas prices convinced Colleen Moran to kick her car to the curb like a bad boyfriend.

"I divorced over three years ago," Moran said of forsaking her own car.

Now, Moran works for Community Car, and more people are latching onto the program's cost-saving convenience. Community Car allows its members to rent cars by the hour around Madison, and has seen their business surge as prices at the pump have. They said that they'll soon hit 1,000 members thanks to a 65 percent increase in membership during the last year.

"People are realizing that it makes more sense to leave their car at home and just bike or take the bus, and if they need a car during the day, just pay by the hour rather than fill up that tank every few days at the pump," she said.

As oil prices rise, so is the cost of something many typically see right through. As an example, the plastic bags that keep dry cleaning pristine are made from petroleum.

"Those cost, some of them, you have to pass onto the customer," said John Whitley of Best Cleaners on Raymond Road in Madison. "You can't continue to eat all of the increases."

Whitley said that he believes the costs will continue to go up for his business and all of consumers. The number of people willing to keep pumping their income into the tanks of their cars trucks is likely the only thing that will change, WISC-TV reported.

Redding said he thinks the days of $2 a gallon prices are gone.

"I don't think you'll see that again," Redding said.

AAA officials said that the news of falling oil prices is encouraging, but it's just too soon to make any predictions that say prices will continue to drop because of fluctuations.

As the silver lining to this cloudy forecast of the future, officials said that the most-recent hurricane threatening the U.S. shouldn't cause prices to climb even. New computer models suggest that Hurricane Bertha will not reach the Gulf of Mexico, and not threaten the U.S. oil production infrastructure there, officials said.

Stay tuned to WISC-TV and Channel 3000 for continuing coverage.