Warning: The Pedestrian You Don't Yield To Could Be A Cop

The law states: A motorist must Yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. (Per N.J.S.A 39:4-36, failure to yield carries a $100 fine, up to 15 days in jail and a 2-point license penalty.

Yet the law is silent on the pedestrian's responsibility to NOT try to cross an intersection (other than to look "all ways before crossing") until clear of traffic.

Imagine driving along about 30' from a crosswalk. If a pedestrian steps out- do you SLAM on the breaks to yield?

Better yet, let's say the pedestrian just RUNS out without warning.

Here's an idea: If he town really wants to make some money, just have the cops stand on a curb of a crosswalk and as cars approach, they can just touch the crosswalk with their toes---- GOTCHA!!!

(Obviously, I support ANY effort to force drivers to obey our laws. Too many folks are in their own world-- still on the cell phone-- and not giving a sh*t about anyone.... So ticket away. The prof obeys the laws.)

Given the PD's presumably finite resources, wouldn't undercover cops be better deployed as graduation party guests?

Or to, say, make drug buys? Or even to cruise streets looking for burglars and car thieves?

The cell phone law is a joke. I NEVER see it being enforced. On any given day, I count about 10 or so drivers yakking aware totally oblivious to their surroundings.

Sounds to me like the PD's presumably finite resources are about to get even more finite. Knowing the way most of my neighbors drive, I predict that Mountainside Hospital will soon be tending to many of Montclair's Finest.

Or perhaps, parks as we saw yesterday.

I bet that fine is much higher than that of failing to yield......

I don't know, cathar. When around town with my daughters in-tow, we have had our well-being threatened far more often in crosswalks than in drug buys. Or graduation parties.

Of course, I may think differently when they hit high school.

yay!!! good. I have seen so many near misses. However, how can we get our teens to speed up instead of "slow walking" .. just a bit. I gotta get to work bewise whines...

THANK GOODNESS they're doing this. I predict quite a bit of revenue coming in from this project, as every single time an officer starts waiting by the crosswalk, he will be able to ticket someone at that moment.

NO ONE stops. You can stand there at the edge of the crosswalk looking drivers in the eyes, craning your neck, otherwise making it obvious that you're trying to cross, and you can stand there all day out in the hot sun while people zoom by you because it's too much of an inconvenience to them to slow down for three seconds in their air-conditioned car.

The number of tickets they are able to give will only be limited by how many cars they can pull over at one time. I just hope that the police officers don't get hit by one of the many criminals who see you starting to cross from half a block away, then hit the gas in an effort to get through the other side of the crosswalk before you do.

As a pedestrian who has navigated the streets of NYC, downtown and midtown for over 25 years I can tell you all that you better watch out for your own butt at all times and that when something bad happens, you probably won't see it coming anyway.

I dare any of you to try to cross Grove Street at Oxford on foot. If it wasn't for the rail crossing, one could easily have to wait 10 minutes to get across. I don't dare attempt to drive left onto Grove or straight through on Oxford as there are ALWAYS cars parked illegally (right up to the corner) blocking the drivers view. What I need is a periscope.

I am in full support of enforcement of the current traffic laws.

The first place the cops can go undercover is the corner of Grove & Oxford...I live there and never do I see drivers stop for peds. When I walk my dog I sometimes wait 5 mins before I can cross the street...the bigger joke is there is a yeild for peds sign in the middle of the street...

I do that all the time, yield to folks...and each time, the car behind me almost smacks into me...until everyone knows to stop ( or actually does ), you must watch behind you too when stopping.

I think this is a great idea. In Vermont, where it's also state law to stop for pedestrians, I love how cars will come to halt practically before you realize you're planning to cross the street. Even out-of-staters get with the program pretty quickly. Civility can be contagious. (Someone will say how the pace of life is so much faster here...but it only takes a few seconds, it is the law, and do unto others, etc.)

I am always amazed at how drivers behave around here--for a long time I actually figured it must NOT be state law to stop for pedestrians.

My peeve is this: I stop for a pedestrian. I will sit there (as the car(s) behind me stack up) while oncoming traffic just keeps flowing by--although there is a waiting pedestrian and a car obviously waiting for him/her. After a little while the people behind me start to honk.

By the way, I agree about the high schoolers. I wish they wouldn't slowly cross the street en masse--but worse is when a herd of them walk down the middle of the street at a glacial pace, and shoot you dirty looks if you try to share the road with them!

