By Stephen Appezzato
RED BANK – With warmer weather drawing more people outdoors, residents and visitors driving through the borough should remain vigilant about pedestrian safety, an issue becoming increasingly urgent amid congested streets and rising pedestrian fatalities across New Jersey. Plus, you never know if a team of Red Bank Police officers is monitoring a crosswalk, ready to enforce pedestrian laws and impose stiff fines for those who blow through crosswalks.
“With the increase in pedestrians during this time of year, we have to be on our toes and be on the alert for aggressive drivers,” said Red Bank Chief of Police Michael Frazee in a phone interview this week. “Pedestrian safety is very important to us,” he said.
New Jersey State Police Fatal Crash Statistics show a concerning trend. According to data collected, last year there were 229 pedestrian deaths across the state, approximately 30% higher than in 2023 and the highest on record since 1988. Twenty of the deaths were in Monmouth County; so far this year, one pedestrian was killed in the county.
In Red Bank, a popular destination with often congested roadways and sporadic road closures that direct traffic down less-traveled side streets, drivers and pedestrians should be attentive to pedestrian safety.
It’s a “shared responsibility” and a “two-way street,” Frazee said, reminding the public to pay attention along roadways and reminding drivers to be more courteous.
“We try to emphasize the importance of pedestrian safety, both through education, trying to educate the people, and then also through enforcement,” he said.
With help from a few state grants, the Red Bank Police Department is on the lookout for distracted drivers and those who violate crosswalk laws, posing a risk to pedestrians. The grants allow the police department to position more officers on roadways.
“Instead of responding to calls for service, they specifically look for distracted drivers,” those using their cellphones while driving, and “drivers of motor vehicles who were failing to stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk,” Frazee explained.
The department also conducts decoy operations at crosswalks, specifically looking for drivers who don’t stop.
The operations, which occur a few times a year, involve an officer in plain clothes trained as a decoy. The decoy stands ready at a crosswalk while other officers are positioned nearby observing drivers. Drivers within a certain distance from the decoy who don’t stop at the crosswalk are then pulled over by a nearby police officer who can issue a citation.
The novel tactic is effective at reminding drivers of pedestrian safety laws and was lately upheld in state Superior Court after one driver, facing a $157 fine, unsuccessfully challenged the practice.
According to an opinion filed April 15 by Judge Michael A. Guadagno, the defendant received a ticket for failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk during a decoy operation at the intersection of Maple Avenue and Waverly Place last year. During a trial, the self-represented driver testified that he did not see anyone in the crosswalk when he drove through it, and that it was “impossible” for the secondary officer observing the incident to see the decoy cross the street from his vantage point two blocks away. Meanwhile, the officers conducting the operation testified the infraction did occur and was observed.
Despite not being used as an argument by the defendant, for “the sake of completeness,” Guadagno explained why the decoy operation did not constitute entrapment, either.
“In order to have entrapment, … you have to convince or entice somebody to commit a crime,” Guadagno wrote. “The Red Bank Police did not induce defendant to commit the offense but merely presented a situation where he had the opportunity to either stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk, in compliance with the law, or proceed through it unlawfully. He chose the latter,” the opinion read.
Under state law, drivers must stop and stay stopped for pedestrians crossing the street within a marked crosswalk and yield to pedestrians at unmarked crosswalks at uncontrolled intersections. Cars cannot pass other cars that are stopped for pedestrians at crosswalks either.
Those who violate the law can face a $200 fine, four points on their license and even up to 15 days of community service imposed by the court. Pedestrians, on the other hand, can face a $54 fine and community service if they do not yield the right of way to drivers except at crosswalks.
While the Red Bank Police Department only conducts these decoy operations a few times a year, Frazee said officers regularly patrol roadways and are attentive to pedestrian safety and distracted drivers. The department is also working with the DPW to “freshen up” crosswalks and yellow curbing for visibility.
“It brightens up the intersections and keeps cars far enough away from the crosswalks and the stop signs to make it more pedestrian-friendly,” Frazee said.
The article originally appeared in the April 24 – 30, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
