Cross walk law in NJ - Page 2

Almost accepable on one way and two way streets right at the beach* with common sense & coutesey.(Yeah I know-what's that?)
If you are going the speed limit-15-25 mph there is still a "grey" area. You should not be able to just abruptly walk in front of a moving vehicle (and as experienced this past weekend, several times-just point at the crosswalk lines).
People are weird (for lack of a better word) driving -walking etc. Stop dead with no signal to turn-abuse the hell out of right turn on a redlight etc etc.
I've always been courteous to pedestrians crossing. But within reason. If someone decides to suddenly cross in front of me (that is -with no visible indication of that intent) and I'm going 15mph-5-10' from the crosswalk-I think that locking the brakes is just plain dangerous.
I look at this law a yet another "entitlement". In OC,NJ cops are actually baiting and ticketing people. Some of the baiting is fair-some that I witnessed is totally ridiculous. Two that I saw in the latter -one step off the curb as a car is 5 or less feet from the crosswalk-next block you're waved over for a ticket.
That is just over doing it.
I had one lady (I'm doing 10 mph-preparing to stop because she was on the upcoming corner) get really pissed off. She is on the corner looking through her bag with a baby in a stroller. I mean-really looking for something in this bag-not even looking to cross. I decide to continue and she (with bag now falling off) thrusts the stroller with the baby ! in front of my van. Five feet!
That's all there was. She's yelling-pointing. Now I have to wait while she picks up the stuff from her bag-then crosses. Lip service to me and to the 2 cars (other side ) that decided to continue while she is still picking stuff up.
To me-that is absurd.
My daughyer's boyfriend (with my wife and I in the backseat) gets pulled over and $170 ticket on Central (4 lanes) 4 long blocks from the beach-at night for failing to yeild to pedestrians. Its 35 mph. To preface this-it was the first day that the law was in effect and we were looking extra hard (all 4 of us) to comply as we has read about it and saw it on the news. (including that they were going to be baiting people). When we politely asked which pedestrians he was referring to (as there were none anywhere within sight).
His reply- 4 blocks back someone had one foot off the curb (at a green light for traffic BTW).
To add- we also knew there was a cop behind us AND had stopped several times to let people cross while he was behind us-prior to being pulled over.
Way over the top.!
4 lanes of 2 way traffic at night. 35mph speed limit. Against a green light-you are by law-required to stop if somebody steps one foot off the curb.
Way too much! Another entitlement for the brainless masses. As stated in the comments before me. Some tragic deaths will result.

The one thing that I gt a kick out of is how much resistance there is to this law. I mean come on! This crosswalk law has been on the books for years up north. Down here in NJ you'd think it was something new. It should have been in effect years ago. It's just like driving on traffic rotaries (circles) people in NJ are still learning.

Lou,
They can't, too busy up at MTV's Jersey Shore house trying to control the traffic and crowds

You are absolutely right Lou. The people crossing a multi lane road need to be very careful. Those signs they place in the crosswalks are only on one or two lanes roads. The crazy thing is, the people that know the crosswalk laws follow them both when driving and as a pedestrian.

The law is pretty much your standard BS revenue raiser law. Politicians point to 100 plus pedestrian deaths over past year and say we need to do something about it. Ok, pass a law with stiff fines for motorist and give some dough to towns to pay for Crosswalk sting operations to pay for everything.

Meanwhile said politicians don't want to talk about how many of those 100 plus pedestrian fatalities were the pedestrians fault, at night on dark highways, bad weather, impaired pedestrians, etc and definately don't want to mention just how many of those fatalites were in crosswalks. No, facts like that could get in the way of a nice revenue stream.

Hat's off to pedestrian safety, but the state is looking for new ways to take money out of your wallet and put it in their's. What better way than to take a non problem and make it pay!

The end result is a new law that does little to improve public safety.

i had a dog and its mother ****in name was bingo! ! !

Bristol.....My Aunt lives on Central Ave.......We rent a house every year for the summer and I'm always worried about my daughter and mother getting plowed by the cars there.....

I couldn't agree more. The law is designed to protect pedestrians from getting whacked by speeding, texting and distracted drivers. It also teaches peds to USE CROSSWALKS rather than dart out between parked cars. Shore towns in the summer are a constant flow of cars in both directions, making it nearly impossible for someone on foot to safely cross the road. Without this law, the only feasable solution is to put a crossing guard or traffic light on every corner, which very few towns can afford. You guys that think towns are balancing their books with these laws should start attending some town meetings once in a while.

