Can you pump gas in new jersey

While they were filling up your tank, they also topped off your car's fluids radiator , washer fluid, oil , cleaned your windshield and asked if you needed anything else. When I first visited Georgia, I was gobsmacked to discover that there were no gas attendants. Let's take a little road trip back in time to find out why, to this day, it's still illegal to pump your own gas in New Jersey. The official ban on self-serve gas in Jersey began in with the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act , citing safety concerns like fire hazards.

But like a lot of things New Jersey, there's really a more sinister reason for the ban that's worthy of a Tony Soprano storyline. According to a story by journalist Paul Mulshine , the legislation supposedly arose as a tactic to fix gas prices and stop an enterprising business owner from undercutting his competitors. In , Irving Reingold opened a pump gas station on Route 17 in Hackensack. He offered gas at The only requirement was that his customers had to pump it themselves.

The idea was a hit with his customers, and they lined up for blocks, according to Mulshine. His competitors? Not so much. When shooting up his gas station didn't deter Reingold, thanks to bullet-proof glass, apparently, he was expecting a negative reaction , the rival owners turned to the law for a solution.

The actual law that makes it illegal to pump your own gas in NJ is called the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act and Regulations and it became law in The act says "Because of the fire hazards directly associated with dispensing fuel, it is in the public interest that gasoline station operators have the control needed over that activity to ensure compliance with appropriate safety procedures, including turning off vehicle engines and refraining from smoking while fuel is dispensed.

In the 's, a gas station owner decided to charge people less if they pumped their own gas. The owner's competitors were worried that this practice would take away business, so they pushed lawmakers to pass a law to make "self service" illegal.

Ironically, gas prices in New Jersey are usually less expensive than the prices in neighboring states. Exposure to toxic gasoline fumes represents a health hazard when customers dispense their own gasoline, particularly in the case of pregnant women;.

Oregon has long been the only other U. Since then, Oregon state law has been amended to allow some non-certified motorists in certain counties, under certain conditions, in low-population areas or during particular periods of the day, to now pump their own fuel unattended.

New Jersey state senator Gerald Cardinale attempted to repeal the ban in but failed. Jon Corzine, governor from to , attempted to repeal it but local public outcry made him withdraw his plan less than a week after floating it. That leaves New Jersey as the last national holdout for a state-wide ban on self-service stations. With the research paper from , the state seems to have determined there is still just no good reason to lift the ban.

New Jersey and parts of Oregon still prohibit you from pumping your own gas mostly because the locals simply like the convenience, and those attendants like having jobs. If everybody is happy, why rock the boat? Because their residents are too stupid to be trusted to pump their own gas, but somehow some tweaker who has been huffing gas fumes all day is safer.