Motorists who speed up and down Kennedy Boulevard at a reckless pace should proceed with extreme caution from now on. The Board of Education, with full cooperation from the North Bergen police department, is looking to nail you. Last week, the Board of Education announced the purchase of a “speed timer,” a device that displays the actual speed that a car is traveling, in an effort to cut down on the amount of drivers that barrel down the major thoroughfare. The speed timer devise, which was purchased by the Board of Education at the minimal cost of $8,000, is an actual radar machine that will track the speed of motorists. “We started thinking about trying to do something in September,” Superintendent of Schools Peter Fischbach said. “I sit and watch the children cross Kennedy Boulevard and watch the cars travel at a high rate of speed. Just yesterday, I saw a guy go from 85th Street to 79th Street and go through three red lights. It’s a definite concern and we had to do something.” Drivers who exceed the posted 25 mile-per-hour speed limit have been causing a serious hazard for thousands of North Bergen youngsters. The majority of North Bergen’s students walk to and from school along the Boulevard and have to cross the Boulevard to get to the schools that are housed on the western side, like Horace Mann Elementary and North Bergen High School. “We have to worry about the safety of the children,” said North Bergen Police Chief Angelo Busacco. “That’s first and foremost. We know that people speed up and down the Boulevard. Some people don’t even realize how fast they’re going. Some are even clocked going over 60. That’s just dangerous, especially with so many youngsters present.” The “speed timer” was put into effect last Thursday, first in an informational capacity. The bold digital read-out will allow the driver to see from a solid distance just how fast they are traveling and how much over the speed limit they are. “You get to see the actual speed what you’re traveling through the zone,” Fischbach said. “When you see that large number on the sign, you realize that you’re going too fast. And when something like this is implemented, then we have to get the police department involved. They have the authority to oversee everything.” For the first two weeks of the program, the speed timer will be used strictly in a warning scenario. However, a police officer will then be put into place in a chase vehicle and will begin to issue summonses for speeding starting on Monday, Jan. 27. “We have to start enforcing it and cracking down,” Busacco said. “That’s the purpose of the whole program.” Busacco said that the plan is to move the device to other points around the township on the Boulevard where schools exist, like Horace Mann school (83rd Street) to the north and Kennedy School (10th Street) to the south. Franklin School and McKinley School also have students that travel along Kennedy Boulevard to get to school. “It’s our primary concern to take care of the children,” Busacco said. “But this will also help for the overall public safety. We really believe this program is going to help to cut down the amount of speeders on the Boulevard, which is our goal.” Fischbach believes that the program will act as a major deterrent. “The first day we put it out there, you could see the dramatic change in speed,” Fischbach said. “It definitely acts as a deterrent and when there’s a police car attached to it, it will act even more as one.” Although Fischbach knows of similar speed timer devises being used in Essex and Ocean counties, he believes that it is unique for a Board of Education to purchase a device. “We thought of the idea and we knew something had to be done,” Fischbach said.