
Name: Ashley Lester
From: Blackstone, MA
Votes: 23
It’s called the Jersey Shuffle.
Jersey Shuffle; Crossing more than three lanes of traffic without pausing or using a turn signal to get to an exit.
Throughout the last four years of knowing my best friend, I have been a victim of the Jersey shuffle more than fifty times. I live in Blackstone Massachusetts, more than 300 miles away from Woodstown, New Jersey where Victoria Little lives.
When looking for scholarships, I stumbled upon the Drivers Education Initiative Scholarship, and after looking at the four prompts given, I knew exactly which topic I would be choosing.
Have you ever had an experience of being in a car accident or have seen your friends or family members driving irresponsibly?
Now while the answer to the first part of the question is true, I was in a car accident when I was three years old due to the freezing conditions in Massachusetts. However, what I thought would be a more important topic to talk about is seeing friends or family members driving irresponsibly.
As soon as I saw this, I immediately knew who I would choose, and originally it was not Tori. It was my dad. At the time of finding this, He was the first person I knew this could be about. The typical texting and driving, multiple speeding tickets and almost running into a street sign a few months ago due to being distracted by a fancy house we saw.
But after being on a Facetime call and talking about plans to visit Tori in March, the phrase Jersey shuffle was mentioned, and that’s when all of my focus switched to her.
The twenty-year-old from New Jersey who loves John Mayer and the Philadelphia Phillies more than anyone could imagine, is the worst driver I have ever met and every single time she is behind the wheel, 99% of the time she is either doing the Jersey Shuffle, or arguing with the Dodge Ram that is creeping up behind us.
The first time I experienced her reckless driving was May 8th, 2022. We were meeting our best friend Abby to pick her up and head straight to the Riverside train station in Newton, MA. Excitement had filled the air due to the event we were heading to that day. Game four of the playoffs, Boston Bruins vs Carolina Hurricanes on Mother’s Day. A matinee game that would keep me out of the house, giving my mother the gift of being out, but being able to hang out with my best friends as well.
AC/DC Back in Black was blasting through the speakers at a volume only an adult could call unreasonable, with the black and yellow glitter that was scattered all over my face reflecting off of the windshield. We were on the Mass Pike when my eyes glanced at her speedometer, only to see her going one hundred and six miles per hour, over double the allowed speed limit. The Jersey girl didn’t even notice until I quickly pointed it out to her. When she noticed, she quickly slowed down.
There had been minor incidents after that of her unsafe driving, including more Jersey shuffles that continually scare me, Going one hundred on the mass pike (again,) fighting with a Dodge Ram, and doing doughnuts throughout an entire parking lot just for fun.
Throughout all of this, I have quickly learned what not to do when driving.
As a newly permitted driver who couldn’t afford driving school, I was essentially on my own with learning what to do when driving, how the gas pedal worked, and how to pull over for emergency vehicles, something I learned how to do the hard way.
I have learned that cruise control exists and is a perfect way to lock down your speed at the allowed limit, not risking the opportunity to even surpass it. There have been opportunities that I had to fight with a driver about how they were driving, yelling at them and letting them know that they weren’t driving correctly, but instead, I just play Taylor Swift.
But, the most important lesson I have learned while driving is to not do a Jersey Shuffle.
Not only is it dangerous to the people around me, but it is a massive danger to myself. There are multiple accidents caused a year by this unsafe action, and can be the result of my parents having their cars, or my mom having to wake up by three am to take my dad to the train station.
So, if you are ever about to miss your exit and you think you can make it by doing a Jersey Shuffle, you can’t. No matter the inconvenience, it is better to just miss your exit, and take the next one. Don’t pull a Tori and do a Jersey Shuffle.
It’s called the Jersey Shuffle for a reason.