EDITORIAL: Opposition to gas-station options makes no sense.
Gov. Jon Corzine had the good sense last month to suggest that New Jersey might end the 57-year-old ban on self-service gas stations.
Too bad the state does not appear ready to follow his lead. The governor, recognizing that moving toward this worthy goal would cost him more political capital than it was worth, dropped the idea like a hot potato last week.
We hope he can bring it back in the not-too-distant future.
In a day and age when many politicians make the mistake of remaining doggedly devoted to every idea they come up with large or small, good or bad, popular or unpopular Gov. Corzine wisely took the air out of this trial balloon after it became evident that large numbers of citizens and legislators were determined to shoot it down.
The governor’s retreat was a sound strategic move. He knows that his proposal to set up a pilot project on the N.J. Turnpike giving motorists the option of pumping their own gasoline was a good idea. He also knows because his office was overwhelmed by angry letters and phone calls that it was wildly unpopular.
So it came down to whether this matter looms large or small on the landscape of policy issues facing the state. Were it a large matter like, say, raising the sales tax a penny to help stave off a $4 billion-plus budget deficit the governor would likely have stuck to his guns.
Even those of us who believe drivers should have the option of pumping their own gas have to admit that, in the overall scheme of things, this is not exactly a cause worth fighting for or, in Gov. Corzine’s case, worth risking his political neck for.
New Jerseyans will thus remain, along with Oregonians, the only Americans prohibited by state law from pumping their own gas. Why our residents are so insistent on retaining this quaint distinction is a mystery, especially when the reasons most often cited fail the test of logic:
Self-service would be an inconvenience for the elderly and disabled. Of course, elderly and disabled drivers do just that everyday in 48 other states and the District of Columbia.
Self-service would cause layoffs of attendants at gas stations. We weren’t aware that the 1949 legislation banning self-service gas was intended to be a full-employment measure for gas-station attendants.
Self-service wouldn’t guarantee savings for motorists. Money isn’t the issue; having the option of filling our own tank, rather than having to wait in line for someone else to do it, is.
In New York, Pennsylvania and other nearby states that allow self-service, gas prices are higher than in New Jersey. New Jersey, of course, has by far the lowest gas tax in the Northeast and the fourth lowest in the nation.
It is emotion, not logic, that has carried the day, killing a pilot project that would allow motorists not mandate to pump their own gas at a handful of stations on the Turnpike.
Perhaps someday, after Gov. Corzine has fought the battles he needs to fight over matters of far greater importance confronting the state, he’ll take this issue on again.
And perhaps by then, cooler heads and more thoughtful public policy will prevail.

