(GoRealNewsNow.com) – After Oregon abolished its 72-year-long prohibition, New Jersey has become the solitary state which still bars self-service at gasoline stations.
Last Friday, Gov. Tina Kotek of Oregon signed a bill that grants gas purchasers the liberty to decide whether to pump gas independently or opt for an attendant’s assistance.
This development places New Jersey, which implemented its restriction in 1949, as the lone state that compels its inhabitants to refrain from pumping gas on their own.
According to the New York Post, local driver, Leah Barsky, stated to ABC6 Philadelphia, “We’re not going to conform, we’re New Jersey. We’re not going to pump our own gas, no.”
Interestingly, some people travel specifically to New Jersey to have their vehicle tanks filled.
Liliana Wardle, an immigrant who has lived in the US for 22 years, expressed her surprise at the American norm of self-service gas stations to the media outlet, saying, “I am an immigrant in the US. I’ve been here 22 years, and my first cultural shock was to have to pump my own gas because I live in Pennsylvania.”
The New Jersey legislature instituted the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act in 1949. It argued safety implications as the cause for the prohibition on residents pumping their own gas.
The act elucidates, “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.”
Despite the ban, some inhabitants in Jersey believe it is high time to adapt to the changes.
Azhena Kee, a resident of Camden, voiced her disapproval, “New Jersey needs to come up with the times. Join the rest of the states, please.”
NJ now only state where you can’t pump your own gas https://t.co/MvcBdTzI5h pic.twitter.com/hfGGtF47gT
— New York Post (@nypost) August 5, 2023