New Jersey Governor-Elect Faces Tough Transportation Safety Challenges
These are rough times for New Jersey’s motorists and pedestrians. As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, I have been following the steep increase in pedestrian accident fatalities in our state, and have seen the wretched state of many of our roads and highways. Our state has some of the worst roads in the nation. This bleak state of affairs looks all set to get worse before it gets better.
The NJ.com blog reminds us that the Transportation Trust Fund which finances New Jersey’s highway development projects, will be bankrupt by 2011 by which time all its revenues will be used to repay debts. That means that there will be no more money to fund the transportation projects that we are in need of.
NJ.com has 6 points for the new administration to deal with the situation.
- Encourage new Jerseyans to use public transportation. This can be done by maintaining transit systems better, and extending operations.
- Make enhancements for biking and pedestrian safety.
- Create more jobs near transit stations, and allow for more freight to be carried by rail. Enhance port infrastructure.
- Make sensible investments in transportation to cut down on the number of hours New Jerseyans spend driving.
- Abandon Band Aid projects and stop-gap measures. Instead, make smart decisions about where you will spend valuable and limited transportation dollars.
- Keep the public updated on how funds are spent. The days of high spending to impress citizens is gone, and not merely because there is no more money to spend.
New Jerseyans have waited long for some basic road safety amenities. Walking to work should be encouraged. Instead, our shortsighted policies have ensured that 20 percent of our traffic fatalities every year are pedestrians. The new administration has a golden opportunity to implement the kind of changes New Jersey is hungry for.
