RED BANK – Progress is being made in improving pedestrian safety in the Two River area.
At Monday’s gathering for The Two River Times’ “Crossroads” initiative, stakeholders were talking about advances that have been undertaken in recent months as they look to address safety.
In the last month, pedestrians were fatally struck by vehicles in both Red Bank and Middletown. In Red Bank, a 78-year-old woman who was killed crossing Broad Street in the area of the Foodtown supermarket on June 23. On July 9, a 15-year-old girl was struck in Middletown and subsequently died in what police called a hit-and-run collision.
These recent terrible incidents had Two River Times Co-Publisher/Executive Editor Jody Calendar call for a meeting of state, county and local elected officials and law enforcement members to come together to continue discussing what has occurred and steps to improve the situation.
The paper has been working with officials and community members since last winter to keep the lines of communication open and finding ways to improve safety in and around Red Bank.
“This is not anybody’s fault,” Calendar wanted to assure the group, which met at Riverview Medical Center Monday morning. But while it may not be anyone’s fault, she continued, “This is everyone’s problem.”
Middletown has had three pedestrians killed by vehicles in the last 11 1⁄2 years, according to Police Lieut. Neal Hansen, with the department’s Traffic Safety Bureau. With the exception of the most recent incident July 7, both other cases were determined be the fault of the pedestrians, Hansen said. Hansen did acknowledge the Highway 36 intersection in the township’s Leonardo section where the 15-year-old was killed (with authorities charging the driver was at fault.), that “There probably could be improvements at that intersection.”
Michael Hughes, chief of staff for state Senator Jennifer Beck (R-11), offered his office’s cooperation in assisting Middletown in bringing the state Department of Transportation into the conversation to improve that intersection and others along Route 36.
Tony Perry, director of legislative affairs for State Senator Joseph Kyrillos (R13), whose district includes Middletown, said “Senator Kyrillos will do everything possible to help any municipality seeking assistance from the state to improve pedestrian safety.”
Monmouth County had five fatal car crashes in 2012; five in 2013; 13 in 2014; and so far four in 2015, according to Daria Jakimowska, a Monmouth County traffic engineer.
Red Bank has had 11 incidents of vehicles striking pedestrians year to date for 2015, according to Red Bank Police Chief Darren McConnell. He compared the local incidents to both Princeton and Westfield, which he said have comparable downtowns. According to McConnell, Princeton has had 11 crashes so far this year and Westfield has had either 12 or 13.
The overall population for Westfield is 30,851 as of 2013, the most recent totals available. For Princeton Borough, the population stands at 29,008 as of 2013. Red Bank’s population as of 2013 is 12,213 so although comparable, Princeton and Westfield have much higher densities.
In response to the Red Bank fatality, the Monmouth County engineering department has under taken a study of the area of the Broad/ Pinckney Road area leading to the Newman Springs Road intersection, which local police and Mayor Pasquale Menna have said previously was a problematic intersection given the convergence of a number of different and busy roads, and deserved reevaluation.
Jakimowska, acknowledged, “We need some improvements,” for traffic in that area.
According to her data, Jakimowska said since 2012 there have been 26 motor vehicle crashes in that vicinity, south of Wikoff Place to the Newman Springs Road traffic signal. There were 13 crashes alone associated with motorists entering or departing from the Foodtown supermarket’s two driveways in that timeframe.
Along with that location, county engineers are “very aggressively” looking at solutions for Shrewsbury Avenue and will be studying traffic in that area.
Shrewsbury Avenue, on the borough’s west side, is a major north-south thoroughfare, with motorists using it as an alternative to state Highway 35/Maple Avenue. It also has a lot of area residents who bicycle and walk to work, to school and to shop and has been the source of concern and complaints about traffic.
Jakimowska said engineers will begin taking traffic counts in September.
Another troublesome intersection, at West Front Street and Broad, which has had collisions with pedestrians and vehicles, has been studied, as well. But in that case,
Jakimowska maintained it would create more difficulties in making changes, especially for emergency vehicles headed to nearby Riverview Medical Center.
With any changes, “You have to weigh the negative,” advised Freeholder Thomas A. Arnone. Any change to the current traffic configurations or signals could have other impacts on traffic and safety elsewhere that have to be considered, he said.
Arnone also announced that an accord has been reached with Rumson and Fair Haven to begin to implement designated bike lanes along portions of two county roads, Rumson and Ridge Road, undergoing repaving.
Calendar noted Two River Times staffers have taken video and still photographs showing pedestrians as well as motorists continually disregarding safety laws. Pedestrians are regularly shown jaywalking and crossing against traffic signals, while drivers regularly fail to stop for pedestrians. “I was astonished when viewing our tapes,” Calendar said.
Education, along with enforcement and engineering, is a major component in preventing further tragedies. And that means pedestrians and cyclists as much, if not more, than motorists, the participants agreed.
“The bicycle is really a vehicle,” according to state statutes, Jakimowska pointed out. And unlike in her native Poland, in this country, “We don’t require a driver’s license,” even though, “the bicycle has to follow the rules of the road.”
“Some of the responsibility has to do with the individual,” following the laws for pedestrians as well as for drivers, Arnone said.
The Two River Times is planning a public for um on pedestrian safety likely to take place in September, said Calendar. As it stands “I think everybody is making enormous progress,” she said to the group in conclusion.
