Gas prices are climbing again just as spring travel ramps up, putting added pressure on drivers from road trips to simply commuting to work.

The national average price for regular gas has jumped in recent weeks, climbing to about $3.98 per gallon — up roughly $1 in just the past month, according to AAA. With seasonal demand increasing and oil prices remaining elevated, experts say drivers should expect continued volatility at the pump.

Luckily, experts say small changes behind the wheel and simple maintenance habits can help stretch every tank further. Here are 7 of their best tips:

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Speeding, rapid acceleration and hard braking are some of the biggest fuel drains. Fuel efficiency drops quickly above about 50 mph, The Points Guy recently reported, and federal data shows aggressive driving can cut gas mileage by up to 40% in stop-and-go traffic.

Cruise control can also help keep your speed steady but experts warn not to use it in slick conditions.

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Using premium gas won’t improve fuel economy unless your vehicle specifically requires it.

Most cars are designed to run on regular 87-octane fuel, making it the most cost-effective option, according to AAA. Using a higher octane than recommended won’t improve mileage or efficiency and typically isn’t worth the added cost.

Underinflated tires increase resistance on the road, forcing the engine to work harder and burn more fuel, experts say. 

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Tires naturally lose about 1 to 3 psi per month, and a 10 psi drop can reduce fuel economy by up to 4%. Pressure can fall even further with colder temperatures or small leaks, making regular pressure checks especially important.

Many drivers believe it’s more fuel-efficient to let a car idle than to turn it off and restart it, but experts say that’s a myth.

A warm engine uses only about 10 seconds’ worth of fuel to restart, meaning idling longer than that wastes gas, and engines can burn up to a half-gallon per hour while idling, according to AAA and government agencies. Letting a car warm up for long periods is also unnecessary, as most vehicles need only about 30 seconds before driving.

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Extra weight — especially roof racks and cargo boxes — can significantly reduce fuel efficiency.

Drivers can lose about 1% of fuel economy for every 100 pounds added to a vehicle, and cargo mounted on the roof creates additional wind resistance that can cut mileage by up to 8% in the city and as much as 25% on the highway, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Clearing out your trunk or removing unused carriers can help your car go farther on each tank, while rear-mounted cargo options tend to have a smaller impact on fuel economy.

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Plan fuel-efficient routes using apps like Google Maps to avoid backtracking and unnecessary stops. Combining errands into one trip and opting for “one-stop” locations when possible can reduce driving time, especially if you avoid peak traffic and stop-and-go conditions. 

Fewer trips also mean fewer cold starts, which use more fuel, helping drivers save gas over time, according to federal guidance.

Air conditioning can increase fuel use — by up to 10% in some cases — while open windows also reduce efficiency by creating drag, so experts recommend adjusting based on speed. 

At lower speeds, windows can be more efficient, but on highways it’s better to close them and use A/C, ideally after airing out a hot car to reduce the strain on the system.

Adam Carolla thinks some people simply pay President Donald Trump too much mind.

The comedian spoke about certain public figures’ apparent fixation on Trump during a conversation with Dr. Drew Pinsky on a recent episode of “The Adam & Dr. Drew Show,” saying that some politicians and celebrities have given up too much just to argue with the president.

“You’re a politician, and you think, ‘I’m going to make change, and I’m going to stand up for this and I’m going to fix that,’ and all you’re doing is fighting with Trump,” he said.

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“That’s all you do. Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass – their full-time job is just fighting Trump … it’s no longer what they want to do, it’s ‘what does Trump want to do?’, then ‘I’m going to go fight Trump.'”

Pinsky agreed, and Carolla continued, “Rosie O’Donnell, you wanted to do comedy at some point, right? Now you sit and you fight Trump. And Kathy Griffin, you wanted to do comedy, and you both could do it at a high level, but you threw it all away to fight Trump. Could you imagine?”

The “Man Show” host remarked, “It’s like, I didn’t like Obama, but I didn’t give up on life to fight Obama.”

Pinsky said that the kinds of people Carolla mentioned might not have a person in their lives who would say, “Hey, hey, what are you doing?” because otherwise, he suggested, “it would be hard to keep doing it month after month.”

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Carolla theorized that that kind of person “would be expelled from that person’s life if they started asking questions.”