I LOVE this. Hopefully the undercover agents will be hangin'-'round the clock at Watchung Plaza.

Drivers are always surprised when I "enforce" the rule about yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks.

If anyone has driven in Calf, this rule can be made to work.

In LA, drivers will stop if a pedestrian is merely standing at the curb in a crosswalk. That's because the police have always have been diligent about ticketing people who don't. It's about time they do it here. Even in Brookdale Park cars whizz by when people are trying to cross.

Wayne,

I feel your pain. I drive very slowly through residential neighborhoods and will stop for pedestrians whether they are at a cross walk or not.

I slow or stop, if necessary, for squirrels, birds, or any other creature that is visible in the roadway. By driving slowly in the first place you won't have to suddenly slow or come to a full stop. It's the sudden change which creates risk on the roadways.

Driving @ or below 25MPH on residential streets serves two purposes:

It makes the streets safer for everyone and their pets.

It shows 'respect' for the domiciles on these streets. You just don't want to drive too slowly, because that can also be perceived as threatening.

When I first moved to San Diego from NYC I got a ticket for Jay Walking. It goes both ways in CA, both cars and walkers must obey the law

Watchung Plaza will be a goldmine; that intersection is a s. show as it is. I'm surprised there aren't more accidents. How long until they install a traffic light?

In LA, the police also ticket pedestrians for jaywalking, which is unthinkable here. So culturally we may fall short of paradise (California).

I'm a bit mystified as to where this news comes from. The MPD? The Star Ledger?

"Better yet, let's say the pedestrian just RUNS out without warning. "

That happened to me this morning. A kid ran across the street in front of my car ? after I had been sitting and waiting at a stop sign, in clear sight, signal on, no indication from the kid that he was about to cross. In fact his mother was on the curb screaming at him to get to some other corner for the bus when he bolted. He made it across but it took ten years off my life. I was temped to stop and give the mother a smack ? that kid was old enough to have a job, never mind knowing better then to run into traffic.

Walleroo, I was once ticketed for jaywalking in Times Square, Broadway and 42nd, at 5:30PM, on a teemingly rainy Friday night, during the height of the Nam war (and shortly before I was drafted to join in that conflict). Probably because of my then-hair length. Nonetheless, I was duly ticketed by one of NYC's finest, while another one kept me "covered" with his nightstick pressed against my chest so I couldn't too get under the awning of the shoe store where they stood.

So a jaywalking ticket is not exactly "unthinkable" in these parts.

And it happened the day after the storm. A woman walking her dog with headphones on turned and walked into Grove St - blissfully unaware that there was other life on the planet and not at a pedestrian cross walk. The dog was trembling as cars were all around them - I stopped, the other lane slowed to go around them, but that woman had no clue! Her dog was the thinker in that party as he was smart enough to get to the curb while his owner wandered around to the drivers door of her car not once looking up for any traffic.

this has been going on in New England for years. When I was in college, if we stepped off the curb, cars would yield on command. It may sound crazy to a NJ driver, but it hasnt caused major accidents for those who are accustomed to this

While there are some jaywalkers and "slow" walkers (VERY slow).
Your car can end their lives, their body can slightly dent your bumper... best bet is to give every crosswalk the benefit of the doubt.

Great to hear they're doing this.

Hey cops, come down to Wildwood Ave. & Grove. Apparently, pushing a baby carriage into the crosswalk does nothing to make cars slow down or even stop.

Average weight of a car=3000-4500 lbs

Average weight of an adult=154 lbs

Cars yielding for pedestrians is going to require a culture change in these parts. The first step is to start ticketing offenders. A few people might get rammed from behind because they stopped, but if the law is enforced consistently that will change soon enough. (Big if, though.)

A long haired cathar getting harassed would be the exception that proves the rule.

This addresses a real quality of life issue and I think the new mayor will bring more of it.

While driving approx 20 mph on a narrow, residential street in town, someone tried to pass me on the left because I was driving too slow. There was a car parked on the street, so the woman had to back off, and then when I was stopped at the stop sign, she pulled up next to me in the left lane and yelled at me through my open car window... so I through my empty orbit gum box into her open window.

Mikey, it's not a "quality of life" issue. Stop dreaming.

