Jersey Drivers Remove All Doubt

I was in Westchester Co. on saturday and almost had a wreck with someone who felt the need to merge into high speed traffic only to slam on his breaks to change lanes! You guessed it he was from NJ. But i digress, one need only to step onto Bloomfield Avenue to witness some of the worst and obnoxious driving habits.

Apologies to the locals, but since moving here I have been saying that even blind monkeys can get a driver's license in NJ! I've seen absolutely the WORST driving skills here, and that's compared to SoCal (where they used to shoot you if you misbehaved) and Tijuana (where it's basically a free-for-all).

I got 95% and the one I missed I swear was a trick question!

Apologies to the locals, but since moving here I have been saying that even blind monkeys can get a driver's license in NJ! I've seen absolutely the WORST driving skills here, and that's compared to SoCal (where they used to shoot you if you misbehaved) and Tijuana (where it's basically a free-for-all).

I got 95% and the one I missed I swear was a trick question!

I got a 90! Whoopee!!

I was nearly run over by a jamoke driving a white SUV with really dark tinted windows. He was pulling out of the repair shop on Broad St. in Bloomfield. He was going in reverse, oh about 25 mph or so. Super fast. I had to jump out of the way to avoid being struck by the bastard. I confronted him after he finally stopped. He wouldn't roll down the window and he just mouthed sorry. I said that he should have seen me on the sidewalk. He insisted that he did look. Well, how the fook could he see through the darkly tinted windows? Arrgh.

How are cars allowed on the road with those tinted veneers? Buy some cheap sunglasses.

Back in the day, tints were specifically not allowed on front windows, only the back. There was a certain height that you could tint the driver and passenger window but it was some convoluted formula which amounted to allowing the front people's faces to be seen, including in the side-view mirror. You'd see cars riding around with tint that looked like a good stock market line chart starting at the mirror. (for safety of law enforcement, this was told to me by a CHP friend.) I knew people who got fix-it tickets for improper window tint. The 'exception' was if the front windows were 'factory tinted' ... but that was few and far between. I believe that rule is the same around here - not supposed to have tint in front.

course people also aren't supposed to use the phone while driving or drive with their feet, but not supposed to doesn't mean much. Kudos to you for calling out the baddie. I honked at a lady last week who was not taking her turn at a lane merge before the highway entrance(everyone else was doing the 1-for-1 thing, quite nicely I might add) and she tried to horn in 2-for-1. I honked at her before she side swiped me and held up 1 finger (not the bad one either) and she backed off. dumb lady, wait your turn! I felt so vindicated!

When I first got my bike I stopped by the Harley Dealer in Bloomfield and the salesman told me this. "If you survive your first 6 months in Essex Co. on a bike, you'll do pretty okay."

I think most of this states driving troubles would cease if people would just start using their F'ng directionals and not sharply pull over to the breakdown lanes.

I still think New York drivers are the worst. They must not have the concept of the "fast lane" in the Empire State because it seems that whenever I'm stuck behind some slowpoke in the left lane of a highway, especially the Parkway, the offending vehicle invariably has NY plates.

That said, I wouldn't rate most drivers in this state much better - they are too inconsiderate and self-absorbed.

Window tinting, factory or otherwise, is still illegal in the front side windows in NJ.

Thanks for the link to the quiz. It was fun to do, and really broke up my drive into the city today. I thought that quiz was actually going to be a lot harder. I made it all the way to #17 but I had to put down the blackberry at the toll booth. Don't wanna get a ticket.

Growing up in Manhattan, it was always the cars with Jersey plates who didn't know how to parallel park or didn't understand the concept of a crosswalk. (You pull up TO it, not THROUGH it.) It's a matter of what you're used to; if you live in the suburbs, you don't practice parallel parking often...

Alas, now I'll be putting Jersey plates on my car this month. Please don't make fun of me for it...

How about people zooming through the park drives in Brookdale Park? Yesterday, a crowded Sunday, I saw a car jam on it's brakes to not hit a mother with a baby in a carriage in the crosswalk. People come whizzing through there with parked cars limiting the visibility and the park jammed full of kids. It's criminal.

1. The park drive is not a thoroughfare. If you're not visiting the park, go around it. (Caveat: sometimes I'll drive through at night. I figure the added traffic increases the security at those times.)

2. Especially on crowded days, you should go slower than the posted 25 mph. I usually do around 15 and the people behind me can just breathe into a bag.