He imagined a conversation between O’Donnell and this kind of friend, in which the theoretical friend asks O’Donnell what she has planned for the day, and she answers, “I’m going to go hit my vlog and do a tirade against Trump.” 

“How about we play pickleball instead?” he imagined the friend saying, then, as O’Donnell, responded, “Get out of here.”

“It’s got to be so unhealthy, unpleasant,” Pinsky said. “But it must be rewarding in some way because they keep doing it, right? It gives them meaning.”

Carolla went on to make an argument that because comedians use their brains instead of their brawn, they can sometimes find their thoughts going in “a bad direction.”

“If you’re a comedian, and you have some downtime, and you’re no longer hitting the boards, you know what I mean?” he said. “You got money in the bank, and you can kind of have your afternoons off, and you don’t need to go out and hit mics that night, then that mind will start wandering on you.”

He continued, “What you need to do at that point is go build a gazebo. You need to get up and get out … you need a project.”

Carolla explained, “When the brain is not constantly working in some sort of support of some goal … it starts turning. And that’s a problem.”

O’Donnell has consistently spoken out against Trump on social media and in interviews she’s given after moving from the U.S. to Ireland following the 2024 presidential election.

She’s demanded his removal from office numerous times, and in a 2025 interview, she admitted that she’d promised her therapist she’d quit making posts about Trump on social media, but she wasn’t able to follow through.

Griffin recently declared herself “uncanceled” nearly 10 years after creating a firestorm when she shared a photo of herself holding a bloody mask designed to look like Trump’s head.

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She previously told her podcast listeners to take the time to speak to neighbors and to “find out if they’re MAGA or not,” because it’s important to know “who’s on our team.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to O’Donnell, Griffin, Newsom and Bass.

Uganda’s military chief has warned the African country’s armed forces could enter the Iran war on Israel’s side after issuing a series of statements on social media that went viral this week.

Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba — son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni — who is considered to be his likely successor, has spent this week making a barrage of posts on X in support of Israel.

“We stand with Israel because we are Christians,” he wrote, adding in another post, “Uganda is the David that was forgotten and neglected by the world. We will defeat the giant, Goliath.”

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Kainerugaba began his social media blitz with, “We want the war in the Middle East to end now. The world is tired of it. But any talk of destroying or defeating Israel will bring us into the war. On the side of Israel!”

Uganda has 45,000 active military personnel in the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF), with around 35,000 reserves, according to its ministry of defense. It’s estimated to have approximately 240 tanks and over 1,000 armored fighting vehicles.

The nation is also heavily involved militarily in conflict-affected countries. Its soldiers fight as part of an African Union force against Islamist al-Shabab terrorists in Somalia. Their army is also still operating in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) against the Islamic State-linked ADF terrorist group.

While Iran is not known to have any interests in Uganda, it has been accused of covert operations in neighboring Kenya and Tanzania, including the running of smuggling networks and making controversial diplomatic and economic outreach with questionable motives throughout the region. Although landlocked, Uganda is said to be wary of Iran’s strategic interest in gaining a presence in the regional waters of the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.

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In another post he stated, “Israel stood with us when we were nobodies in the 1980s and 1990s. Why wouldn’t we defend her now that our GDP is $100 billion? One of the largest in Africa.”

Israel has historically trained Ugandan forces, including the general. It is understood that Uganda maintains a strong strategic partnership with Israel, with close security and intelligence ties.

It wasn’t always like this. In 1976, with dictator Idi Amin aggressively opposing Israel, four terrorists hijacked Air France Flight 139 on its way from Tel Aviv to France. The plane was diverted to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. During the night of July 3, 1976, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) mounted a long-range rescue mission, originally codenamed Operation Thunderbolt, to rescue 106 mostly Israeli hostages being held.

The mission was retroactively renamed Operation Yonatan after the mission’s leader, Lt. Col. Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu, the elder brother of the current Israeli Prime Minister, was killed by a Ugandan sniper during the raid. The Israeli soldiers pulled off a successful rescue, but four hostages, seven hijackers and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed.

Kainerugaba announced that in a further gesture of goodwill toward Israel, he intends to have a statue of Yonatan Netanyahu erected at the exact spot in Entebbe’s airport where he fell. This week, Kainerugaba posted a photo of the statue on X, dubbing it “a sneak peek.”