Be aware, there is a "standard version" of the law that requires you to stop until the people/persons are out of your path, and an enhanced version of this law, that requires you to stop and STAY STOPPED until the pedestrian gets on the opposite side walk. The enhanced version has a name like Kate's law, or something like that, so make sure you know which version is being used, especially in tourist towns

About 1500 deaths in the last 9 years in NJ. In my book, that's a problem we should be addressing, regardless of who is at fault. Training drivers to be more alert, and pedestrians to use the crosswalk, is one of the most logical first steps. I can't understand all the skeptism and anger. Is it really that much work to slow down as you approach a well marked intersection and stop for 20 seconds as a mom walks her two kids safely across the street to get an ice cream come while on vacation.

Jetty, THX for digging out the numbers. How about the stats that break those numbers down?

How many Ped deaths caused by ped at fault?

How many peds intoxicated?

At night?

bad weather?

Not at cross walks?

On major highways?


I think it's perfectly reasonable to stop for peds at a cross walk. But 122 deaths out of a population of more than 7 million? And, not all those 122 deaths the fault of drivers. But, it's drivers that bare the full impact of the law. The new law is about revenue generation, not public safety. Especially considering the strict enforcement to the letter of the law. Ped standing at( not in) crosswalk and driver doesn't stop, gets a ticket. Driver stops to let ped pass but starts moving before ped is on opposite curb gets a ticket. If cops in NYC or Philly did that it would cause total gridlock. The law not only allows for overzealous enforcement, it calls for it.

I think one issue is it's not always clear who is at fault. When a cop shows up and finds a dead pedestrian with no witness other than the driver that killed him who knows... Did the driver not see him because of the fog, or because he was texting his fantasy football lineup? It is also just fatalities, not taking into account the number of people who suffer serious head traumas, spinal damage, broken bones, and the like...

Why does it matter? That's 150 people a year that died for no reason. Let's say for the sake of argument that 2/3 of the time it's the fault of the pedistrian, that's still 50 people a year died while doing NOTHING WRONG. In 2008 there were less than 50 people NATIONWIDE that died while using a personal water craft. That's 50 out of 302 million. Should we do away with life jacket laws and boater safety requirments?



The law is about education and public safety. The problem we have is we live in a world where nobody cares about anyone but themselves, so the only way to get anyone's attention is to hit them in the pocketbook. Most towns are also stepping up enforcement on jaywalking as well. If drivers learn to slow down at intersections, and peds learn to use crosswalks, the public safety is served, and everybody wins



Every new law goes through a period of heavy enforcement, in order to raise awareness. There is no point in passing a law if the general public feels it won't be enforced. It's a simple law to abide by, and it's good for everybody. I don't know about you, but if i ran oversomeone with my truck, , I'd be pretty messed up about it, regardless of who was at fault....

Two lane street in this town with lots of ped activity on both sides...pretty laid back, speed limit of 30 mph but thos ewho know drive slower. I will walk out into the street while cars are passing...if i don't i will never cross the road until a local spots me trying to cross. I am not be the smartest man, but i won't walk into a moving vehicle...i will get em to stop and make me cross though...if U try to run me over U better not stop your vehicle...

City streets are a different animal...

Jetty, I respectfully disagree with your POV.

That fact is, you are going to have to search long and hard to find a driver who intentionally struck down a pedestrian. You will have to search equally long and hard to find a driver in any of these incidents who saw the pedestrian before striking them. A less stringent version of the crosswalk law has been in effect since the beginning of time. It did nothing to save these 150 people. A law does nothing to stop an inattentive or incapacitated driver. Drivers don't stop for pedestrains they don't see. Pedestrians driver's don't see equal 100% of pedestrains struck and killed in cross walks in driver at fault incidents. The new law will not change this fact.

It hard times in Municpal Governmentville these days. The gravey train of unlimited spending has been replaced by spending cuts, contract cancellations and layoffs. Cops who would cut you a break a few years ago are now writing tickets that max the revenue. Just a sign of the times. And, here's a juicy new law to rake in more dough, and will not save one life.

Wanna talk about another useless public safety enhancement being implemented across NJ- Red Light Cameras?