Earlier in the year, and shortly after three troubling motor vehicle accidents involving pedestrians( one fatality), The Council tasked Westwood Police to examine and report findings on over three years of traffic accident reports. Out of 543 traffic accidents during the study period, 27 involved pedestrians.
The Police Department compiled the information and provided a series of graphs, charts and event diagrams; from which we’ d hoped to discern patterns, any common threads, that might guide changes to make Westwood’ s streets safer for pedestrians. The data told us that the accidents occurred mostly during the day rather than at dusk / nightfall when visibility can be poor. Most occurred on weekdays rather than weekends.
The crash diagrams were most revealing. Several of the accidents, but not all, along Westwood Avenue involved pedestrians already in the crosswalks hit by vehicles turning onto Westwood Avenue from Center Avenue or Fairview Avenue. Although for 2017, the Kinderkamack Road fatality, another involving three victims on Westwood Avenue and Park Avenue & 3rd Avenue- the drivers were traveling straight not turning. More than 50 percent of all on-street pedestrian accidents examined involved pedestrians hit while walking inside the striped crosswalk.
Drivers inching out onto Westwood Avenue are necessarily looking away from the direction they are turning to anticipate and gauge the speed and distance of oncoming traffic. The crosswalks are right on the corner. A pedestrian entering a crosswalk while the turning driver is facing away may be at risk, particularly if the pedestrian feels secure in the crosswalk and is not paying attention to traffic behind and to the side.
From this ad hoc review of the WPD documents, the Council formed the Pedestrian Safety Task Force to further study the problem and come up with strategies to address problematic intersections. One of the first things we did was re-stripe the faded crosswalk boxes at the intersections along Westwood Avenue. We also removed parking stalls from the corner of 3rd and Park avenues to improve sightline visibility for drivers observing pedestrians entering the crosswalk.
Meeting with WPD and Boswell Engineering( key players on the Task Force), we discovered that Westwood Avenue between Kinderkamack Road and Broadway is too narrow( per Department of Transportation Guidelines) to install“ Stop for Pedestrians” signs in the roadway. That is why these signs remain on the sidewalks.
We did task our DPW with deploying new“ in road” signs warning motorists to“ Stop for Pedestrians in the Crosswalk” where the streets are wide enough to take them. They are at the intersections of 3rd Avenue and Washington Avenue( east and westbound), Kinderkamack Road and Westwood Avenue( southbound) and Broadway at Westwood Avenue( north and southbound). A second sign was placed on Harrington Avenue just east of Berkeley Avenue to alert drivers of this crosswalk.
COUNCIL CORNER
Christopher Montana Council President
While our initial focus was to remedy recurrent problems as revealed in WPD’ s pedestrian accident study; we have expanded our scope. We will also be paying particular attention to crosswalks and signage along the routes to and from the borough’ s schools. We have charged our DPW Superintendent to create an assessment of these crosswalks and to schedule an annual inspection in May / June for any required repainting or remediation prior to the beginning of the school year. DPW will assign grades 1-3, 1 = poor condition, 2 = average condition, 3 = good condition. Crosswalks in poor condition will be addressed and those labeled with a2 will be addressed within a 6-12-month window.
Stop bars were recently added on 4th Avenue and a crosswalk repainted on Mill Street. We have also restriped the crosswalks at Washington and Garden and Washington and Summit, and new“ Stop for Pedestrian” signs were added at those locations as well.
Also in discussion at the request of parents is the addition of crossing assistance at the corner of Broadway and Washington Avenue during the afternoons when school lets out. The Train / Traffic Re-Signalization work alleviated a traffic bottle neck / gridlock situation. It also enabled a greater volume of traffic to flow more freely through this area, especially right turns onto Broadway from Washington Avenue. Placing a human asset there during the spring and fall may be more effective when dealing with middle / high school students coming into town after school.
The Westwood Police Department has begun to distribute Safe Street New Jersey pedestrian and driver educational materials in and around the Central Business District. Our Police Specials and Police Reserve Officers will be offering handouts while on patrol in the CBD. WPD will also work with our schools to disburse Safe Street New Jersey handouts to our school children.
SSNJ posters were given to school administrators and hung in borough buildings. The police will provide selective enforcement and warnings as they implement discipline necessary to change what has grown from discourteous driving habits to dangerous and deadly ones. WPD will provide statistics on their efforts to the Task Force.
Finally, planning for the Girl Scout Troop # 4730 Silver Award project to add pedestrian crossing flags at certain intersections is underway. The scouts will install pennants in holders on the corners for pedestrians to use while crossing— to better signal their presence in the crosswalk to a distracted or inattentive driver. A nice side effect of this approach is flag wielding pedestrians have their hands engaged in securing their own safety, rather than manipulating their cell phones with their heads down as they cross. The Troop is fundraising for this project as a Silver Award requirement and are looking to see the flags available in the Spring of 2018. Kudos, Troop, for the initiative.
The Council’ s initiative on Pedestrian Safety will be ongoing, adjusted and expanded as needed to make Westwood’ s streets safer for all our residents and visitors.
4 NOVEMBER 2017 MyWestwood