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The accidents are caused by absolutely stupid drivers, not the roadway, which is generally exemplary. Texting and phone conversations are probably the main culprit. Perhaps we should start with selective jamming along certain segments of roadways as an experiment. Nobody needs to be on the phone driving a car at 70mph. If your entire family was kidnapped or is dying in a fiery explosion there is still no reason to know about it while driving your car. Nobody knew when their family members were in emergency rooms in the 1950s and everything went just fine. There's nothing you can do about it anyway and you'll find out about it when you get home.
ALL TOUCH SCREENS including Waze on an iPad, and all the controls on the dashboard, which is also now all touch screen.
I am willing to believe that you are a good driver (no sarcasm, for once) and don't have any issues using Waze and looking down at an iPad for a second every once in a while, but the vast majority of people on the road are absolutely stupid drivers, just like you said. They shouldn't be allowed to switch between preset channels on an AM/FM radio, let alone operating anything having to do with an iPad. The dashboard alone is too complicated for them to find something even as basic as the switch for the high beams. You can bet they are fumbling around for everything else.
As far as phone use in the car (whether texting, or just taking calls)...with the way that business is done these days (you can never unplug, and everyone can reach you at any time, and if you don't respond right away, they think you are ignoring them or dropping the ball)...even being on the goddamn toilet isn't considered a good enough excuse anymore...it's no wonder everyone is on the phone inside the car. In the early aughts I had a douchebag manager insist that my coworker and I dial into a telecon, while we were en route, on a 2-hour drive, to meet up with a client in Connecticut. That was still in the age of flip phones, and Blackberries were barely a thing yet. I can only imagine the expectation now. This is going to be especially true for people in sales, finance and legal. And real estate, wink wink. It's not so much families needing to confirm that their kids and loved ones aren't in the emergency room, that are causing the problem on the highway. Although, there are plenty of moron in minivans too.
Here's a deadly accident today by me on the GSP. It sounds like what happened here is one of the car probably the lady driver doesn't have an EZpass or is attempting to cross into a different toll booth lane and then getting plowed by another car.
I often see this and I honk when some moron is slowing down and being indecisive about being which lane to go. Either Cash or EZ Pass and there are traffic and they have less than a few secs to make the move and usually criss crosses 3-4 lanes to get to a cash lane and it is very dangerou as there are cars going like 35mph and not stopping to try to go through EZpass lane.
Finale saw this on the news and it was without a doubt 150% caused by bad driving! The road had nothing to do with it.
It says that police suspect a possible medical emergency. She was 83, it could just be another case of "this old person probably shouldn't be driving." No matter what happened, it's sad for her and her family.
People should know in advance whether they have an EZpass on hand, cash, or change. I always have a bunch of quarters in my car just in case. And if you have to, you could go through the EZpass lane without an EZpass. Or the change lane without any change. You'll likely be fined, especially for the EZpass violation, but... don't be dumb next time. We're lucky we don't have those gates that block the EZpass lane until it registers the EZpass like they do on a lot of the NYC bridges. I always wonder what people do when they try to go through without an EZpass, or think they have it but left it in the weekend convertible or something. Anyway, a lot of dangerous driving just comes down to people being freaking stupid.
I was driving back and forth over the Verrazano last year. They have the gates. EVERY DAY someone was sitting in one of the lanes and the gate wasn't going up for whatever reason.
I was driving back and forth over the Verrazano last year. They have the gates. EVERY DAY someone was sitting in one of the lanes and the gate wasn't going up for whatever reason.
Good news - they are finally gone. And they were the slowest gates EVER. My husband always thought I was going to drive right through them LOL
Good news - they are finally gone. And they were the slowest gates EVER. My husband always thought I was going to drive right through them LOL
Ha, I didn't know. I stopped working for the Borough Park company a year ago May. Even though I only had to drive there twice a week, it was so stressful having to be on edge behind the wheel and listening to my gps tell me which streets to take to get around 278 to get to the VNB, and then once I finally got over it, I had to drive through friggin' Brooklyn with the school buses everywhere. Nightmare in the mornings. Not that great at night, either.
I now go into the city three times a week, but at least I can take a train and relax.
ALL TOUCH SCREENS including Waze on an iPad, and all the controls on the dashboard, which is also now all touch screen.
I am willing to believe that you are a good driver (no sarcasm, for once) and don't have any issues using Waze and looking down at an iPad for a second every once in a while, but the vast majority of people on the road are absolutely stupid drivers, just like you said. They shouldn't be allowed to switch between preset channels on an AM/FM radio, let alone operating anything having to do with an iPad. The dashboard alone is too complicated for them to find something even as basic as the switch for the high beams. You can bet they are fumbling around for everything else.
