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Maybe you’ve seen those stickers that say Jersey Girls Don’t Pump Gas? Now, New Jersey has become the only place in the country where drivers won’t have to pump their own gas.
On Friday, Oregon—the only other state with full-service gas stations—began allowing drivers there to choose whether they want to pump their own gas or choose the full-service option. Governor Tina Kotek signed a bill lifting the state’s 72-year-old ban on self-service pumping.
The New Jersey legislature passed the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act way back in 1949, saying residents here shouldn’t pump their own gas due to safety concerns, such as fire hazards.
Since then, there have been multiple attempts to lift the ban in the Garden State, but they’ve always failed.
In 2006, former Governor Jon Corzine proposed a pilot program to allow self-service gas stations on the New Jersey Turnpike, but he changed his mind after receiving 1,400 angry emails and phone calls, saying: “This is not a fight that you want to take to the death.”
Then, in 2009, Chris Christie brought up the idea of self-service gas stations in the Garden State, while he was on the campaign trail. But by the time he became governor, he’d changed his mind, saying it was never going to happen.
Last year, a bill in the state Legislature to allow drivers to fill up their tanks on their own died before it even came up for a vote.
A 2022 Monmouth University poll found that more than half of New Jersey residents favored allowing motorists to pump their own gas—but only if a full-service option was also available.
Despite the ban, New Jersey still has some of the lowest-priced gas in the nation: According to AAA, the national average price is $3.829 per gallon, and here it’s only $3.272 per gallon.
After bagels, pizza and beaches, it’s just another reason New Jersey is the best state in the nation.
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