======= ======= ====== ====== ====== ===== ==== ====== ====== ===== ==== ======= ======= ====== ====== ====== ===== ==== ====== ====== ===== ====
Garden State motorists: get used to seeing this phrase on your traffic tickets – D.W.C.: ‘Driving While Caffeinated.’
A bill under consideration by the New Jersey Legislature is calling to prohibit “any activity unrelated to the actual operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that interferes with the safe operation of the vehicle on a public road or highway.” Now, while it’s reasonable for things such as preventing idiots from putting on makeup while driving, or eating bowls of cereal…
…it ALSO means no more McMuffins behind the wheel, and, of course, no more coffee.
How much will it cost you if a copper catches you chomping on a croissant in the car? Somewhere between $200 and $400 for the first offense, $400 to $600 for the second and $600 to $800 for the third, as well as a 90-day license suspension and points on the license, according to USA Today.
“The issue is that we need to try, in every way, to discourage distracted driving, it’s dangerous,” said Assemblyman John Wisniewski, a Democrat in Central Jersey, who sponsored the bill.
So, let me get this straight: Sipping coffee behind the wheel is a huge problem that can cost you your license. Shutting down the busiest bridge in the world? NO PROBLEM.
Where do we draw the line? Changing the radio station? Talking to the person in the car next to you? Peeing in a bottle and chucking it out the window? Okay, that one might already be illegal.
I get that they’re trying to save us from this…
…but I’d venture to guess that taking away peoples’ coffee, leading to a state full of tired, bleary-eyed drivers might make things even worse.
No wonder the state’s song was almost a song about people trying to get out of New Jersey..
[via USA Today]
Image via Shutterstock
Respond
@JayTasShow
@FireJayTas
I still don’t know why we haven’t banned New Jersey from existence all together.
So if a cop catches me taking a bite of a McMuffin and pulls me over, will he confiscate my McMuffin as evidence to use when I dispute the ticket in court? These tickets seem like they would be extremely easy to get out of.
It’s about intentions and “doing something,” not results. Unintended consequences don’t exist in the minds of politicians.
A friend of mine grew up in New Jersey and calls it “the asshole of America.” I have yet to find anything that contradicts his claim.
Not to be confused with the armpit of America: Gary, Indiana
New Jersey adopted mandatory hands free cell phone use while driving pretty early on. This doesn’t surprise me at all. There are a lot of great things about New Jersey, but the laws are terrible. Pretty much can’t defend yourself in your own home, can’t smoke weed unless you have a terminal illness, can’t shoot off fireworks on the 4th of July. Very few personal liberties there anymore
To be fair, there are a lot of more conservative states where you can’t smoke weed at all. But this sounds about right for a state where the driving age is 18.
That’s certainly a valid point. North Carolina has no medical marijuana at all, but it is decriminalized here. In New Jersey, the only person I know with a medical card has serious Crohn’s disease.
We have a dispensary in the middle of downtown, but for as liberal as MN is, weed is still the work of the devil.
Great things about New Jersey:
Easy access to Philly and NYC, awesome beaches, all four seasons, breathtaking forests and farmland, top 10 in education and bottom 10 in obesity, endless pharmaceutical and finance jobs, and 3 different counties consistently ranked top 5 in wealth and standard of living per capita
To counter the education bit, the problem with New Jersey, is it only has one reputable public university. So if you don’t want to go to Rutgers, you’re going to be paying $60K to go to school.
You’re not wrong. Most kids go out of state. There’s a joke that every kid who thinks he’s too good for Rutgers goes to Penn State. However, I believe Rutgers has 5 different campuses. Plus you forgot about TCNJ, which I’m told is a very good school. And all my friends who go to Princeton graduated practically debt free because of rich parents and the school’s huge endowment. Rowan and Stockton State aren’t horrible either. Not too bad for such a tiny state.
Wow, I never knew, it really is amazing that a people found to be incapable of pumping their own gas could achieve such great success.
Having someone pump your gas for you when it’s 10° outside is awesome and it creates thousands of jobs. Not seeing how that’s a bad thing
Job creation? That’s complete bullshit. They’re just separating you from your money to cover the labor costs for a menial task you are RESTRICTED from performing yourself. That’s wealth distribution. If the value of not getting your lazy ass out of your car for 10 seconds to put in and take out a pump from your vehicle is really worth driving up, waiting for Omar to see you, waiting for Omar to service other people, waiting for Omar to walk over, waiting for Omar to process your card, waiting for Omar to again service other people, waiting for Omar to come back and screw on your gas cap so you can finally leave is worth it, goto a full service gas station where they try to check your oil and shit but don’t even know where the dip stick is and let the rest of us not deal with or pay for the worthless “service.” There is zero justification for it.
His name is Larry…big jerk.
Gas prices in the northeast are fairly expensive compared to many other regions (such as the southeast), but New Jersey consistently has cheaper gas prices than Pennsylvania, which is a self-pump state. It’s really not a big deal dude
That’s because PA has the highest state gas tax in the nation. It’s completely irrelevant to incremental cost passed on to you by the gas station itself. “It’s really not a big deal.” Tell that to the 4 hours of my life I had to spend dealing with police in the name of “job creation” because dip shit gas attendant didn’t run my card so I had “stolen” gas to cover his own fuck up. Never let an idiot do what you can do yourself.
Haters make us famous.
Fuck yes! I hope this becomes national law! I ride a bike most places, meaning I don’t have a steel box around me. The amount of stupid shit BESIDES driving that I see motorists engaging it makes me want to shoot people in the face on a daily basis. To be honest, I fucking hate cars and car culture.
Also, if you’re a fucking x-ray tech you have to go for more recertification training than drivers. What other fucking piece of deadly machinery to you get certified for at 16 and you can continue driving until you’re fucking dead WITHOUT a refresher course? It’s fucking insane.