All it really does is take attention away from some of the real issues facing law enforcers. Yep, we're making drivers stop for pedestrians. As for drug trafficking....Really, laserboy, you've got nothing else to offer today by way of your folk wisdom?
And I was not harassed when I received more jaywalking ticket, walleroo. Instead, I was just rather carefully selected in lieu of the other 500,000 pedestrains rushing unlawfully through Times Square on that fateful day. I felt rather noble to be so singled out, as if I, Dillinger-like, constituted a threat to public safety with my strides against the light.

For those raising questions along the lines of "what if they run out in front of me?", the yield-to-pedestrians-in-crosswalks law includes these clauses:

Nothing contained herein shall relieve a pedestrian from using due care for his safety.

Every pedestrian upon a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway.

It is ABSOLUTELY a quality of life issue.

Every time I try to walk to Brookdale Park, I have to deal with dodging the crazy speeding drivers on Grove St. It's one of the issues that affects my quality of life directly.

Is drug trafficking a problem? Sure. But it's not a quality of life issue since it doesn't affect me directly. Quality of Life issues, by nature, are smaller problems that still bother many people.

NYC Mayor Giuliani got rid of the guys who would wash your windshield when you stopped at a red light. It was so annoying; they'd muddy your windshield with a dirty rag and then sort of demand you give them a dollar. THAT was a quality of life issue that he resolved.

The cars not stopping for pedestrians is a major quality of life issue in Montclair.

It's going to take more than the bike-boy mayor of Montclair to solve this problem, which is region wide. Though establishing Montclair's notoriety as ticket happy in this regard isn't a bad start.

Walleroo,

The easiest way to take of this problem would be to turn every crosswalk into very steep speed tables. A series of these (especially along Bloomfield Ave & Grove Street, which many people treat as a major highway) would cause traffic to slow just enough as to remove the "But, I didn't see them" excuse and placing them where the already existing crosswalks are would further increase drivers awareness in those areas.

As far as "sting placement" is concerned, I think the crosswalk at crosses Bloomfield Ave at Midland is a cash-cow waiting to happen for any officer brave enough to try and use it.

As far as "sting placement" is concerned, I think the crosswalk at crosses Bloomfield Ave at Midland is a cash-cow waiting to happen for any officer brave enough to try and use it.

Really cheeses me off when I'm in the right lane & stop for a pedestrian while traffic whizzes by me in the left lane, & the pedestrian & I are stuck there like idiots. I hope they lay some serious action on that particular crosswalk.

Wouldn't it be cheaper and more effective to place mannikins at the crosswalks?

Crank,

Imagine how I feel when someone like you stops and then I nearly get hit by the a**hole who speeds by in the next lane! :-)

i'm glad to hear that the crime rate is so low in Montclair and So. Orange that they have officers what nothing to do but stand in cross walks and play pedestrian.

Not having to worry about robbery, drugs, and muggings is a wonderful thing.

Sounds like a judge, yuppie, politician, or high ranking police-man couldn't cross blfd ave to get to the dunkin-donuts and end up throw a tantrum.

Now it looks like people will be jamming on their brakes causing a dangerous traffic condition.

What happen to the saying " cross at the green and not in-between " If you cross at the light there be no problem, but then people would have to walk a little to get to a corner with a traffic light.

Oh well lets see what this will bring.

Forget mannequins, why not just station a stuffed coyote at the crosswalks, maybe along with some googly-eye balloons.

When that plan fails, we can electrocute the offenders and deliver them to food banks for processing.

I think the real problem be due to slow peoples. If they jus speeded up couple steps or so then they be no problem.

earrs,

Have you ever driven down Bloomfield Ave, Claremont, or Grove Street?

There are plenty of crosswalks located on corners that either have just stop signs or nothing at all.

What is a pedestrian supposed to do when someone, such as you are presenting yourself, decide that they don't need to follow the law and stop for said pedestrian just because there isn't a red light telling them that they're supposed to?????

People like you are the reason why NJ ranks last in the country when it comes to safe driving.

Hey Montclair PD, how about the opposite as well?

Why not randomly reward drivers who do stop with a coupon for Applegates or something?

Why not turn a negative into a positive?

Maybe the cops doing this duty b/c he couldn't get the AMP duty?
What a waste of resources!!!! They should paint better crosswalks like they do in Maine - instead of some plastic sign that goes unnoticed. But I suppose it's better to pay the cops $$$ than to make these Xwalks better marked. I will help fight this in court for anyone that gets a ticket it is total BS. The signage is not adaquate.

