Thursday, June 29, 2006

Flash my E-Z Pass.
Taking the car lanes. What the ...?
"Congestion ahead!"


"What the ...?" is an inside joke. Our 3-year-old picked up that expression from another boy in his preschool class. Actually, the full expression he learned is "What the hecka?" but we've managed to deprogram him a bit down to "What the ...?" and hopefully by the end of the summer, he'll forget it completely.

I'm assuming that the NJ TP is the only roadway with separate car and truck lanes and accepts E-Z Pass. Even if this assumption is correct, there are plans in the works for a highway in Virginia to separate its traffic using rumble strips, if I'm not mistaken. Doesn't seem particularly foolproof to me.

Of course, the "congestion ahead" refers to those helpful overhead screens which display road conditions. And I've learned along the way that "congestion" can be a tidy euphemism for any number of disasters and bottlenecks.