Pursuits

From the Front Lines: NYC's Clogged Gas Stations

Tempers flared at the Gulf station at Flatbush Avenue and Kings Highway, as customers suspected the gas station attendant was pumping gas for a man that cut in line on November 1, 2012 in BrooklynPhotograph by Michael Nagle/Redux

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By Timothy Murphy

November 19, 2012 at 9:36 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Last week, after fights broke out at gas stations due to long lines from a post-Hurricane Sandy fuel shortage, much of the New York region initiated gas rationing. Drivers with license plates ending in odd numbers could queue up for gas only on odd days, and vice versa. All over New York City, taxis and private cars were backed up for blocks, crawling forward into gas stations amid waits of 30 minutes or more, overseen by the NYPD cops.

Bloomberg Businessweek scoped out a bunch of stations around the area to survey the top behavioral trends, then turned to experts for commentary: body language experts Patti Wood (author of the newly released Snap: Making the Most of First Impressions…) and David Givens (Your Body at Work) and University of Hawaii psych professor Leon James, author of Road Rage and Aggressive Driving.