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

There's something unspeakably sad about an elderly person dying in an accident. A 75-year-old man was killed earlier this month when he was struck by a car while trying to cross the road near the Young Israel of Aberdeen temple in Aberdeen Township. Phillip J. Shiffman had been on his way home from a synagogue.  He was rushed to the Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel, but died a short while later.

Now, residents are calling for the installation of a crosswalk at Lloyd Road near Idlewild Lane where the pedestrian accident took place. Aberdeen Township authorities have contacted Monmouth County authorities to look into the installation of a crosswalk and other safety precautions in the area. The area doesn’t have heavy pedestrian traffic, but it does have an elementary school.

At Shiffman’s synagogue, worshipers who attend prayer services in the evening have been advised to take precautions to prevent an accident till any safety devices are installed. Aberdeen Township Police Chief John Powers has a few tips for worshipers.

• Wear bright colored clothing while walking in dark areas.
• Cross the roads only at controlled intersections.
• Whenever available, use sidewalks.

As a Monmouth County pedestrian accident lawyer I would like to throw in my tips to the list:

• Always be aware of your surroundings, including the movement of vehicles.
• Avoid distractions, like talking on the cell phone or listening to your iPod while walking.  
• Walking home after having had too much to drink can be just as dangerous as driving home intoxicated.

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New Jersey's share of the federal stimulus package funds may well end up lowering the state's accident rates. According to Senator Frank Lautenberg, the funds will be used for repairing deficient roadways highways and bridges. In fact that is probably going to the one of the biggest priorities, if not the biggest one for the administration.

The state is expecting over $1 billion worth of federal money for roadway and railway improvement projects. That’s about a 30% increase in the state's yearly budget for these facilities. Governor Jon Corzine, who has been a vocal supporter of President Obama’s plan has also confirmed that repairing roads and constructing new ones will be a priority. Rebuilding infrastructure using stimulus money is not likely to cause complaints even among opponents of the federal stimulus plan, because of the substantial job generating potential it has. In an economic downturn, as states all over the country begin to chalk out plans for what they are going to do with their stimulus funds, programs that result in job generation will obviously receive higher priority. Infrastructure projects will mean jobs for construction workers, like masonry workers, crane and heavy equipment operators, contractors and several others. 

Most importantly, from a New Jersey car accident lawyer's point of view, these new roads, highways and perhaps sidewalks and crosswalks, will mean greater safety for all citizens. I’m hoping the funds will be used to make roads and sidewalks safer for pedestrians in the state. New Jersey has one of the highest rates of pedestrian deaths in the country. Lawmakers have for too long neglected pedestrian safety concerns in favor of major infrastructure development projects that are geared towards automobile convenience. That mindset has to change. There are more people walking to work now than ever before, and making the streets safer for them must go back to being one of the key points of infrastructure planning.  Recently, a Freehold woman and her two daughters were injured when they were struck by a car as they crossed the road. In New Jersey, we are getting to comfortable with the notion that crossing the street, even on a designated crosswalk is a highly dangerous activity for the pedestrian, and fraught with risk. It shouldn’t have to be this way, and hopefully some of the money is going to trickle down to Monmouth County and Bergen County for safer roads for all.

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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.

We’ve seen a series of fatal pedestrian accidents in New Jersey recently. Several of these accidents have taken place during the night time, but many have occurred in the bright day light when pedestrians were walking on the sidewalk or crossing on designated cross walks, when motorists who were driving responsibly should have been able to see the pedestrians and been able to avoid hitting them. While wearing dark colored clothing at night is undesirable behavior for a pedestrian, I’ve seen my share of accidents in my New Jersey personal injury lawyer practice where the pedestrian was entirely in the right, and still got hit anyway. According to statistics from the non profit group Tri-State Transportation Campaign, the fatality rate for pedestrian and bicyclists each year in New Jersey is 150, which is 20% more than the national average. In 2007, pedestrians made up 11% of all accident related fatalities in the country. In New Jersey, the figure was 21%.                                               

A big reason for this is may be that more people seem to be walking to work in New Jersey than in many other states in the country. According to US census statistics, 26% more New Jerseyans walked to work from 2002 to 2006 while in the rest of the country, the increase in the number of people walking to work had only risen by 7%. Rising gas prices and global warming concerns have lead to more numbers of people taking to walking as a means of getting around. It also doesn’t help that New Jersey has the highest population density among states in the US. The state has been spending more on increasing pedestrian safety, but the number of programs that need funding far outnumber the dollars available.

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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: 

• Walk only on the sidewalk.
• Don’t blindly step out onto traffic without looking around first.
• Obey pedestrian traffic signs diligently.
• Cross on a designated, clearly marked crosswalk.
• That old "look left, then right, then left again" rule? It still makes as much sense today as it did when you were a kid.
• Pay attention to vehicles around you.
• Avoid walking with your back to traffic
• Don’t be distracted. If you have to use the cell phone, stop for a while at a safe spot, finish your conversation, and then move on. 
• Drinking and walking is just as dangerous as drinking and driving.
• Wear sensible clothing and comfortable footwear. Don’t wear dark colors if you're walking at night. If possible, wear reflective clothing in the dark.

Motorists can do their bit to make sure that we see fewer needless pedestrian deaths on our streets. 

• Be aware of pedestrian movements. Look out for pedestrians at particular danger spots, like at a turning or an intersection where many accidents are likely to occur.
• Stay within speed limits.
• Don’t drink and drive.
• Switch off your cell phone. All the above three impair your driving skills, and make it harder for you to spot a pedestrian.

Sometimes, an accident can occur even when a pedestrian plays by the rules. In such cases, the accident can often be traced to the negligence of the motorist, or a design flaw in the road that makes it dangerous for pedestrians. In such cases, there may be more than one party who can be named in a civil liability lawsuit including the motorist, as well as any local agencies that may have been responsible for the road construction and design.   A Monmouth county pedestrian accident lawyer will conduct his own private investigation of the accident scene to ascertain responsibility for the accident. If you or a loved one have been injured in a pedestrian accident, contact a Monmouth County pedestrian accident lawyer at my office for a free evaluation of your claim. 

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