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Expensive gasoline is keeping more U.S. drivers off the road than the COVID-19 pandemic did at this time two years ago.

It’s been a tailwind for oil prices for most of this year, but the previously booming U.S. gasoline market is showing a few signs of cooling off.

Gasoline demand in the U.S. shows signs of further softening just three weeks into the peak driving season, with near-record prices likely encouraging people to stay closer to home.

CAMARILLO, Calif. — The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline fell by 4 cents per gallon in the past two weeks to $5.05 for regular grade, it was reported June 26.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With California drivers paying more than $6 for a gallon of gas and state officials deadlocked for months over how to provide relief, lawmakers in the state Assembly on June 20 announced they would investigate oil companies they say are “abusing a historic situation to suck profits from Californians’ wallets.”

NEW YORK — The nationwide average price for a gallon of gasoline has hit $5 for the first time ever.

Gasoline reached $5 a gallon or more in more than a dozen states a week into the peak summer travel season, as stockpiles of the fuel remain tight.

Gasoline pump prices have risen above $4 a gallon in all states in the U.S. for the first time ever as the last holdouts — Kansas, Oklahoma and Georgia — saw prices rise overnight, according to auto club AAA.

Gasoline pump prices in the U.S. are rising to within a hair of an all-time record three weeks ahead of the peak driving season.

With the traditional start of the busy summer driving season fast approaching, congressional leaders are taking aim at rising gasoline prices.