Ridgewoood Police Decoy
Road Warrior: Our dangerous crosswalks
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
By JOHN CICHOWSKI
ROAD WARRIOR COLUMNIST
A pedestrian killed in an April hit-and-run on Williams Avenue in Hasbrouck Heights. A pregnant mother knocked down by a car while pushing a stroller on Godwin Avenue in Ridgewood a few weeks later. And a month after that, a woman injured by a car turning onto Bridge Plaza North – the 19th pedestrian struck in Fort Lee this year.
No wonder Marliese Daglian is becoming more and more reluctant to walk across streets, even in Tenafly, the hometown she loves – even in places designed for safe walking, such as the crossing at the blinking light at Riveredge Road and Railroad Avenue or the marked crosswalk at Knickerbocker Road and Crabtree Lane.
“Even when crossing with lights in designated crosswalks, I don’t feel safe once I’ve entered the intersection,” said Marliese, who walks with friends to stay fit. “When cars to the left stop to let me pass, those coming from the right step on the gas to make it past me while I’m stuck in the center of the crossing.”
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/213087151_Road_Warrior__Our_dangerous_crosswalks.html#sthash.V3FOlm5w.dpuf
Need a lot more aggressive police enforcement.
Need a lot more alert pedestrians
(who have a vested interest in THEIR OWN safety).
so true, to all don’t tell your kid’s it’s ok to just walk out into the cross walk’s in the c b d and any place else. I tell my kid’s to wake up and look first , and look at the driver’s of the cars so they see you. then may be it’s safe. the school’s need to tell that to all of the kid’s. and mom and dad you know better then what has been going on with some of your friend’s that walk out into the road.
right.
From my own experience I’d say both sides have points here. As a careful driver, I’ve had too many pedestrians walk out right in front of my moving car from just about anywhere. It’s ridiculous. But as a pedestrian, I can remember pushing my baby in her stroller when a car making an illegal left turn on a red light at the intersection of Spring, Maple, and Union almost hit my baby.
What saved her was the new light weight stroller I had just purchased. I was already in the crosswalk when the driver, with his head turned away to check oncoming traffic, drove right into her. I had to bear my weight back and fling her through the air as the car ran into her. I reported the incident immediately with licence plate # and all. I had a witness, the wife of the police officer that was taking my report was stopped at the light and saw the whole thing. And what do you think happened to this guy, who I was able to identify? A soft slap on the wrist. $50 fine for almost killing my child because the policeman’s wife would not come forward and apparently my word alone was not enough.
I used to call in incidents by BF with reckless drivers putting kids in dangerous situations, but our local cops just weren’t interested. I guess the reckless drivers are aware of that.