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Back in November, I made note of an upgrade to NJ's cell-phoning-while-driving law.  Driving and using a handheld cell phone would become a primary offense on March 1 2008, and it would be beefed with an anti-text-messaging ban as well. The results are in. In February 2008, the last month of the previous rules, NJ courts handled 1300 cell-phone tickets.  In March 2008, add another zero - thirteen thousand.  In fact, that's almost as many as the preceding 12 months (16,000 from March 2007 to February 2008)...

The last thing a misbehaving child wants to hear on a road trip... New Jersey is thinking about coming back there.  The state assembly has introduced bills that will strengthen the existing seat belt law to include adults in the rear seat(s), and to raise the fines for not securing a child from $20 to as much as $500. Most of us with sense buckle up as it is, so such a law should not intrude on the majority o drivers.  But it will be interesting to see if these bills face challenges, and on what grounds.  There was also no immediate information as to whether the proposal would apply to cars for hire, such as taxis and limos...

If you have a large vehicle, parking is a consideration when you are deciding where to live.  One of the reasons I chose the place I moved to in 2002 was because it gave me sufficient room to park a Dodge Ram dually without disturbing or blocking other residents.  The pic below is my truck in its spot at my home. Parking lots can be challenging.  My space at work is not that big a deal unless someone next to my assigned space parks too close to the stripe.  When I go shopping, whether it's a supermarket, small shopping center, or a full-fledged mall, I park away from the masses... not because I'm overly concerned about door dings, but because I want to make sure I have room to maneuver.  (And besides, I need the exercise of walking an extra few hundred feet.) What about people who drive something bigger?  Talking to Vikki (driver of the red Pete on the left) last week, she checked with the local police about what she was allowed to do.  The police were nice enough to look the situation over and give her an answer.  When she's home from the road, she detaches the flatbed trailer and leaves that at the curb, and parks the Pete in the driveway.  She used to park the rig in a nearby church parking lot, but when new leadership came in, they declined to extend the courtesy, claiming they didn't want to have to do that for others.  (Like a church in a residential neighborhood is in danger of becoming a truck stop.) When my dad was a bus driver in the 60s in Newark NJ, he was deadheading and realized there was something he left at the house.  He parked the bus at the curb as if it were the family car and dashed in to grab whatever it was.  As a little kid, I thought that was beyond cool and was glued to the living room window checking out the empty bus...

Sylvia, one of my partners in crime here at Edmunds, posted in her blog Driving Miss Crazy about texting while driving.  New Jersey has addressed this issue this past week... Governor Corzine signed into law an upgraded measure regarding the use of cell phones.  Previously, hand-held cell phones were not allowed while driving, but it was a secondary offense, meaning a police officer had to pull you over for another moving violation before adding a summons for using a hand-held cell phone while driving. The new law in NJ now makes hand-held cell phone use a primary offense, with a fine of $250 for talking or $100 for texting.  The revised law takes effect March 1 2008.  The only other states with a primary-offense cell phone law are California, Connecticut, and New York, along with Washington DC.  Washington state was the first state to ban texting...

This is the corner where I turn onto the main road of my town on my way to I-80.  As you can see, the main road is a typical rural two-lane, with a double yellow line.  Additionally, behind where I am standing is one of the town's 2 schools  -  the white sign across the road says "END SCHOOL ZONE". This morning, I was at this very spot, waiting at th stop sign to turn right.  A vehicle was approaching from the main road, right turn signal on, to turn onto the side street.  To my surprise and amazement, a full-size van came around this vehicle... completely on the other side of the yellow lines so that he wouldn't have to slow down for the turning vehicle...

Statewide campaign called "Obey the Signs or Pay the Fines" has been rather effective in some locales.  Here are the results in one town near me... Netcong nabs 98