Ridgewood Police : Pedestrian Safety
Ridgewood NJ, Pedestrian Safety is one of the main concerns of the Traffic Bureau. The Police Department has worked with the engineering Department and the Citizen Safety Advisory Council to make physical changes in the business district to increase pedestrian safety.
Over the past several years lighting has been improved, crosswalks changed and added, and intersections such as E. Ridgewood Avenue and Oak Street have been redesigned to increase pedestrian safety.
Physical changes help but are only part of the equation. Educating pedestrians and the motorists is paramount. We have been doing this with programs such as endorsing the Stop Look Be Seen Be Safe program in the schools and the pedestrian decoy program where officers in plain clothes enter crosswalks to ensure motorist compliance.
The “right on red” stops on Broad & Franklin & Garber Square & W. Ridgewood are ignored by many motorists & is a serious accident waiting to happen that the PD has seemingly ignored- few full stops-you can check it out yourself. There was a big sting op on E Ridgewood Ave. with the RPD, but these intersections haven’t seemed to have been looked into. Hard to believe the decoys & committees never noticed this.