file photo 2018 hit and run investigation
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, in 2018 the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office made an arrest in Ridgewood hit and run near the Train station.
Reader says ,”driving to Ridgewood train station each morning there is just a very backdrop of light in sky but suns rising late now we’ll after 630 am.”
“I saw at least 3 pedestrians crossing major avenues approaching town center from side streets and almost
All 3 commuters were trusting drivers to yield but not one saw them in the twilight when sky begins to brighten but roadway is still dark.”
“Final close call today was a pedestrian crossing near the train across fm corner bagel shop area with green light but the driver made a fast left left not yielding down the funnel road under the train station.”
“Very close to a serious injury the pedestrian jumped back last minute.”
Agree this is a huge concern. I drive through town just as the sun is rising and many commuters, wearing black/dark clothing are difficult to see. Worse situation is when crossing between cars or mid block, or if it is raining.
I could not have said it better….spend $19 and get a reflective vest for the walk to your car.
Why blame the victim? Perhaps instead drivers should be more attentive.
Because the “victim” should have enough sense to anticipate the consequences of wearing dark clothing in the dark when they may not be seen, even by someone who is exercising sufficient due diligence.
But no, it’s always somebody else’s fault even if you are acting like an a55hole.
As I’ve said you are never ever going to stop any of this – EVER! Sit anywhere and just watch. The phones walking out between parked cars – IT’S ALL ABOUT ME! The stupidity level is astronomical!
My dog has a lighted leash (I actually use two for even better visibility) he has a headlight on his collar I got at REI – he also has a lighted harness that I sometimes use as well. The kids think he’s decorated for Christmas but we never go out at night sans any of it! I wear a reflective vest with both a flashing pendant and arm band! People stop me all the time to say they saw me blocks away – many ask where I got the leash and collar but I never see anyone with the same. I even keep the business card and hand them out. Keep Doggy Safe.
WHY? Because I drive for a living and know it’s impossible to see anyone in the dark but especially wearing black and or with a black dog! And in the rain a billion times worse.
Another easy solution – mandate reflective vests for anyone walking between dusk and dawn – the walkers and or people walking their dog!
Not blaming victim. At minimum when crossing pedestrians should use the lighted cross walks. Will also help to stay off phone while crossing. I see people of all ages crossing streets with their heads down and it is concerning.
See my above post – it will never ever happen!! It’s an epidemic! Compounded by the fact of the massive overdevelopment and the sheer magnitude of traffic.
The only thing you can do is be extremally vigilant because I can assure you – if you hit and kill someone you will be a thousand times worse off then the person you killed because you have then to live with it!
So yelling screaming and blaming the victim will not matter – yes, it’s their fault – but try and convince your conscience of that! Your life will have ended as well.
I also suggest carrying and waiving a large fluorescent rainbow flag. Can never be too careful, and it’s a great way to demonstrate your pride too!
Post of the Day !
at least walk with the flashlight of your phone on and visible
But again (please read my pending post) this all barrels down to educating drivers! You put signs up and or have lectures regarding the sun glare in the morning! The pedestrians haven’t a clue just how bad it is! Get signs up BLINDING SUN GLARE – MAKE EYE CONTACT BEFORE CROSSING
Yes, all along that location. The sun glare is brutal. Just remember going back a good 25 years ago. We had a sanitation worker get hit by a driver coming from West. Of Godwin Avenue. And struck a village worker behind a sanitation truck and killed him. And he said that he couldn’t say because of the sun, yes, it is blinding. Maybe just maybe they should be some kind of signage, informing motorist of sun glare.
I suggest that when it’s dark and harder for drivers to see pedestrians, those pedestrians should be careful crossing the street. Sir Isaac Newton would probably agree with me.
blinding sun in the morning heading to RHS.
unreal how many pedestrians don’t look when crossing, cross btw cars, read their phone while crossing, etc….
I agree however you are never ever going to stop this addiction to phones! It is worse than every other addiction combined. Screaming, yelling, cursing, blaming, does nothing. Technically speaking, the law says you must have complete control of your car at all times!
I see mothers with baby carriages on phones not paying an ounce of attention to the child. Even worse are the dog walkers who pay NO ATTENTION to the animal! It’s like, let me go play with my phone and oh, take the dog with me! I really don’t care and scream at everyone to put the phone down and pay attention knowing you are tempting fate! It’s never ever ever going to stop and therefore drivers have to be even more diligent!
