Power at the gas pump: Oregon lets drivers fuel their own cars, lifting decades-old self-serve ban
Oregon has ended a decades-old ban on self-serve gasoline
SALEM, Ore. — For the first time in 72 years, Oregon motorists can grab a fuel nozzle and pump gas into their cars without an attendant, since a decades-old ban on self-serve gas stations has been revoked.
Gov. Tina Kotek signed a bill on Friday allowing people across the state to choose between having an attendant pump gas or doing it themselves. The law takes immediate effect.
That leaves New Jersey as the only state that prohibits motorists from pumping their own gas. A few countries also ban it, including South Africa, where attendants offer to check fluid levels and clean the windshield, with tipping expected.
“It’s about time. It’s long overdue,” said Karen Cooper, who lives in Salem, said shortly before the bill was signed.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in California,” Cooper said. “I know how to pump my own. Everybody should know how to pump their own gas.”
At the same gas station, T.J. Rogers climbed into his pickup truck after squeegeeing his windshield. He expressed a different opinion as attendants in fluorescent yellow vests serviced surrounding vehicles.
“I’d rather have them pump it. It gives people jobs and opportunity,” Rogers said.
When Oregon prohibited self-service in 1951, lawmakers cited safety concerns, including motorists slipping on the slick surfaces at filling stations subject to Oregon’s notoriously rainy weather. In recent years legislators relaxed the rule and allowed rural counties to have self-serve gas available at night. Then they extended it to all hours in eastern Oregon’s sparsely populated areas, where motorists low on gas could be stranded when there’s no attendant on duty.
The COVID-19 pandemic labor shortage helped drive a
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