Driving in New Jersey is getting worse! Between the poor condition of our roadways, the bad drivers (both in and out of state) and the crazy pedestrians most drivers are opting to drive badly.
Per northjersey.com some of the causes are, “Using your cell phone while driving, speeding, accelerating aggressively, braking hard and turning poorly.” I will add not driving in the right most lane when going below the speed limit, not stopping before turning right on red, rolling through stop signs plus truckers speeding, not staying to the right when not passing, pulling out in front of vehicles when they do not have the right of way and truck drivers failing to understand that they are not driving a car!
I will give you a very good example of poor driving that happened to me today. A tractor trailer truck was waiting in the jug handle to go across Route 1 because there wasn’t enough room for it to pull out into the intersection roadway. Well when the light changed it proceeded to illegally obstruct on coming traffic by darting out from the jug handle when it clearly should have waited. This is a good example of driver impatience and the inability of the truck driver to correctly judge when to proceed.
One of the major problems is the state of our roadways and yes the state Department of Transportation (DOT) is finally fixing our roads. But the toll of not having done the necessary repairs for so many years means that each Spring the annual dodge the pothole (competition) gets even more hard to do. And if you do hit one, it is most likely the state or municipal government will not reimburse you for the damage to your car. Is that not so typical New Jersey? It seems that they think that your hitting a pothole has nothing to do with the fact that no repairs have taken place at all.
The wonderful law passed a few years ago has emboldened pedestrians to jump out in front of your car when they should not and for many drivers it seems that the game of how close can I come to not hitting a person legally crossing the road on a marked crosswalk is far too common.
One of the big problems on our state highways is that the New Jersey State Police do not have a patrol out looking for drivers who are causing accidents. This is because of the fact that back when Whitman was governor, she canceled classes for the state police and governors following her did the same. So there is acute shortage of state troopers and the municipal police departments have enough on their plates patrolling the local roadways.
What is needed is better enforcement of our traffic laws and for drivers to respect them.
That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike
