A year ago on this day, Hoosiers paid an average of $4.17 per gallon at Indiana filling stations — an all-time high that experts say won’t be threatened in the record books any time soon.

Purdue University Professor Wally Tyner, who specializes in energy production and policy, said he forecasts per-gallon pump prices to stay in the $2.20 to $2.70 range for the rest of 2009.

Today’s average — as recorded by AAA and Oil Price Information Service — was just over $2.46 a gallon, a roughly 41 percent year-over-year drop.

“I think it’s going to be pretty much steady as you go for the next six months,” Tyner told the Star. “We are going to move horizontal for a while. Until we see job growth, I don’t see a recovery” at filling stations.

The Indiana average on Sept. 16, 2008 was $4.171, a spike caused at the time by fears that Hurricane Ike would force disruptions in the gas supply as it approached the coastline near Houston, Tex.

Motorists in Gary, Bloomington, Terre Haute and Evansville all saw record highs that day.

(The price of gas was over $4 in Indianapolis, but didn’t eclipse the new record set June 15, 2008 when city motorists paid an average of $4.149.)

Greg Seiter, spokesman for AAA Hoosier Motor Club, said the date is memorable, but just breaking the $4 barrier last summer was a “very significant psychological milestone for many Americans because, quite honestly, I don’t think many of us who were driving even three years ago ever thought we would see gas that expensive.”

“It’s hard to believe that one year ago today, Hoosiers were paying an all-time high $4.171 for self-serve regular gas,” he said.

Motorists continue to complain about gas prices today but certainly not to the extent that they were 12 months ago, Seiter said. And $4-per-gallon gas "changed the way a lot of us think. It certainly changed our behavior. When prices were at those levels, motorists were nervous.

There was a notable drop-off in the sale of large SUVs and gas-guzzling trucks as well as in the number of miles being driven. In some cases, people had to make lifestyle decisions and changes due to the cost of gas. The travel industry most definitely suffered."

“However, from all those struggles, I think we also learned how to drive more efficiently,” Seiter said. “We discovered that carpooling really does work and that collectively, we can make a difference when it comes to reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign oil. Additionally, many Americans came to the realization that in most cases, it’s a lot cheaper and much better for the environment to drive smaller, more gas-efficient automobiles whenever possible.”

Scot Imus, executive director of the Indiana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, said no one liked $4 gas. Consumers didn’t have extra money to spend inside convenience stores, and retailers had little profit margin.

“Most experts predict that crude is pretty much going to stay where it is now … and the fact of the matter is that $70 a barrel crude prices translate to where we are at the pump,” Imus said.