SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Donna Summer topped the charts with her No. 1 hit "Bad Girls," and California drivers were shocked to see $1 gas prices at the pump. The year: 1979.

Gas Prices Climbing With No End In Sight

After hovering around a quarter for most of the 20th century, gas prices doubled in the late '70s and early '80s.

In fact, prices were going up so quickly in the late '70s, lines started to form at gas stations with drivers boycotting oil companies.

Fast-forward 30 years to 2003, when a $1 for a gallon of gas became a distant memory with prices crossing the $2 mark.

Two years later, $3 a gallon gas prices made a debut in California.

The state of California broke another record this week: the price of gas, even when adjusted for inflation, hit an all-time high, according to the federal government.

"I think the shock at what we're seeing today is hitting people harder," said Jim Boyd of the California Energy Commission.

Some analysts are predicting $5 for a gallon of gas by the end of the year in California.

In Washington on Tuesday, legislators increased new fuel efficiency standards by more than 4 percent each year from 2011 through 2015.

"I think the shock at what we're seeing today is hitting people harder." -Jim Boyd, California Energy Commission

This will make U.S. cars and trucks have a 31.6 mile per gallon average by 2015, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said.

Peters said the proposal is "an aggressive but achievable standard."

The government estimates that the additional fuel mileage will add about $650 to the price of a car and more than $900 to the price of a truck by 2015.

Estimates are that more than 54 billion gallons of oil will be saved and emissions will be reduced by 521 million metric tons over the lifetime of cars and trucks built during the four-year span.