Gloucester County Wins $30K Grant for Safer Crosswalks

In an effort to educate drivers- and pedestrians- about what to do at crosswalks, the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety has awarded Gloucester County a $30,000 grant that will pay for police working as decoys at designated street crossings in selected towns.

The grant is part of an effort to address a statewide problem with pedestrian injury and fatalities that far exceeds the national average. Pedestrians account for between 25 and 30 percent of New Jersey deaths in motor vehicles collisions, compared with about 10 percent nationwide. In Gloucester County last year, eight of 26 deaths in motor vehicle collisions were pedestrians.

“This grant will help raise awareness regarding this deadly problem in New Jersey,” said Gloucester County Prosecutor Seam F. Dalton. “Motorists must yield to pedestrians crossing our roadways in legally defined locations.”

The Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office will administer the one-year grant and select municipal police departments to receive funding based on suitable locations, volume of pedestrian traffic, number of citations issued and number of crashes. Under the grant, a plainclothes police officer will be assigned to a crosswalk where a cone will be placed at a distance where a motorist is required to begin braking to allow a pedestrian to cross. The distance is based on the road speed limit. Another plainclothes officer acting as a “spotter” will observe violators and signal a third uniformed officer in a police car to pull over that vehicle.

Crosswalks located midblock as opposed to those at signaled intersections will be favored for the enforcement program, Shock said. “The goal is education, not only of motorists, but pedestrians as well.,” said Detective Nick Schock. “A lot of 
people are unclear on the law and their responsibilities.” The state’s “Yielding to Pedestrians” law is N.J.S.A. 39:4-36.

The Gloucester County enforcement program is expected to be running in August following a July 30 meeting with municipal police departments to explain its requirements, Detective Schock said.