SOUTH BEND, Indiana - May 5, 2011 - Indiana residents say record-high gasoline prices are forcing them to park their cars, stay home more often and ride their bicycles.

"They're killing us. It's too expensive," said Luis Loredo, a 31-year-old painter from South Bend. "Sometimes I can only buy $5. Five dollars is nothing now. If I don't have to go, I don't go (anywhere)."

Five dollars was getting drivers a little more than a gallon of regular gasoline as prices hit record highs in Indiana. The AAA Hoosier Motor Club reports the average price of a gallon of regular gas was a record $4.25 on Wednesday, surpassing the mark of $4.19 a gallon set a day earlier. The previous record high was $4.17, set in September 2008, after Hurricane Ike disrupted some oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico.

"It's shocking," said Russell Faeges, who teaches sociology at the University of Notre Dame, as he filled his 1991 Ford Escort with gas that cost $4.29 a gallon.

The national average for a gallon of gas reached $3.98 on Thursday, rising for a 44th consecutive day, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. While the nationwide average for a gallon of gasoline nears $4, the average price has been higher than that in Indiana since April 27.

The average price in Indiana ticked down slightly to $4.24 on Thursday. The metro area in Indiana with the highest cost for a gallon was Bloomington, at $4.29. The only metro area in Indiana where gas was below $4.21 was in Evansville, where it was $3.98.

It wasn't that long ago that gasoline in Indiana was under $3. It cost $2.96 a gallon as recently as December 21. It was $2.58 on August 27 and $2.93 a year ago.

Hoosier Motor Club spokesman Greg Seiter said it is unusual for prices in Indiana to be significantly higher than the national average. "I don't know the rationale," he said.