Originally Posted by
Chopper1
Crossing the street on feet no easy feat, reader finds
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 07/22/07
Walking can be a dangerous thing.
Statistics back that up. New Jersey has a higher-than-average pedestrian fatality rate, 21 percent of those killed in motor-vehicle accidents, compared to the national average of 11 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
But these days, the state is trying to do something about it.
A recent study by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind, co-sponsored by the state's Division of Highway Traffic Safety, showed that a vast majority of New Jersey drivers (87 percent) know they must stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk. The survey also showed that awareness drops with age — from 92 percent of those younger than age 30, to 82 percent of those older than 60.
I would like to know who to contact about having a crosswalk marked on a state highway. At Route 70 and Chambers Bridge Road in Brick, there is no crosswalk.
This has proven to be very dangerous, especially for many seniors who are dropped off by bus there, or who go to the shopping center for food. There are other crosswalks along Route 70 (Van Zile Road, Cedar Bridge Avenue), so how do we get one here?
JOANNE McCLELLAND, Brick
The pedestrian crossing laws offer new protections for those seeking to make their way across highways by walking. The law requires drivers to yield to pedestrians at marked crosswalks or within any unmarked crosswalk, except when traffic is being regulated by police officers or traffic-control signals.
But this doesn't mean you can cross wherever you want. Pedestrians who choose to jaywalk shoulder the responsibility for any accident that occurs.
If you think your intersection needs a crosswalk, and it is on a state highway, the state Department of Transportation would have to be convinced.
To get their attention, you will need help from the Brick police department, the township council and the mayor. They would have to ask the DOT to do a study of the intersection. If the study concurs with you, they would authorize a crosswalk.
Pam Fischer, director of the state Division of Highway Traffic Safety, knows the numbers that pedestrians face.
"There are approximately 150 pedestrian fatalities each year in New Jersey," she said.
"These statistics reinforce the need for New Jersey to further enhance its efforts to protect pedestrians, in particular during the busy summer season," Fischer stated in a news release shortly after the university survey was released. "We need every motorist to know and observe the law when it comes to pedestrians. Drivers must yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk.
"At the same time, pedestrians must remember to cross only at corners and to obey traffic signals. Safety is everyone's responsibility."
To combat the problem, the division helps local and county agencies to develop pedestrian safety programs involving education, enforcement and engineering.
The enforcement component puts more police patrols at locations in the community where there have been pedestrian accidents.
The engineering component provides traffic engineering help, such as improved crosswalk striping and signs.
Comprehensive Pedestrian Safety Grants funded by the state have been successful. On average, participating municipalities have seen a 20-percent first-year reduction in crashes involving pedestrians. Brick could make an application for one of those grants.
Well, since you're so convinced you're in the right, contact an attorney and sue to recoup the loss of your frame. Then, when your butt is laughed out of court, pucker up for the countersuit.
Really, if you had the time to shout at the kid to get out of the way, and make eye contact as you assert, and that there was no car to be found, then you could have stopped. If you're incapable of stopping within 50yards then you were either riding too fast, riding too recklessly, or have zero control of your bike.