3. Cops should be in there with speed guns and enforcing the already too-high limit. I've yet to see it. Has anyone ever seen it?

4. There's no good bike lane. Cars are allowed to park on the inner edge of the road, but that's the same side where the bike cut-throughs are at the entrances to the park. I'd think there's gotta be enough room for a dedicated bike lane on the inner edge.

90% w00t! (and I agree that one of the questions was a trick!)

Having drove through 5 states this last weekend, I'd have to put my vote in for Virginia drivers being the worst (on the highway, at least).

Obviously they get the tinting because they are shady or wanna be shady. No pun intended.

What about thos horrible mufflers? Which is an oxymornon in itself because they create rather than muffle sound.

As for Harley's - again a big piece of noise pollution - my neighbor just got one a month ago - his definitely won't make it to 6 months, I intend to "accidently" put it out of commission way before then.

I got a 75%. Those darn school buses confuse me every time...

The thing that kills me is how people use on and off ramps in this state. Especially on ramps. You are supposed to merge with the traffic, not drive all the way up to the edge of the highway, then come to a complete stop, and then try to pull into an opening. Stop at the start of the ramp where you can see the traffic. When you see an opening, start forward so that you are moving at a good clip when it comes time to merge. I can't stand how people try to merge from a dead stop. Don't people realize that they are starting from zero mph when they do that, and everyone on the road is doing at least 60? What a way to get yourself killed.

I nominate Connecticut -- maybe not for *bad* driving, but with all those left exits, for people hugging the left lane for M-I-L-E-S at ~35mph. Good lord, that's the longest state to get through when you're on your way somewhere else!

I nominate Connecticut--for hardest state to spell correctly. What's the deal with the silent c?

JoeShabado - what about those Suicide Entrances - something I'd never seen til moving here and which never cease to amaze me. No acceleration lane, just a stop sign. Floor it or die! I can think of a number of places on Route 46 and Route 3 where one can have this joyful experience.

Then of course there are the folks who do accelerate to highway speed but forget to yield and cause the highway traffic to brake to accomodate them (also on Route 46).

I have found over the years that there are 'local' rules of the road - unwritten guidelines. Go watch the little circle in Montclair at the intersection of Church Street and Valley Road to see what I mean... it's like historically, certain directions get the right of way no matter who's on the circle already.

That's right, Kay. There are some Rt. 3 on-ramps where you have no choice but to go from 0-60 in 3.5.

I still maintain that PA houses the country's worst drivers. Georgia comes in a close 2nd.

The quiz should have included a question about 4-way stop sign etiquette. Those are a s. show every time.

One answer is surely misguided. In the question about what the speed of an incoming car should be coming off a highway ramp, I doubt very much we'd like to see too many people going as fast as oncoming traffic, which I've clocked at upwards of 75 mph.

Learned to drive in NYC at 16. Mastered scaring the crap out of people in Boston while in college. Learned to give the finger to people in four languages while working in Europe. Drove race cars in the SCCA. Just got 100% on that test. But driving on the GSP scares the living Schmitt out of me. People on that particular highway are stupid, insane, out-of-it, drunk, stoned (did I say stupid?) or All of the Above.

A couple of months ago there was a discussion on the Watercooler about the "Jersey Left"; the practice of the first car at a stoplight making a quick left turn across traffic. That anybody (and there were plenty of anybodies) thought that this was acceptable, let alone legal, left me speechless...though not surprised. If you wouldn't do it in front of a cop, you shouldn't do it in front of anybody

The "Jersey Left" is necessitated by the fact that so many New Jersey drivers are such inconsiderate pricks that they will never let anyone actually make a left turn in front of them.

In the absence of dedicated left turn signals, if you don't make a jackrabbit left turn, you could easily sit at the light for many cycles.

I rest my case

...or is that "case in point"?

Either way, by making your "jackrabbit left" in front of another vehicle that has the right-of-way, deciding that you don't want to wait your turn...Who is the inconsiderate prick?

Ultimately we can all score as well as we want on the test (afterall we're all as competitive as **** in this state/town - just look at so-called youth sport) but try putting the theory into practice and it doesn't seem to score so well.

Pork Roll: you have to sit to make a left, doesn't matter how long you gotta wait, that's the law....oncoming has the right of way.

Crosswalks are just that: allows folks to get across the road without getting killed. I've been honked at for stopping and one time, a car drove around me to get thru the intersection. Thank god the person had made it across in time. I was considering pulling in front of that vehicle to prevent the pedestrian being hit if it came down to it.

