New Jersey Accident and Injury Law Blog : New Jersey Injury Lawyer & Attorney : The Grossman Law Firm : Serving Monmouth County, Bergen County

Motorists in New Jersey who fail to respect pedestrian rights, could find themselves coming up against a plain clothes police officer. That's because a program that uses police officers to act as pedestrians in order to crack down on motorists who fail to yield, is now underway. This is not the first time that New Jersey has had a program like this. The results of earlier programs have been successful, and police officers will be looking to cite or ticket motorists who don't yield to pedestrians.

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A motorist, who drove through a group of pedestrians crossing the road just outside the New Meadowlands Stadium, has been charged with driving under the influence.

Nine pedestrians were injured when 21-year-old New Yorker Frank Morocho drove his car through the pedestrians, who were crossing Route 120 just after midnight on Friday. The nine who were injured had just finished watching a soccer game between Mexico and Ecuador at the new stadium. It was the first professional sporting event at the New Meadowlands Stadium, and had attracted a massive crowd of more than 77,000 people. It was obviously an exciting event. Unfortunately, for the pedestrians who were unlucky enough to be in Morocho’s path, it was a terrible end to a wonderful day.  Some of them have been seriously injured in the accident. 

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A new pedestrian law that went into effect on the 1^st April, promises to reduce accident fatalities in New Jersey. With New Jersey accounting for some of the highest numbers of pedestrian accident fatalities in the country, I hope the law will help minimize those rates.

In 2008, 27% of all traffic accident fatalities in New Jersey were pedestrians. Last year, there was a substantial drop in the number of traffic accident fatalities in New Jersey, as in the rest of the country, but the number of pedestrian deaths has actually increased. According to the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, since 2004, there have been approximately 150 pedestrian deaths annually on New Jersey streets. In 2009, 159 pedestrians died in accidents in our state.

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As a New Jersey pedestrian accident lawyer, I regularly monitor pedestrian and auto safety issues that affect our state. A new report by Tri-State Transportation Campaign outlines the most dangerous roads for pedestrians in New Jersey. Two of these wind though Ocean County, while one each winds through Monmouth County and Bergen County. 

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As a New Jersey pedestrian accident lawyer, I have been expressing my concern over the number of people dying in such crashes, regularly on this blog. Earlier in September, one more such accident killed a pedestrian and injured two others, in Jackson Township in Ocean County.

According to the NJ Ledger, the three pedestrians were crossing the street at night, when they were struck by a car. Authorities say two of them were minors. The three pedestrians were rushed to the hospital, where one of the succumbed to his injuries. No arrests have been made as yet.

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Fatality rates in pedestrian accidents in New Jersey have increased alarmingly, and the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety has moved in quickly to act.

Several communities in the state that have recorded an unacceptable increase in pedestrian accident deaths, are seeing enforcement activities to enforce the rules and prevent such accidents. Earlier this month, 17 police agencies in Atlantic, Burlington, Cape May, Camden, Cumberland and Gloucester Counties have received funding for the program that will run through September 13^th. The program involves plainclothes officers stationed at crosswalks looking for motorists who fail to yield. Motorists who disregard the rights of pedestrians at a crosswalk could face tickets from uniformed officers, who will be just a short distance away. A motorist could be fined $100 besides court costs.

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Jersey City authorities have been outraged after a 51-year-old pedestrian was severely injured in an accident involving a pickup truck driver who then proceeded to simply travel right on as if nothing had happened. The driver has now been arrested.

Surveillance video released last week shows 51-year-old Ricardo Torres walking on a crosswalk, and being struck by a black Ford pickup truck. The truck then traveled right on, as Jersey City Mayor Jeremiah Healy put it "as if he ran over a rat or something". Torres had the right of way at the time of the crash. Now, Jersey City Police say they have arrested a suspect. Police have arrested 19-year-old Bayonne resident Anthony J. Pane, and have charged him with assault by vehicle, leaving the scene of the accident and endangering an injured victim.

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This year alone, four people have died in accidents walking on the New Jersey Turnpike or the Garden State Parkway. Only four months into 2009, and the death toll has already touched the number of drivers killed walking on these two highways, the busiest in New Jersey, in 2008. 

The problem is serious enough for the New Jersey Turnpike authority to launch an education campaign asking motorists to remain in their cars when they pull over. Both the turnpike and parkway are New Jersey's busiest highways, and approximately 2 million vehicles use these highways every day. The awareness campaign encourages drivers to stay in their cars, and not step out. It includes warning signs that have been posted on electronic message boards along the turnpike or the parkway. Over the next few weeks, authorities plan to have fliers and signs warning motorists on rest stops and toll plazas.  

