I spent Labor Day weekend witnessing such horrible driving that I am completely convinced that we have to start from scratch. Really. Revoke all New Jersey licenses and have us start all over again.
I mean, did they cover what a yield sign is for on the written test? Is knowing what a double yellow line is important?
If this fantasy could be fulfilled (of course, in reality, MVC couldn’t even handle reopening after the pandemic), I would confidently take whatever written and practical test they give me. Many of you could. The rest need to sell their cars and get on NJ Transit. Silent car please. No one needs to hear how silly it sounds.
The last one was my five minutes in a QuickChek parking lot on Monday caught by someone who still has no idea what he was trying to accomplish. There were gas pumps to the left, parking to the right. There we were in no man’s land when this car pulled up in front of me for no apparent reason.
After half a minute, a flashing light came on to indicate they wanted to go left to a fuel island or parking lot exit. But they didn’t. They took a foot forward and stopped again. He was finally going around them when they suddenly lurched hard to the left and slammed on the brakes.
Should I back up and literally go behind the building? Oh wait, now HE was backing away. straight to me Evasive maneuvers followed. After I made a spot for him, his right blinker went on. Was he trying to find a parking spot? But he was in a better position for that before backing off.
The driver decided to go five feet and then stop at an angle preventing me from going and also blocking anyone coming from the opposite direction. Why didn’t a gas attendant see this and rip them apart like the proverbial new one?
irritated driver
In the end, I backed off and completely abandoned my mission to stop at this store. That’s how idiotic this was. This driver was not elderly. They weren’t kids either. They were just stupid.
This weekend I saw Garden State Parkway traffic make the Jersey Slide to its exit risking several lives, one of them mine. I saw people who missed an exit backing up into traffic. I saw people at roundabouts stop in their tracks when they had no yield sign. I saw it all.
I swear to God something must have gone wrong somewhere. We have to rescind all licenses in New Jersey and start over and find out who can drive. I seriously believe that 1 in 5 drivers don’t even know what the rules are. Have you ever seen what decisions are made at a four-way stop? How the hell did they pass the exams?
Make them more difficult. Make them annuals. Do something. Do nothing. I’m supposed to start teaching my daughter to drive in January. My first rule is don’t assume anyone knows what you’re doing.
Hey, you’ll be right half the time!
The views expressed in the above post are solely those of New Jersey talk show host 101.5 Jeff Deminski.
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