Plus.... I love the one that is at the stoplight by Mountainside. Are we supposed to obey the green light or yield to the pedestrian that is crossing against the light?

How about gates that come down and stop traffic, like at train track crossings?

walleroo,

That's an awesome idea! Maybe they could be solar and wind powered gates to save energy.

"...big diamond-shaped signs with a yellow background and black writing that said, Warning, Marsupial Crossing. The sign showed the black silhouettes of a large-, medium- and small-size opossum."

The signage is not adaquate

What's not adequate? The bright white lines on the road, the bright yellow "pedestrian crossing" signs, or the "State Law: Yield to Pedestrians" signs that are at each cross walk?

How much more signage do you want before there's enough? Should we institute Walleroo's railroad crossing measures or maybe just have a cement wall shoot out of the ground when someone fails to follow the law.

Keep your eyes on the road, do the speed limit, and put the cell phone/ipod/coffee down!

How's this for Mr. Roo:

A Marsupial Crossing sign.

I personally brake for marsupials.

The little plastic signs in the middle of the road are not adaquate for both parties. If they are serious about the law the crosswalks should be painted to notify the pedestrian. As the others have said, just like in New England.

Up2Date,

White lines and yellow "yield" signs have been the universal symbol of crosswalks for ages... placed there long before the signs in the middle of the road you?re complaining about.

Don't blame your inadequacies as a driver on symbols that drivers around the country (world?) have correctly used for decades.

Like I said in an earlier post; I would love to see speed tables put in place to help control speeding, but that doesn't mean I need one to stop for pedestrians, because I actually pay attention to my surroundings when driving.

One Friday night a few months ago, I am at the corner of Valley and Bloomfield Ave. have the walk sign and as I start to cross the street, a police car, makes the left from Valley onto Bloomfield Ave and fails to stop for me even though I am half way across the Street. Hope he's going to be one of the undercover pedestrians.

One Friday night a few months ago, I am at the corner of Valley and Bloomfield Ave. have the walk sign and as I start to cross the street, a police car, makes the left from Valley onto Bloomfield Ave and fails to stop for me even though I am half way across the Street. Hope he's going to be one of the undercover pedestrians.

It's all about slowing down our pitifully frantic lives...take a long inhalation and relax your shoulders.

If they are going to go ahead with this crap they ought to go all the way and ticket jaywalkers... The law says you don't have to stop for them if they aren't in a cross-walk... but what if they are in a cross-walk at a light, but are crossing against the light?

I want to get a bumper sticker that says "If you're not in a crosswalk, you're a target"

The Universal Law says yield to others out of reverence for human life.

ah mikie... the most disrespectful drivers in the world are right here in jersey. But as long as your in favorite of cross walk patrols, i would also like to see undercover cops issuing jay-walking tickets.

There's as many jay walkers as there are bad drivers, so lets start enforcing jay walkers who are hazardous to drivers who create unsafe road conditions by walking out into traffic.

earrs,

I'm all for it! Jay-walkers piss me off even when I'm walking... They give a bad name to the rest of us on the foot-patrol.

To those who think that this is a waste of time and money, consider the fact that this is being done through a grant from the NJ Division of Highway Traffic Safety, whose job is to make the roads safer for all involved (drivers, bikes, peds etc.), and the police taking part in this program are doing so in addition to their regular shifts.

Also, the operation includes making sure that the drivers have plenty of time to stop for the undercover officers, through the use of cones placed at a calculated distance from the intersection. I know for a fact that the officers are not stepping in front of cars and expecting them to stop. We all learned back in driving school that in cases like this, similar to a yellow light, you are required to brake if you can do so safely. You are not expected to stop for a yellow light that changes from green as you are passing under it and you are not expected to stop for a pedestrian that you cant see until you pass him/her.

As for people that "RUN out without warning", thats called darting out and is also illegal in NJ.

There are a million reasons why it makes sense to enforce pedestrian safety, and it is obvious that drivers do not know the law in this case and do not stop for pedestrians at crosswalks.

Before anyone else complains, I recommend that you (1) brush up on NJ driving laws and (2) try crossing Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair at any time from 9am to 9pm and (3) imagine that you were 65 years old and wanted to get across that street.