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Two fatal pedestrian accidents, one in Tinton Falls in Monmouth County and the other in Point Pleasant in Ocean County, have been reported. In the Tinton Falls accident, 21-year-old Patrick Ryan was killed when he was hit by a truck in the middle of the night.  According to the driver of the box truck Charles Luckey, Ryan was wearing dark colored clothing and he saw him only when it was too late to avoid hitting him. Ryan was rushed to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, but was declared dead. In the other accident in Point Pleasant, a 53-year-old woman was hit while crossing route 88. The accident occurred on a Sunday night, and the victim Virginia Byron was rushed to Ocean Medical Center in Brick where she was declared dead. According to the driver of the car that struck Byron, she was wearing dark colored clothing and he did not see her until the pick up truck hit her. In both cases, Monmouth County and Ocean County teams are investigating each accident.

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A father-daughter dinner date in South Orange, New Jersey ended in a tragic pedestrian accident for James Walsh when a car struck him, dragging him at least 50 feet away. Walsh was rushed to the hospital, but he died later from his injuries. He was walking home with his daughter Erin, who escaped injuries.

A witness at the scene of the accident was alert enough to note down the driver's license plate number. Police found the car, a Honda Civic a few minutes later outside the home of the driver, Frank Bradley. Just a few minutes before he mowed Walsh down, Bradley was being pursued by police after he ran a stop sign. There are no details about whether he was speeding at the time of the accident, but this much has been confirmed – Walsh was following all rules of pedestrian safety. He was not jaywalking, and he wasn’t distracted. Yet, he seems to have paid with his life for a motorist's callous negligence.

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Image Courtesy: Flickr - Mlcastle

A man and a woman were killed in two separate pedestrian accidents in Freehold Township and Carteret last month. In Carteret, Kimberly McMickle was killed when she was crossing the street with her friend. In Freehold Township, Toribio Garcia Jiminez, was struck on Route 9. Both accidents continue to be investigated, but it's probably time to step back and see how we can reduce our chances of becoming one of New Jersey's pedestrian accident statistics. It seems that those road safety lessons that our parents taught us are still as valid now as they've always been. In other words: 

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A pedestrian accident in Franklin Township, New Jersey brought home once again how much in danger pedestrians are as they use our streets. Israel D. Hernandez D. Garcia was crossing the road when he was struck by a car. By the time paramedics arrived at the scene, he had suffered massive head trauma. Paramedics were unable to revive him, and he died at the scene of the accident. Investigations into the accident, by both the Franklin Police Department as well as the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office Collision Analysis Reconstruction Team, are ongoing.

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A Passiac County woman was killed in a pedestrian accident in Wayne after being struck by a car.  52-year-old Kathleen Sullivan was knocked down by a Mazda driven by Anthony S. Fusco as she walked at an intersection on the 23^rd of December at about 7 in the evening.

She sustained severe injuries in the accident, and was rushed to St. Joseph's Wayne Hospital where she died as a result of her injuries. The Passaic County Prosecutor's Office is investigating the accident, and has asked anyone with any information on what happened at the scene of the crash, to come forward. Investigations will take a while to complete and we can only then expect a clear picture of what happened at the Hamburg Turnpike and Leonard Terrace intersection where Sullivan died. 

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In a response to the 11 deaths that occurred in pedestrian accidents in Burlington County this year, the New Jersey Department of Transportation has doled out grants worth $138,000 to the towns of Florence and Riverton to be spent on enhancing pedestrian safety.

Florence is expected to receive $115,000 to be spent on sidewalk construction, while Riverton will use its $23,000 grant to develop and implement a pedestrian safety program. Riverton's grant has come courtesy the Safe Routes to School program that aims to promote pedestrian safety by developing walkways and bikeways so children are encouraged to bike or walk to school in complete safety, as well as the conduction of pedestrian safety awareness programs for children and motorists. The focus on pedestrian safety in Burlington County is due to the 11 deaths that occurred in pedestrian accidents in 2007 last year which was a steep rise from the 6 pedestrian deaths that had occurred in the county in 2006.

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In January 2008, Governor Corzine signed a law which allows cities across the state to install cameras at intersections for the purpose of catching folks who run red lights. Here's how it works: you run red light, and the camera would take a color photo of you mid violation. Then you'd get a ticket in the mail. The bill has its share of supporters and detractors. Some say that the cameras are a good thing because they save lives by preventing accidents and the presence of the cameras reduce the number of red light violations. Others contend that the cameras deny alleged violators the right to confront an accuser in court, that they could possibly lead to innocent drivers being charged and overall their presence will do nothing to deter unsafe motorists.

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The Courier Post reported that New Jersey state senator Robert W. Singer reached a $1.175 million settlement with Ms. Barbara Sara, a 74 year old woman, who in 2005 was critically injured by the senator's vehicle while crossing a street in Jackson, New Jersey. The settlement was reached the day the lawsuit against the senator was scheduled for trial.

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