[Quietcars] New Jersey pedestrian law, revised.

[michael townsend]

This is great for those of us who travel with canes or guide dogs, but also
makes motorists aware that everyday folks with working eyeballs are aided by
this law's passage.  

Mike T

New, strict yield-to-pedestrians law in N.J.
By James Osborne 

Inquirer Staff Writer

Drivers in New Jersey will be required to come to a complete stop when
approaching a pedestrian in a crosswalk under a law that goes into effect
Thursday.

The statute, taking effect four years into a statewide campaign to cut down
on accidents, represents the first pedestrian-related change in New Jersey
traffic law in five decades.

"No longer will crossing the street be a game of chicken," Pam Fischer, the
New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety director, said Wednesday at a
news conference in Cherry Hill. "Motorists who fail to abide by the law will
get hit in the pocketbook."

New Jersey has one of the highest rates of pedestrian fatalities in the
country, with 27 percent of auto fatalities in 2008 involving pedestrians,
almost twice the national rate, according to the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration.

The law applies to both marked and unmarked crosswalks, which the state
traffic code designates as existing at the intersection of any two roadways.
It calls for violators to be assessed up to $200 fine and two points on
their driver's licenses, as well as 15 days of community service.

But even with the new law - which revised a requirement that motorists yield
to pedestrians in crosswalks - getting drivers to comply could be difficult,
said Sgt. Mike Rann of the Cherry Hill Police Department.

Last year, Cherry Hill police set up crosswalk stings, in which officers, in
some cases pushing baby strollers, would step out into a crosswalk as cars
approached. Over six days, officers handed out 249 tickets and arrested one
man who became irate when cited by police, Rann said.

"People would just drive right around the carriage," he said. "It's a matter
of handing out more tickets. It gets the word out, and people start to
comply."

Many motorists lack awareness when it comes to pedestrians and their legal
right of way in a crosswalk, said Ranjit Walia, a senior research specialist
at the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers.

"A lot of these crosswalks aren't well marked, and that's another issue," he
said. "New Jersey is not pedestrian-friendly. There are certain communities
that have done a good job, but a lot of our nation is very auto-centric. We
haven't really made a major push to say we ought to be respectful of
pedestrians."

New Jersey follows federal regulations on signs alerting motorist to
crosswalks. But some communities have taken further steps, including
Princeton, where running lights have been installed along crosswalks to
improve their visibility, said Fischer.

"Europe is way ahead of us on traffic safety," she said. "We're taking a lot
of our cues from them."

Appearing at Wednesday's news conference were Joel Feldman and Dianne
Anderson, parents of a 21-year-old Fordham University student killed by a
motorist while walking through a crosswalk on her way to a summer
waitressing job in Ocean City, N.J., last year.

Feldman urged motorists to place a photograph of a loved one in their cars
as a reminder of the potential consequences of talking on a cell phone or
reaching for a cold drink, as the motorist who struck his daughter, Casey
Feldman, had been doing.

"Think about if you were the driver who took someone else's child," Feldman
said.

 

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Direct Phone:  973-232-2974

Direct Fax:  973-232-2975

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Livingston, NJ  07039

 


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Mike Townsend and Seeing Eye dog Brent
Dunellen, New Jersey  08812
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