Comments on: Some relatively good news and three bad ideas

By: Froggie

Froggie — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 16:42:43 +0000

Shruti: or I could just post the 500-some digital photos I’ve already taken of New Jersey roads…:o)

By: shruti

shruti — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 05:31:02 +0000

Just you wait until I buy a REAL digital camera as opposed to just using my cell phone camera. Then you will see the horrors of NJ traffic in full multi-pixel glory. Trust me, this summer when the tourists come to the shore, I am SURE I will have plenty of “angry local annoyed with bad-driving tourists” stories. (Me being the angry local!)

By: Morg

Morg — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 02:24:27 +0000

I could have used your crapcam today Roadguy. The parking configuration at my local convenience store has two handicapped spaces right in front of the door, separated by a no parking zone about three quarters of a car-width wide for people going in to pay for their gas. Right as I’m leaving a guy pulls up and parks diagonally in the no parking zone, partially blocking not one but both handicapped spots in addition to the walkway.

I noticed he had a stack of newspapers he was delivering, but since I already had today’s Strib, it must have been one of your competitor’s delivery guys.

Had I the time, I would have blocked him in and called the police. I wonder if he could have been fined double for taking two handcappoed spots?

By: Nichol Harris

Nichol Harris — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 18:23:55 +0000

So, the other day I’m at a large local retailer, strapping my kid into her carseat in the back passenger side of my mini-SUV. There’s a minivan parked perilously close to me, which wasn’t there when I pulled into said large retailer, but I’m used to people not leaving much room and perhaps parking spots are just not large enough for our bigger late model vehicles these days. So I’m doing my best to strap the kid in while turned sideways wedged in between my door frame and my car door wedged so that I do not scratch the minivan. Then, I feel pressure and tightening behind me…my door is being pushed into my back and pushing all the air out of my lungs…I am slowly getting squished and I have no idea from what! Is someone pushing my door into me? Is the car next to me moving and crushing me?? Is my daughter in danger? WHAT’S HAPPENING?

It takes me a few scary seconds to scrape myself out from in between my car frame and my car door…and then I see what has happened. The minivan next to me has an automatic door, which the owner has opened long before she could see I was standing in between our two vehicles. When the door activated is slid out before it slid back and because there wasn’t enough room for that motion, it grabbed on to my door and as the door attempted to continue opening, it squished up against my door, causing the door to push into me - thus causing me to be pinned in between her door and my door!

The owner of the minivan was neither conciliatory nor empathetic. Instead she accused me of scratching her minivan door. There was no doubt it was scratched - a thin line down the door. I beg to differ on who “caused” the scratch. Who activated the auto-door without so much as a glance at whether it was safe to do so? Who parked so close?

Despite feeling like I had a punctured lung for a few days, I have recovered nicely.

Just a reminder to all those with the electric door, please be sure there isn’t an obstruction to the door opening prior to activating and be sure to park in a manner condusive to using such technology.