Driving in New Jersey

Jill's Journal: I’m not a chicken. I’ve driven in big cities around the world. But there’s one place I hate to drive and that’s New Jersey. Drivers here are unforgiving and brutal and super aggressive. I can handle that. I don’t like it, but I can handle it.

The reason I really, really hate to drive in New Jersey is a crazy thing here called “jug handles.” A few other places also have them, but they’re over-the-top prevalent in New Jersey. It means that on most roads, you can’t make a left turn or a u-turn. Ever.

You have to go right if you want to go left. Seriously. There are special little roads off to the right of just about every decent-sized road that you have to use if you want to go left or make a u-turn. If that’s not confusing enough, many of these special little roads occur before the intersection, so if you’re from out of town and not familiar with street names, you’re out of luck. By the time you can see the street name at the actual intersection, your chance to turn left is already over. And God forbid you hesitate – this is New Jersey! Honking horns and people yelling profanity out of their windows is part of the soundtrack.