file photo by ArtChick
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, yesterday it was reported that a dog walker crossing Broad Street in the Central Business District was hit by a vehicle and taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson. Sadly the dog did not make it . Over the years the Ridgewood blog has reported numerous similar instances .
At some point in the day, everyone is a pedestrian. According to the United States Department of Transportation pedestrian injuries and fatalities remain high. In 2019, 6,205 pedestrians were killed and an estimated 76,000 pedestrians were injured nationwide.
8 Safety Tips for Drivers
Look out for pedestrians everywhere, at all times.
Use extra caution when driving in hard-to-see conditions, such as nighttime or bad weather.
Slow down and be prepared to stop when turning or otherwise entering a crosswalk.
Yield to pedestrians in crosswalks and stop well back from the crosswalk to give other vehicles an opportunity to see the crossing pedestrians so they can stop too.
Never pass vehicles stopped at a crosswalk. There may be people crossing where you can’t see.
Never drive under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
Follow the speed limit, especially around people on the street, in school zones and in neighborhoods where children are present.
Be extra cautious when backing up and look for pedestrians.
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8 Walking Safety Tips
Follow the rules of the road and obey signs and signals.
Walk on sidewalks whenever they are available.
If there is no sidewalk, walk facing traffic and as far from traffic as possible.
Cross streets at crosswalks or intersections. Look for cars in all directions, including those turning left or right.
If a crosswalk or intersection is not available, locate a well-lit area where you have the best view of traffic. Wait for a gap in traffic that allows enough time to cross safely; continue watching for traffic as you cross.
Watch for cars entering or exiting driveways, or backing up in parking lots.
Avoid alcohol and drugs when walking; they impair your abilities and your judgment.
Embrace walking as a healthy form of transportation – get up, get out and get moving.
“Never pass vehicles stopped at a crosswalk. There may be people crossing where you can’t see.”
No joke.
A man of the cloth crossing Franklin Avenue was sadly and tragically killed in this very manner by an impatient motorist.
when walking make sure a driver is going to turn into the crosswalk from a cross street
its totally amazing to see how many pedestrians do not make eye contact with drivers and expect a car to come to a halt when they jump into the crosswalk, while looking down at their phone
when i drive in the CBD i rarely exceed 10=15 mph its too dangerous to go faster
I’m sorry but I try to avoid the CBD at all costs.
Pedestrians don’t seem to realize that they don’t have the right of way in all situations because they believe the old saw that they do.
They jump out into marked crosswalks in front of moving vehicles, ignore walk/don’t walk devices at intersections, cross in the middle of the block and think they have the right of way, jaywalk, etc.
The story fails to add that the woman struck is a wonderful 80 year old woman who lives in my building and who has a full life that was enhanced by her constant companion, a six year old spaniel named Devon. This lovely woman was traumatized by witnessing her dog killed by a speeding car and needed to be sedated. To compound matters, she is now in the hospital with a broken ankle, broken wrist and arm and is looking up to two months in rehab and then many months of physical therapy. While the woman driver who caused the accident and killed a beloved pet got off with only a summons. I feel something needs to be done to make the streets safer for pedestrians in Ridgewood and a good place to start would be to put a stop sign at the opposite corner of E. Ridgewood and Broad where there is only a Yield sign, so drivers making a left onto Broad do not speed thru the crosswalk as I have witnessed numerous times.
Heart breaking. Leslie is a client of ours. Devon spent many afternoons trotting around our shop and gave wonderful doggie kisses.
We cannot tell you how heartbroken we are.
The issue is most don’t even stop and look if any vehicles are coming. They just walk into crosswalk… see it daily…
That is not true with everyone. Motorists drive too fast.
yes that Broad and Ridgewood should be a 3 way stop and all the other CBD intersections should be a 4 way stop
A good point would be to stop concentrating only on the drivers and put more emphasis on the pedestrians who think they own the streets.
The story also fails to name the driver who was involved.
Just from many of the comments here, it’s clear that drivers don’t like having their journey interrupted by annoying pedestrians.
Drivers are wrong.
Pedestrians have the right of way.
However…
In a confrontation between a 3,000+ lb vehicle and a 300 lb (or less) pedestrian, there is ALWAYS ONLY ONE WINNER
Do the math.
Then decide if you want to be “right” and dead or injured
or if you want to take responsibility for your own safety REGARDLESS of the law and look and yield to the vehicle.
It’s time to stop and look both ways before you cross
LOTS OF DUMB PEOPLE
Listen as a professional driver, a good majority of times people of all ages just assume they can just walk up the curb line right into the street without looking. You Gotta be a complete moron if you do so. I love to know who teaches these people this. When I was a kid I was taught before stepping off the curb you look both ways. 2nd’ The thing is they need to lower the speed limit throughout the CBD and don’t give me any bullshit stores that They can’t. With the oldest building going on in the CBD as added so many more pedestrians, that this is a must. You don’t need to do more than 50 mph in the CBD. That’s fast enough. I’ve seen other towns throughout New Jersey have 10 mph in their business sections. And 5 mph in the parking lots. So all the top officials need to get together and work this out.
agree that town officials should lower the town’s CBD speed limit and put stops signs where they’re most needed. we’re all
drivers and pedestrians… let’s keep the roads safe for everyone.
A sad story indeed and as it was pointed out, the rule of large should always be obeyed. Given that the noted intersection is the busiest, one would hope that it would be policed more diligently. Make the intersection safer for crying out loud! A uniformed officer or a police car presence could have made the difference to Devon’s longevity. We have a Village speed limit of 25 mph and if there was only a modest increase in the effort to enforce this speed limit, we would be safer and the Village could, possibly, perhaps, in our dreams, may not increase our taxes. A modest effort to slow speeders down would be a major financial benefit to the Village. I am talking one million dollars at least! If you speed, then should you pay the Man. If you run over a dog due to one’s negligence, that is something else. Shame on that driver….
15mph in the c b d.
I saw a dangerous situation develop this afternoon. A car stopped for a pedestrian at the crosswalk west of the Post Office. The guy behind honked and pulled around (crossing the center dividing line to do so). Luckily he stopped before creaming the pedestrian. I don’t think a different speed limit would have made a difference, just a few more brain cells and a little less impatience.
I’m amazed (annoyed) at people that cross the street and skip going to the crosswalk. Happens all the time by the theatre.
Same shit happens in Glen Roque.
Nothing wrong with that, as long as they cross at a 90 degree angle, look both ways, and realize that cars have the right of way in that situation.
You should not be crossing the street in between cars.
That’s what the cross walk is for.
Come on”””
I don’t see how changing the speed limit would do anything – as far as I can tell, it is not really followed now at the existing one. And walkers do need to look both ways, take responsibility for yourself too
“I don’t see how changing the speed limit would do anything “
Sure it would.
It would make feel-good self-righteous idiots delude themselves into believing that they are “doing something”. It reinforces their smug superiority and allows them to virtue signal while in practice providing ZERO positive benefit and provides cover for when they speed.
Just like the 25mph speed limit has NO measurable positive effect in Ridgewood.