As far as phone use in the car (whether texting, or just taking calls)...with the way that business is done these days (you can never unplug, and everyone can reach you at any time, and if you don't respond right away, they think you are ignoring them or dropping the ball)...even being on the goddamn toilet isn't considered a good enough excuse anymore...it's no wonder everyone is on the phone inside the car. In the early aughts I had a douchebag manager insist that my coworker and I dial into a telecon, while we were en route, on a 2-hour drive, to meet up with a client in Connecticut. That was still in the age of flip phones, and Blackberries were barely a thing yet. I can only imagine the expectation now. This is going to be especially true for people in sales, finance and legal. And real estate, wink wink. It's not so much families needing to confirm that their kids and loved ones aren't in the emergency room, that are causing the problem on the highway. Although, there are plenty of moron in minivans too.
There is a certain level of unavoidable distraction in driving while being a living human being. It's a line we draw. We need to draw it more tightly. I am trying something new. I put my phone in airplane mode whenever driving. That eliminates the phone. Texts still come over the Ipad, but I don't have to acknowledge them. They pop over the Waze app so I can read them if I want. I try not to. My Ipad is mounted on a thick piece of sponge on a milk crate in front of the passenger seat. I can see it peripherally, and it's the larger Ipad Pro so it's easy to see. I am never looking down at anything, the viewing area is nearly even with the dashboard. So I am looking toward the right, but maintaining peripheral contact with the road. Sort of like the data terminal in a cop car, but even higher. I also set the Waze for all destinations on my drive at home, so I rarely program it at all in the car. Waze also has a robust voice feature, so you really don't have to look at the map for the police icons. When you get within a certain distance of a parked police car, you are warned by voice. When you have a turn or exit coming up, you receive plenty of guidance from the voice. So although Waze on a large Ipad is by far the best GPS system on the planet, and the only really good crowd-sourced police warning system, you really don't have to look at the screen all that often. And if you mount it well, you are never looking away from the road. Yes, there is a slight focus compromise, but it's very slight.
There is a certain level of unavoidable distraction in driving while being a living human being. It's a line we draw. We need to draw it more tightly. I am trying something new. I put my phone in airplane mode whenever driving. That eliminates the phone. Texts still come over the Ipad, but I don't have to acknowledge them. They pop over the Waze app so I can read them if I want. I try not to. My Ipad is mounted on a thick piece of sponge on a milk crate in front of the passenger seat. I can see it peripherally, and it's the larger Ipad Pro so it's easy to see. I am never looking down at anything, the viewing area is nearly even with the dashboard. So I am looking toward the right, but maintaining peripheral contact with the road. Sort of like the data terminal in a cop car, but even higher. I also set the Waze for all destinations on my drive at home, so I rarely program it at all in the car. Waze also has a robust voice feature, so you really don't have to look at the map for the police icons. When you get within a certain distance of a parked police car, you are warned by voice. When you have a turn or exit coming up, you receive plenty of guidance from the voice. So although Waze on a large Ipad is by far the best GPS system on the planet, and the only really good crowd-sourced police warning system, you really don't have to look at the screen all that often. And if you mount it well, you are never looking away from the road. Yes, there is a slight focus compromise, but it's very slight.
Our smartphones are still terrible when it comes to voice control. I don't care if you have Siri or Google Now, they both suck at voice command. I tell Siri reply text message or call such and such and it's always easier to just click it myself.
Now Waze is the app where I find they need to provide better voice control but it is buggy and doesn't work. They also need work on the UI, there's that 10-15 sec delay when it startings navigation. Just GO already dammit!! The warnings system is also sometimes work, if there's a police or upcoming traffic accident. I want to be notified a few miles ahead of time and Waze don't tell you until it's too late. It's another app that you have to constantly look at to know what's going on.
I personally don’t think the GSP is that terrible, with the exception of the stretch between Bloomfield and Union.
The worst highway is Rt 17. I hate it with a passion and will avoid it all costs. My wife prefers to shop in Passaic County, despite Paramus being closer...
I personally don’t think the GSP is that terrible, with the exception of the stretch between Bloomfield and Union.
The worst highway is Rt 17. I hate it with a passion and will avoid it all costs. My wife prefers to shop in Passaic County, despite Paramus being closer...
Yes, 17 is bad. But I know good alternatives to 17. The GSP alternatives to get from my place in Monmouth County to my mother's house in Midland Park are the Turnpike to 80 then 17 then 4 to 208, or 287 to 208.
They are much longer and there's no guarantee they won't have slowdowns, too.
I personally don’t think the GSP is that terrible, with the exception of the stretch between Bloomfield and Union.
The worst highway is Rt 17. I hate it with a passion and will avoid it all costs. My wife prefers to shop in Passaic County, despite Paramus being closer...
Rt 17 not even that dangerous because you can barely get up to 60 without traffic merges. Typical daytime is bumper to bumper traffic.
The most dangerous section on the GSP are heading S Jersey pass South Amboy, there are some wicked curves I doubt most of you have driven that far south and it can get hairy if you are doing 75mph and cars coming behind you at 85mph+ The problem is there are very little margin of error on those roads, if you lose control there's no safety on the grass you are going down to a deep ditch or a concrete medium.
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