While I generally agree that we can do nothing. I also find some of the comments on this thread a bit callous toward the plight of other folks. Sure we all make choices and we have to live with them, but some people make a lot of the right choices and still are hurt by higher fuel prices.
As for the distance people will drive to save a few bucks, it is common in my town to drive out to the highway to save 10-cents a gallon at the truckstop. That is an 11 mile drive on a rural 2 lane road, not quite 20 minutes but certainly well out of the way. They drive 22 miles to save 10-cents, which amounts to about a $1.50 to $2.00 saving per tank. At roughly 20 miles to the gallon, and $2.39 per gallon in fuel costs, they actually eat up 1 gallon of gas on that round trip drive, so they may end up spending more than they save. Now at roughly 30 miles to the gallon, they actually would save a little bit of money. In either scenerio, the value of their time is not considered. I don't do it. But I do watch gas prices at the stations I pass and I will buy at the cheapest one of those locations when I need fuel. I value my time too much to drive out of my way, but I also know that driving out of my way, at least with the milage I get in my vehicle (ave 17.5mpg city/hwy) it would not pay for me to drive out of my way to save 10-cents/gallon on fuel.