RED BANK – Two River Times readers, spurred by a Safety Task Force initiative, have been offering their views on pedestrian safety, as well as their service, to improve conditions for pedestrians and cyclists.
While admittedly not traffic engineers Michael Humphreys, Fair Haven, and Joshua Leinsdorf, Atlantic Highlands, said they have given a great deal of thought and completed some research towards solutions.
For Humphreys, a large part of the problem rests with what concerns engineering practices and implementation of standards.
Humphreys, who is originally from the United Kingdom, said he is simply “a motorist and a pedestrian,” who has examined the issue since The Two River Times initiated its Crossroads editorial initiative with municipal, county, and state officials as well as stakeholders like Meridian, Newport Capital, RiverCenter and local schools. The group together is identifying problems and finding solutions in The Two River area as a joint community effort.
“This is an opportunity,” he said. “Now people are thinking about it.”
However, he continued, “People don’t know what to think.”
In his native Britain, “and “really every other part of the world,” he said pedestrian crosswalks are much wider striped, as much as 8 to 9 feet wide as to the approximate 3 feet wide in this area, with additional road markings – such as white painted blocks indicating to the driver one is approaching.
Humphreys pointed out that even a cursory inspection of the area would reveal that existing striping is all-too-often worn away on the roadways – to the point of practically not being there at all. And that, he said, poses a safety threat.
Existing signs are not plentiful enough and vary greatly from one municipality to another, he said.
Bank. Photo by Tina Colella
Humphreys recommended having not just two signs marking a pedestrian crossing, with one on each side of the road facing oncoming traffic; instead there should be four, with two on each side – erected back-to-back on the two poles – so drivers traveling in both directions would see them on each side of the thoroughfare.
Those signs, he observed, vary greatly from each town, hardly showing any relation- ship that they mean the same thing – usually relying on graphics instead of words to tell drivers to be aware of pedestrians.
Another asset, he stressed, would be a greater reliance on flashing lights, currently used in the vicinity of Riverview Medical Center, East Front Street, again, used regularly throughout Europe.
Leinsdorf, who has since 1978 run for independent candidate for just about every local, county and state-level office (including running for Governor in 2009) told of his own run-ins as a pedestrian with near-collisions with vehicles.
Two decades ago he, and at the time his small daughter, were nearly run down by a driver on Broad and White streets and another similar event happened more recently. But, he noted, “It’s happens to everybody,” who has walked, he maintained.
This inherent conflict between cars and walkers and pedestrians is an indication of a greater need in this state, Leinsdorf contended.
“I feel we need public transportation,” and an effective system that will have the public actually use it.
Through much of this state, certainly in Monmouth County, public access to bus and rail routes is piecemeal and inefficient, failing to provide a way to take people from where they live to where they work.
Because of that “We’re completely addicted to the car,” he said.
Along with mass transit, “we need the sidewalks and bike paths,” and increased pedestrian protections like more signage and enforcement. That needs to be driven home.”
– By John Burton.
John Burton can be reached at 732-219-5788 or at jburton@tworivertimes.com.
More stories in the Two River Times Crossroads series:
National Safety Models: Two River Area Should Look West (April 17 edition)
Hazardous Crosswalks: Ambulance Hits Pedestrian on Broad Street (April 3, 2015)
Hazardous Crosswalks: Walkers Share Collision Tales (Edition of April 3, 2015)
Fair Haven Cycling Safety on the Fast Track (Edition of April 3, 2015)
Editorial Opinion: Pedestrian Accident Urgent Reminder We Need Safer Street Crossings (Edition of April 3, 2015)
Safety Moving Forward in Red Bank (Edition of March 20, 2015)
Crossroads: Results of First Editorial Meeting About Pedestrian Safety in the Greater Red Bank Area (Edition of March 13, 2015)