If you get mad at these people on phones crossing the street or just walking ask yourself how guilty and hypocritical are you regarding the inability to put the down? Lead by example! You can’t yell and complain if you do the same whether it’s crossing the street or just not being able to put it down and or away! The worst are the people have them pinned to the dash board! Why not install a flat screen TV?
There is a proven solution to this and one that can easily be implemented – I hope all of you will share it with everyone knowing it has helped saved LIVES – bring it to the attention of the Ridgewood Police and or the traffic Division!
As someone who has spent 45 years driving for a living I have seen and know it all – how to prevent accidents but more imperatively pedestrian hit and or killed! I also worked as a UPS driver in my youth!
73% of all pedestrians are hit by cars making LEFT HAND TURNS! If you question the veracity of this statement read the police reports!!! Visualize why I am saying . . . .
The driver making the left hand turn is focused on one thing and one thing ONLY beating the oncoming car in order to make the left turn! How often do we see drivers cutting the turn early in order to beat the oncoming car?
This is why pedestrians are KILLED because the driver is accelerating in order to beat the oncoming vehicle and or a yellow traffic light! They never ever see the pedestrian because they are so focused on the car they beat.
Very very very easy solution – EDUCATE THE DRIVERS!! 73% of all pedestrians hit by cars are caused by drivers making LEFT HAND TURNS!!! Rather than saying LOOK BEFORE YOU TURN – explain why!!
People will perceive it as just another stupid and ashine traffic sign – like the yellow “Stop for Pedestrians” signs that have not only outlived their usage but message as well! The entire message needs to redesigned as well as the color and sign itself! It is so antiquated it has become part of the scenery! No one stops!
Not only have I driven for a living for the past 45 years I also walk my dog everywhere for the past 20 years and watch all of this unfold. I scream at pedestrians all the time: THEY DON’T SEE YOU as they are making the left turn!!!
In closing rather than piss all this money away on these asinine posters (how to cross a street -obviously another money maker for Bergen County as they are all over) and flashing traffic signs – educate people! Remodel the signs so people understand!! Have Ridgewood get posters out and place them anywhere there is a potential line so people read and educate themselves!
YOU NEED TO LOOK BEFORE YOU MAKE THAT LEFT HAND TURN! But you have to educate them why or they will not understand and assume it is no different than the rest of the signs!
Put a police officer on Ridgewood Avenue giving this five minute lecture! Once people learn they will teach others and there will be NO MORE pedestrians KILLED by cars. You most also teach all pedestrians to make sure they make eye contact with the driver before crossing. When you cross the street LOOK OVER YOUR RIGHT SHOULDER to make sure no one is turning and look back to make sure there is not another car behind that one. They assume if the first car goes they go as well. All of this takes seconds but saves LIVES!!
If you want to guarantee you will never hit a pedestrian when making a left turn – overshoot the turn as though you have actually missed it! This allows you to SEE THE ENTIRE CROSSWALK as you make the turn – try and see for yourself! Don’t ever ever cut the turn but rather go to the end as though you have missed the street and then turn! I teach this to all my drivers!
Well said! Some of the comments here calling for the pedestrians to take all of the precautions and responsibilities on behalf of the drivers are ignorant of the real issues. It’s true that pedestrians need to take great care, but giving the drivers carte blanche is going too far.
The left turn drivers are clearly a real problem, and historical method by the police of catching the drivers breaking the law and educating them used to yield real results.
I personally wear a high viz vest, high intensity light for crossing, and my dog has the same. Around 60% of drivers fail to stop at crossings, with many of those simply blowing through.
A simple, old school policy of police reinforcement would work wonders.
We have a tendency to try and seek out technical solutions to all problems these days, where the recognition, and treating of human error and human ignorance with old school police officer education and enforcement is ultimately more effective.
I believe we went down this rabbit hole after the leftie defunding madness. We need police intervention more than ever for Ridgewood traffic issues.
Absolutely and as I say simply educate people! Read my other post – if you kill a pedestrian you will be a lot worse off then they are – because you then have to live with it!
