WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange Pedestrian Safety Advisory Board members agreed at their Jan. 12 meeting that educating residents about traffic safety should be a priority in the coming year after the deaths of three pedestrians during the past year demonstrated that speeding vehicles are not always at fault.
Officer Chris Jacksic of the West Orange Police Department’s Traffic Bureau said speed was not a factor in the fatalities of Dilma Khan in May 2016, Juliet Bergen in November 2016 and Joseph Kowalski, a resident who Jacksic said died Jan. 11, after being hit by a car Jan. 6 while crossing Pleasant Valley Way. In fact, the officer said the vehicles involved in the deaths of Kowalski and Bergman were likely traveling below the speed limit based on where they stopped. He further said two of the pedestrians were crossing against the light at the time they were struck, a factor in their deaths.
To prevent future pedestrian fatalities, Jacksic stressed that drivers and pedestrians alike must be taught the importance of following traffic laws. And while the WOPD cannot reach nonresidents, he said the department definitely intends to better engage the community so that those who live here keep themselves and others safe.
“I don’t think we can ever do enough,” Jacksic said.
Officer Scott Smarsh of the Traffic Bureau said the WOPD plans to implement the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority’s Street Smart NJ campaign, which seeks to promote traffic safety through informational and enforcement measures. Smarsh said the department has already conducted a few Street Smart-recommended pedestrian decoy programs in which undercover officers wait in crosswalks to catch drivers who do not allow them to cross. But Smarsh and Jacksic also pointed out that staffing and weather constraints limit how often such programs can be run.
Moving forward, Jacksic said police officers will hand out traffic safety fliers to residents they see around town. It will be difficult to reach all of West Orange’s nearly 50,000 residents, but he said the community has to be educated about the dangers of violating traffic laws if tragedies are ever going to be prevented.
Still, Sunil Badlani questioned the effectiveness of handouts, pointing out that many people might just glance at the fliers without really absorbing the important information they contain. The Nikhil Badlani Foundation co-founder suggested erecting signs at the sites of fatalities alerting passersby to what happened there. That way, he said, people will know to be more careful in those areas.
Sunil’s wife, Sangeeta Badlani, recommended using social media to reach a wider audience, and Jacksic agreed, saying this would probably be the most effective method of reaching the largest number of people possible. He said Street Smart even has material that could be shared with community members online — he would just need to personalized the header for West Orange.
As for connecting with senior citizens who are not on Facebook or Twitter, Jacksic mentioned putting information on public access channel TV-36 and visiting senior citizens with leaflets as possibilities. Resident senior advocate Rosary Morelli said she would be willing to help set up informational programs at which police officers can address seniors directly, much like the WOPD’s anti-scam seminars. Morelli said such meetings are always helpful because they allow senior citizens to discuss issues and share experiences.
Such gatherings would be fine by the WOPD, according to Jacksic. As long as the information is getting out to the public, he said any idea is worth pursuing.
“I don’t think there’s any limit on what we can do,” Jacksic said after mentioning that the WOPD is also looking into becoming involved with West Orange High School’s driver training. “The issue is doing it.”
Jacksic also offered a vision for making Main Street safer, particularly by reducing it to one lane in both directions from at least Park Street to Washington Street. By doing so, and by implementing parking by the curb, the officer said traffic should move more slowly than it does now. It would also make conditions safer for the crossing guard in front of the Community House, who he said is nearly hit daily by fast-moving vehicles.
“It’s harder to dart across four (lanes) than it is to dart across two,” Jacksic said.
Of course, Jacksic said any change to Main Street would have to be approved by Essex County since the road falls under county purview. He said he hopes to get the county to try his layout temporarily using painted striping so that he can show them it does calm traffic. Then, if Essex County decides to resurface the roadway once Edison Village construction is completed, he said the township will have evidence to back up a request for permanent striping. Thus, he said he would like to have painted striping done by the spring.
The rest of the board and residents in attendance at the meeting were supportive of the idea, and Edison Historical Park Superintendent Tom Ross agreed that the current roadway markings make parking on Main Street very haphazard. Ross said Jacksic’s idea would make it more orderly and put an end to the traffic issues he sees near his museum.
“I think you’ll see a difference in the speed,” Ross said, pointing out that having the wide space of four lanes encourages drivers to speed and endangers park visitors crossing the road who expect cars to stop for them. “That would be a huge win, and now’s the time (to act).”
Also during the meeting, Smarsh presented an excerpt of the WOPD’s year-end crash analysis. He said West Orange saw 32 pedestrian-involved car accidents in 2016, fewer than Montclair’s 49. Examining the past six years of data, the officer counted a total of 176 pedestrian-involved crashes, an average of 29 per year.
Looking ahead, Councilman Jerry Guarino said the township is waiting to learn if it will receive the federal Transportation Alternatives Program Grant it applied for last year. Guarino said West Orange should find out any time between next week and next month. But considering the supportive letters from officials statewide that the township submitted with its application, the councilman predicted that the town has a 95-percent chance of obtaining the funds.
Meanwhile, Guarino said the PSAB must decide how the township should use the $3,000 grant it already received. Sunil Badlani suggested putting a timeline on the board’s action plan so that it will have a prioritized list of ways to use the monies. The other board members agreed that could be looked at during their next meeting.
Following this meeting, the board members met in executive session to compile a list of topics to discuss at their next meeting with Essex County representatives. Guarino said that meeting — which will include county engineer Asif Mahmood, County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr., and freeholders Brendan Gill and Leonard Luciano — will be scheduled soon.
Photos by Sean Quinn
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