Maybe New Jerseyans Are Not Smart Enough Or Too Careless To Pump Their Own Gas! Nanny State Politics

Why are New Jerseyans more likely to set themselves on fire?

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Jay Baker

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You should have pity on New Jerseyans. They are so prone to setting themselves on fire that their state overlords had to pass a special law in 1949 for their protection.

Because pumping gas in New Jersey is so dangerous, the state has a ban on people pumping it themselves. Isn’t it wonderful to have such thoughtful people in government looking out for our welfare? The Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act and Regulations reads:

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.

Oregonians have a similar problem. Curiously, it no longer manifests itself after dark, except in the urban centers. Beginning January 1, 2016, the law was lifted for rural Oregon counties after dark. I guess statistics showed that once it gets dark in the Oregon boondocks, fires at gas pumps are less likely to occur.

Some New Jersey legislators have tried off and on to repeal the law. Back in 2011, Governor Chris Christie was asked about the possibility of the law being changed. He responded, “People in New Jersey love the idea that they’ve got somebody to pump their gas. I don’t see that changing.”

In 2015 New Jersey General Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon introduced a bill to lift the ban. In a press statement, O’Scanlon said, “I am offended by people that argue that New Jerseyans are mentally incapable of pumping their own gas without setting themselves on fire.” He even offered an amendment to his bill that would have required gas stations to hang a sign on their gas pumps that reads, “Do not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, set yourself on fire!!” With two exclamation points, that should have done the trick.

However, Senate President Stephen Sweeney blocked the bill saying, “I will oppose any attempt to rescind the law that has effectively served the best interests of the state’s motorists for decades. As long as I am Senate President, the ban on self-serve will stay in place. We’ve been doing it the right way in New Jersey. We should not change.”

Of course, when one looks a little deeper one finds that the New Jersey ban had nothing to do with safety when it was originally passed. The motive — as it always is in politics regardless of what you’re told — was money. That nonsense about safety was typical government sleight-of-hand.

Back in the late 1940s an enterprising entrepreneur named Irving Reingold began offering lower priced gas to customers willing to pump their own. The “gimmick” became so popular that Reingold began getting the lion’s share of the gas business. So rival station owners, rather than offer a similar service, got together and lobbied state lawmakers to ban self-service altogether. The practice has been illegal in New Jersey ever since.

This column was prompted by a story told to me by a friend a few days ago. He said he pulled up to the gas pumps at a local convenience store and noticed a young man sitting half in and half out of a car with New Jersey plates parked at an adjacent pump. The youth had a bored look on his face, as if he’d been waiting a long time on something that he was beginning to realize would never arrive.

My friend exited his car and began pumping his own gas. The New Jersey youth’s expression went from bored to some combination of shock and amazement. It then went to confusion as he began to realize he’d have to try and figure out how to pump his own… something he’d likely never considered in his life.

You see, in Alabama (and 47 other states — or 54 in Barack Obama’s United States), we’re smart enough to pump our own gas without setting ourselves on fire.

H/T: MentalFloss.com