There's just simply no consideration.

Finial, you missed my point: one's turn will often never come if one simply waits passively for it at many intersections around here, especially during rush hours because there is never a break in the oncoming traffic.

Yes, jerseygirl, I know what the law is, thank you very much. However, I was arguing a point of practicality, not law. The reality is that the volume of traffic exceeds the ability of the obsolete control mechanisms at many intersections to adequately handle the flow.

So, one could conceivably sit at an intersection for a very long time waiting for a break in the oncoming traffic that never appears. Considerate drivers, such as myself, will often pause and wave the left-turning driver through, which in many intersections also frees up the bottleneck of drivers behind the turning car who want to proceed straight across the intersection.

Alas, most people do not display this level of empathy towards their fellow drivers, so in the absence of delayed or extended green signals, or left-turn arrows, people have to gun it to make a left turn if they want to get anywhere - and avoid the wrath of all the horn-honking motorists stuck behind them.

I was driving on the NY Thruway memorial day weekend, and an SUV tried one of those high speed 'I'm just going to merge into you and hope you get out of the way' -- totally unnecessary because the traffic wasn't that bad. I thought, 'impatient jerk, that's the kind of driving I'd expect back in NJ'. And sure enough as he sailed ahead of me, I saw those Jerssey plates...

Yeah, NJ left anyone?

Driver licenses in NJ can evidently be won in the lottery...

sigh

The worst drivers in the region are from Mass. If you drive up to New England every summer like we did, you'll know.

Coincidentally this past week the 2 most moronic drivers I encountered both had MA plates.

Back to the driving quiz: sre you really not supposed to pull over & get out of the way of a speeding ambulance? Just what am I supposed to do when I'm tooling down Claremont at 25 mph & an ambulance is barrelling down the hill behind me at 60 mph?

Oh never mind. I mistakently clicked the wrong box on that question.

Crank: Massholes (as they are locally known) scare other people, but not each other -- or other New Englanders who all drive equally as bad. In Boston, the Jackrabbit left reaches a new high with the maneuver called the "left flank." Three (sometimes four cars) line up head-to-tail to make the left turn at a red light with no arrow (the only arrows you will see in Boston are those directing you to the Mass Pike -- a Pilgrim's hat with an arrow through it). The first driver goes head-on toward the car in the opposite lane, only braking and turning left when he gets close; cars two, three, and four (if applicable), execute the left flank by turning parallel to car 1 (and each other), becoming three- or four-abreast as they make the turn. Then they all merge into a single lane after the turn, preferably bumper-to-bumper. When done correctly, this is a joy to behold -- like watching a well-trained close-order marching drill. Go here for more reasons why Massachusetts Drivers are the most ... entertaining ... in the US:

http://www.amazon.com/Boston-Drivers-Handbook-Streets-Almost/dp/0306813262

crank-

Sure that's not a DeCamp behind you?

I've been honked at...

That was me! Oh, bee-hayve!

... for stopping...

Never mind.

.. and one time, a car drove around me to get thru the intersection.

Next time try getting out of the car and lying down parallel to the crosswalk. Works for me.

Conan that was great! Reminded me of when I used to watch the Blue Angels practicing out of my office window. Sounds like quite a maneuver. And I'd probably be in jail by now were I to drive in Mass.

(Maybe this is why MA has the highest car insurance costs in the nation??!)

I hope everyone got the passing on the right question wrong. Stay right, pass left! And another thing, is it too much to ask people making lefts to pull into the intersection so everyone can going straight can get past? NJ drivers have always been aggresive, but they used to be knowledgeable.

The 'Jersey Left' is so common that drivers in the oncoming direction often pause to accomodate it - they know it's coming and pause briefly to allow for it.

I've only been pulled over by a cop once since 1978 and that was a few years ago in Boulder, CO. I executed the 'Jersey Left'. I got 'lit up' by a cop behind me, pulled over and informed that I had just 'failed to yield'. I told the officer that I was from Jersey and that this 'failure to yield' was common practice. He just shook his head and told me not to do it in Colorado or I would get a ticket. He let me off with a warning.

On a final note: I was so flustered by getting pulled over, that I actually called the cop, 'Ossifer' instead of Officer. My nephews were howling with laughter for the rest of our excursion to Rocky Mtn. Nat. Park. We're still laughing about it.