JERSEY CITY – Mayor Steven Fulop and the Jersey City Police Department announced Thursday that Jersey City is once again participating in Be Street Smart NJ Pedestrian Safety Campaign this September.
The Be Street Smart NJ campaign is a collaborative effort between public, private and non-profit organizations to educate pedestrians and motorists about making safety their top priority whether walking or driving. The statewide Street Smart NJ campaign is managed by the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) and began in 2013. The campaign urges pedestrians and motorists to “Check Your Vital Signs” to improve safety on the road. Motorists are urged to obey the speed limit and stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. Pedestrians are told to use crosswalks and wait for the walk signal where applicable. A new “Heads Up, Phone Down” message has been added to the campaign this year to combat distracted driving and walking.
Pedestrian safety is an ongoing challenge in New Jersey. In 2014, 170 pedestrians died as a result of pedestrian-vehicle crashes, according to the most recent data available from the New Jersey State Police. From 2010 through 2014, 749 pedestrians were killed on New Jersey’s roads and more than 17,000 were injured, according to the New Jersey State Police. That translates into one death every 2.4 days and 11 injuries daily.
“We are working to educate the community so they know the steps they can take to ensure their own safety and the consequences for violating the law,” says Mayor Fulop. “The endgame is to prevent crashes and save lives. Jersey City has worked diligently to make streets and intersections safer, but motorists and residents must be street smart.”
In addition to education, targeted enforcement in the form of “Cops in Crosswalks” will take place throughout Jersey City. An undercover police officer is the pedestrian while uniformed officers are in the vicinity to pull over motorists who fail to stop for the pedestrian in the crosswalk. Officers will also address speeding and distracted driving and walking, which often contribute to crashes involving pedestrians. This enforcement will be funded by a grant award from the NJ Division of Highway Traffic Safety.
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