So as I say yelling, screaming, cursing and blaming won’t matter in the least because you’re conscience will never let you forget. I realize the pedestrian is often at fault but put the shoe on the other foot and tell me what you would say to the driver that took the life of a loved one and blamed them? THINK ABOUT THAT!
I had this fight with the Mayor of Fort Lee (where I had grown up) years ago. Till this day every 5 days someone is hit and or killed by a car in that town and he vehemently and arrogantly refuses to enforce the traffic laws.
Stop signs are mere suggestions – red lights don’t apply and forget about one way signs. A driver the other day screamed at me and said he knew it was a ONE WAY and to get the hell out of his way! The Mayor told me I was trying to turn the town into a police state when in fact all we asked is to enforce the laws that are on the books.
Once the drivers become aware – the town then polices itself. DON’T STOP FOR PEDESTRIANS? That ticket – the points – the surcharge – and the increase in your insurance will never let you forget! I agree get the police involved and watch how fast this is corrected. I have even stopped them directing traffic to explain they are standing in the sun glare and you can’t see them – but esp at the GWB
Uh oh, MISTER CAPS is back!
Uh Oh.
Mr. No Useful Contribution to the Discussion is back!
Not so sure…I came up with ‘Pee Wee’.
You could look it up, Buttercup!
Agree, well said. As a walker and a driver in this town, it goes both ways.
One last thing that is also imperative – the over development must cease once and for all. NJ Is the most densely populated State in the Nation but Bergen County is even worse and they don’t stop building! It is no longer safe to walk anywhere because of the traffic – and what is the answer? KEEP BUILDING! They just approved over 500 apartments at Paramus Park – seriously? This on top of the hospital that is opening in April! And talk about sun glare? Or the folks that cut through A & S drive flying to get to the GSP South!
These pedestrians are drivers, too, so it’s not like they don’t know what it’s like being the driver. We can continue this argumentative narrative forever, nothing’s going to change. The only solution is to traffic light each crossing, but that then comes at a significant cost not just in terms of money, but also traffic jams. I come from Europe where crosswalks are controlled by lights and downtown areas become permanently congested due to numerous red lights everywhere.
CLEARLY, the solution is to BAN ALL CARS from ALL RIDGEWOOD ROADS until AFTER THE SUN HAS FULLY RISEN.
It’s settled science.
Now we’re thinking! I only object on the grounds that this would curtail my God given right to drive a car whenever and wherever, and over and through, whomever I want to. Thus, I propose we simply block out or at least partially shade the sun, which will have the added benefit of saving us all from globaaaaal waaaaaarming.
I do believe Bill Gates has attempted to block the sun by shooting a million tons of moon dust into the atmosphere.
I’ll check with him and get back to you . . . .
Mayor Paul should just be able to stand in front of his establishment and command the sun to remain fixed in the sky.
Yes! For HE understands!
We need more/better streetlights on Lincoln also. it’s too busy of a road to be pitch black in certain sections.
When the sun is bad, slow down,
Stop with the Crazy Talk!
remember Walkers before stepping into the road look both ways.
Let’s be smart here.
True, Old Man, but that does little good if the drivers are speeding, distracted, ignorant of the laws, and devoid of common sense.
As BJ propounded above, a driver who kills someone will have to carry a heavy burden.
Wrong. It does A LOT of Good. because you will SEE the speeding driver and NOT enter into the street… thus remain alive thereby negating any potential “driver burden”
Perhaps you defy the laws of physics (and probably the traffic laws) but how does a pedestrian avoid a speeding car they are already in the crossing and the car approaches too quickly for said pedestrian to react?
Look, it is everyone’s responsibility, walkers blame aggressive clueless drivers and drivers blame clueless unaware walkers. There are countless instances where either, or both sides are at fault. It would be nice if The “village” actually enforced those that break the law, at least occasionally.
They do. I have seen tickets for not yielding for pedestrians crossing.
Wrong.
YOU are responsible for YOUR OWN LIFE.
Even if the driver gets ticked, jailed for life or even executed, YOU WILL STILL BE DEAD.
So, it is incumbent upon on YOU to keep YOURSELF SAFE.
That’s right, so listen up again you primitive screwheads.
YOU are responsible for your own life.
*I*, on the other hand, am responsible for nothing and to no one.