[Quietcars] New Jersey pedestrian law, revised.

[Deborah Kent Stein]

This is wonderful news!  Thanks for sharing!  We need bills like this all 
over the country.

Debbie


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "michael townsend" <mrtownsend at optonline.net>
To: <tse-chat at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2010 2:46 PM
Subject: [Quietcars] New Jersey pedestrian law, revised.


> 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.
>
>
>
> Barbara A. Schweiger, Esq.
>
> Direct Phone:  973-232-2974
>
> Direct Fax:  973-232-2975
>
> bschweiger at skoloffwolfe.com
>
>
>
> Skoloff & Wolfe, p.c.
>
> A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION
>
> Counsellors at Law
>
>
>
> 293 Eisenhower Parkway
>
> Livingston, NJ  07039
>
>
>
>
> "I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself...but I 
> think
> I have
> a right to resent, to object to, libelous statements about my dog."
> -Franklin D. Roosevelt
> Mike Townsend and Seeing Eye dog Brent
> Dunellen, New Jersey  08812
> emails:  mrtownsend at optonline.net;
> michael.townsend54 at gmail.com
> Home Phone:  732  200-5643
> Cellular:  732  718-9480
>
>
>
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