| Author |
Message |
    
Brett
Citizen
Username: Bmalibashksa
Post Number: 1494
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 1:27 pm: | 
|
Mem, I travel south from exit 160. Sometimes I have to drop off and employee at NJIT in Newark. Sailing down 21 is great. You get a big grin on your face and insist that your king of the world. Then you hit the end……..
There is no place to go except for the heart of Newark. I’ve turned this way and that tried to get on 280, head for SO ave, 78, anything, you just can’t get home from there. The trip takes about the same time but for me is an extra 10 miles.
I wish I could figure that route out.
|
mem
Citizen
Username: Mem
Post Number: 4697
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 1:33 pm: |
|
I saw a pick up truck just flip over out of nowhere, same thing with an SUV - it just went sailing off the highway into the trees.
Last month I was close to exit 168 and a man driving next to me was pointing at the back of my car wildly, and then gesturing me to follow him to the exit. Hah! Like I would...
Anyway, I take the next exit just to check, and there was absolutely nothing wrong. (I did report this to state and local authorities)
That Parkway should be in a Stephen King novel. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5667
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 6:00 pm: |
|
There are things you can do to reduce your likelihood of being in an accident. In other words, your odds are not necessarily the same as everyone else's.
I find that when the road is crowded and most lanes are all going at approximately the same speed, I get in the right lane. Not many people tailgate in the right lane, because they don't expect me to get out of the lane so they can pass me. And since the road is crowded, I'm not really losing a lot of time, compared with the other lanes.
A columnist in Car in Driver wrote a few months ago a commentary called "seethers and soothers". Seethers are overly aggressive drivers, and soothers are either inattentive or people who are trying to make a point about taking it easy. Each makes the other angrier, and it's a viscious cycle. The trick is to be something in the middle. Be alert but not aggressive. If someone wants to pass you, go through some effort to let him, and don't try to make a point.
You're right that driving on the GSP is bizarre. You're going to need a job with a better commute or entirely new coping skills. |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 7757
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 6:10 pm: |
|
Tom has a good point. I would also add that if you are worried about getting in an accident your odds of being in an accident increase. Kind of the power of positive thinking in reverse.
I have never commuted on the GSP, but for a number of years I drove into Jersey City to catch the Path using 24 and the Skyway. I saw quite a few accidents and almost had one myself when someone decided to backup in the traffic lanes when they missed the 78/24 turnoff on the Skyway. I think one of the secondary reasons I went back to the train was that there was some measureable increase in risk by driving, especially after doing this for several years I was pretty much on auto pilot and often would have no recollection of the trip home, which was very scary.
|
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5695
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 1, 2005 - 5:55 pm: |
|
bobk, I don't buy that argument that worry is a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm very concerned about collisions, and I've never caused one. The only one I was in was when I was stopped, waiting to turn, and someone rear-ended me. I don't think worry contributed to that. |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 7780
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 1, 2005 - 6:00 pm: |
|
Tom, you may be right. But to me there is a difference about being cautious and driving defensively and being so worried about being in an accident you lose judegement. Just an opinion I admit. |
mem
Citizen
Username: Mem
Post Number: 4709
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 1, 2005 - 9:24 pm: |
|
I'm going to bring this thread to the attention of Katie Wang at the Star Ledger in a few more days, so maybe we'll see an article about the dangers of this road and the bad behaviors contributing to it. If anyone has anything more to share please do so.
Thanks very much for all your responses. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5697
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 7:22 am: |
|
I'm going to sound like a fuddy duddy or a racerboy wannabe or a seether, but I believe most problems would go away if people observed proper lane discipline on the GSP. The GSP has lots of lanes, which is a big part of the problem. The solution is to move right whenever you can. Most people seem unaware of the fact that the law actually requires it, but of course, the police don't think it's important enough to enforce. If people kept moving right to let others pass, the throughput would be better, and people would know what to expect of others in many ways and situations. |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 7783
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 7:50 am: |
|
Actually isn't the GSP the safest or one of the safest limited access highways in the country? Yeah, I know that sounds strange. |
canismajor
Citizen
Username: Canismajor
Post Number: 313
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 10:46 am: |
|
I remember reading a disturbing article in the Star-Ledger in the early 90s about a guy who decided to commit suicide by jumping off a GSP overpass in Cranford. He was run over by an astonishing number of drivers (7 or 8, if I recall correctly) before someone actually stopped and called the police. |
Meandtheboys
Citizen
Username: Meandtheboys
Post Number: 250
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 8:43 pm: |
|
Gross! Thanks for sharing. |
mem
Citizen
Username: Mem
Post Number: 4715
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 8:44 pm: |
|
Oooof! |
Joan
Supporter
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 5074
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 3, 2005 - 5:05 pm: |
|
Canismajor:
That sounds like a major case of overkill. (sorry, couldn't resist) |
D.
Moderator
Username: Dave
Post Number: 5461
Registered: 4-1998
| | Posted on Thursday, March 3, 2005 - 5:17 pm: |
|
I hear he was in the passing lane. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5706
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 3, 2005 - 5:23 pm: |
|
I've been thinking about this, mem. Each intersection and road has a "group mindset". Try to understand what the group mindset of your section of the parkway is. Don't try to change it or like it. Just understand it, so you can predict others' actions.
That's what I do.
How long have you been taking this commute? |
mem
Citizen
Username: Mem
Post Number: 4720
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 3, 2005 - 10:59 pm: |
|
Tom,
Seven months. There is no mind set in any given section of the parkway, it's too variable, so I just keep my eyes open and drive defensively. Thanks for thinking of ways to help though.
 |
sac
Supporter
Username: Sac
Post Number: 1874
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 4, 2005 - 7:00 am: |
|
The fact that no trucks are allowed on it may help the safety statistics. |
steel
Citizen
Username: Steel
Post Number: 639
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Friday, March 4, 2005 - 9:18 am: |
|
I miss my '86 DeVille. I called it "my parkway sofa".
Sitting there on that blue velvet seat, one finger on the steering wheel effortlessly gliding north in the dark, all the other cars faceless lights, the road winding out in front of me, silent, late, on my beloved parkway in my beloved New Jersey. |
SO Refugee
Citizen
Username: So_refugee
Post Number: 22
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Friday, March 4, 2005 - 8:51 pm: |
|
Two rules that if everyone followed would eliminate the majority of traffic (which leads to road rage, accidents, etc. etc.)
(1) Slower traffic keep right
(2) Take gap, give gap (which translates as: allow those merging onto the roadway space to do so and, if you are merging onto the roadway, take the space given to you by your courteous colleagues...
What usually happens is:
(1) Someone with a NY license plate is going 55 in the left lane of the express...(why is it always NY?)
(2) Drivers in the right lane will speed up to make sure someone doesn't merge ahead of them, or the person merging thinks they're going to be cut off, so they slow down...AAARGH!!! |
Cathy
Supporter
Username: Clkelley
Post Number: 728
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Friday, March 4, 2005 - 10:00 pm: |
|
SO Refugee ...
#2 (both of them) DRIVE ME NUTS.
I usually find that those that cut me off as I'm trying to merge in are yakking on their cell phones. Oblivious.
A corollary to #1 is - don't tailgate in the right lane. If somebody is going slow there, well fine. They're where they ought to be. Pass them if you don't like it. (I'm talking 55, not 35, of course - but still don't tailgate, pass.)
You shouldn't tailgate anywhere else either, obviously, but at least in the other lanes the slow driver can get out of your way. |
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page